tongue tied

[PPK]

hi,
I just found out that my NB is tongue tied. Has anyone had the procedure to clip the skin? Was it traumatic for the baby? How old was he/she?
The LC says she's seen more severe cases, his tonue can just about make it out to cover his gumline but not quite. He's 3 days old and I want to keep trying to adjust our latch as perfectly as possible before going ahead with the procedure. The LC helped alot, so the pain is much less, but I still can't say its pain free by any means...but definately a whole lot better.

thanks

[pixiesmommy]

My cousin is going through this with her 10 day old at this very moment, but his is pretty severe....

Basically from all of the research I have helped her dig through, if the tongue-tie is not severe, then they will use a local numbing agent (like orajel) and then clip the frenulum (the piece holding the tongue down.) There are lots of accounts of older children having it done and say they feel little to no pain.

An IBCLC told me that she has seen plenty of babies learn to nurse WITH a tongue-tie, and plenty of parents that choose to have it corrected.

While tongue-ties used to be thought to cause speech problems, they don't believe that is ALWAYS the case now, and there is more of a wait and see attitude. It DEFINITELY can interfere with breastfeeding though, and if the baby is unable to latch properly to compress your breast, your supply will dwindle.

Here is a great site from a dentist that shows the various things that tongue-tie can cause issues with later in life (beware, it is graphic- there is a photo of a baby cadaver- it's not bloody or anything, just waxy looking, but just wanted to let you know.) If you choose not to look at the site, a couple of the more severe hings mentioned are: teeth misalignment (severe- coming in roof of mouth, etc) and sleep apnea.

www.brianpalmerdds.com

Hope this helps!
Manda

[AnamCara]

My little sister stayed tongue-tied until she was about 12. It only interfered with her ability to stick her tongue out and clean around her teeth. The dentist suggested clipping to french kiss Mom said they never had nursing issues.

My older sister's son is tongue tied and she nursed him without problems.

As pp said, it can interfere with nursing, but doesn't always.

[turtlewomyn]

My dd was tongue tied, and her tongue did not come out to cover her lower gums at all. By the time I left the hospital I had bruised nipples, this quickly became cracks that opened up into huge fissures (it looked like a part of my nipple was missing according to my OB at the follow up appointment). I was screaming at latch on, DH had to leave the room every time I nursed because he couldn't stand to see me in that sort of pain. DD did not gain her weight back by her two week appt. and the doctor told me to supplement. I actually pumped and fed pumped for two weeks, while supplementing. THe pumping actually increased my supply because she was not effectively emptying out my breast, and the pump was doing a better job.
I had referals to a pediatric surgeon and an ENT. Both told me that tongue tie did not affect breastfeeding, but they would be happy to clip her tongue tie to prevent future speech problems, under General Anesthesia! I had scheduled the surgery, and then a hurricane came through when she was three weeks old. That delayed it, and I found this doctor in the meantime: http://twofloridadocs.com
I went to her office when DD was one month old, she clipped the tongue tie in her office, gave me APNO, and a script for domperidone. I noticed an immediate difference in the pain, and the dom helped get my supply back within the next month.

So, I am not necessarily saying that you should get it clipped, but if you see any further problems (excessive pain, excessive nipple damage, low weight gain) I would get it done sooner than later. You might want to start getting an idea of what doctors in your area are familiar with it, and will do the procedure in office. I had to search for a doctor to do it without GA, and I had to travel an hour and a half to see her. We have since moved, but if I have any more problems next time and I can't find anyone I will travel six hours to see her!!

[menow]

My DD was 5 days old when we have her frenulum clipped. We would have had it done sooner if we had know what the problem was. DD was born on a Friday and we couldn't get help from a LC until Tuesday (my nipples were cracked and bleeding by Saturday!!!). The LC watched DD nurse and said her latch looked fine but when she was weighing DD and DD was crying she mentioned that DD looked slightly tongue-tied. DD's tongue-tie was probably not bad enough to cause her any speech problems but it was enough to make it almost impossible to continue BF. I, too, had a difficult time finding someone to do the procedure without GA AND I was worried about it causing her pain. After all of my research we found a ped. dentist who was willing to do it. He put a little numbing gel on her frenulum and clipped it right there in the office. DD did not cry at all nor did she bleed!!! I was SO surprised and thankful. DD nursed 30 minutes later with no problem. I'm sure everyone has a different experience but for us having DD's frenulum clipped saved our BF relationship!!!

[nandodianenicole]

my ds had a posterior tongue tie and we had it clipped at about 2 weeks. It was very quick (like 30 seconds) to secure the baby and 2 seconds to clip it then a bit to stop the blood a bit and he cried but then nursed and was ok. That night I was a bit freaked out because he cried as he nursed (must have been the milk touching the sore spot) but the next day he was just fine. I cant say it helped tremendously, he did have more tongue movement, but still a bad latch. But again, ours was posterior, so it was different. Good luck.

[PPK]

thanks for all the replies, I'm still up for hearing more, but we're doing ok. I think as long as I really try to get my areola deep into his mouth for him, since he can't draw it back with his tongue. We'll keep this going for a while and see if it can get to be nearly pain free..otherwise I'll wait another two weeks and we'll get it cut.

[Erinz]

Part of my early breastfeeding troubles were due to undiagnosed tongue-tie. I had so many other things happening that it went on for 5 WEEKS of pure hell. My nipples had huge cracks (just how PP explained it) and BFing was EXCRUCIATING. I wish it had been diagnosed right away!: Luckily I searched out a different LC than I had been dealing with and she diangosed it on the spot (thank goodness!!!!!). It was so bad that I was ready to give up breastfeeding... and I'm pretty hard core about the need for breast milk.

Anyway I found a ped that was willing to clip it. My son cried at his mouth being held open but didn't even notice the teeny snip. Acutally it took two teeny snips. I'm the only one that actually produced tears. I saw one drop of blood and put him to my breast right away and the difference was INSTANT! Within 2 days my nipples had completely healed. I still have huge scars to remind me to get any more of my children checked upon BIRTH!

My son is 13 months old and breastfeeding is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

[PPK]

I'm definately calling the doctor on Monday to get it done asap. I'm in tears every time we nurse now, even though he's doing a better job of latching on as time goes on.

To those of you who've done it-

Do you think I should be concerned about bleedng at all, because we did not recieve the Vitamin K at birth. I know its only a small drop or two, but just wondering if its any concern.

[turtlewomyn]

I am blanking on what the vit K is for, but I remember that she hardly bled at all - a few drops. I got her nursing immediately afterward (also helps with the pain) and that was it. She was fussy later in the day and I did give her some tylenol to help with the pain.
Good luck! If your pain is getting worse in spite of better latch technique, I would say definitely get it clipped ASAP. Hopefully you can get some All Purpose Nipple Ointment too, to help with healing your nipples.

[My*Scorpio]

My son had his tongue clipped when he was 7 days old. There was literally only one drop of blood. I wish I would have had it done sooner.