Tongue tied baby 12 weeks old

david4791

Hello,
we have a baby 12 weeks who is tongue tied. It doesn't effect the feeding, however we are very concerned about the future development in terms of speech development. Any experiences out there?

Cat Melodeon

My boy is tongue-tied, as is his dad. The PHN checked it and didn't seem to think it was a bad one and said to leave it alone. He had no problems feeding. He's now nearly 18 months and his speech is developing normally. My husband's tongue tie doesn't affect his speech at all, you wouldn't know there was an issue until he tries to touch his nose with the tip of his tongue!

If your GP and PHN don't seem concerned, I'd leave it alone. There are many degrees of tongue tie, many of which don't need intervention. You'll know in 2 years or so if it's causing speech problems and the procedure to snip the frenulum is a simple enough one.

liliq

Please excuse my ignorance- but what does tongue tied mean?

Cat Melodeon

It's where a little piece of skin (the frenulum) anchors the tongue to the bottom of your mouth. If you touch the base of your tongue, you can feel your own one - everyone has one, it's what stops us from swallowing our tongues. For some people, the attachment is too far forward and it can restrict the mobility of the tongue, potentially causing problems with feeding (can't suck properly) and with speech development (tongue can't move to produce certain sounds). It's very common. In the past, midwives would cut the tongue tie if there was one at birth, but it's not standard practice anymore (probably due to risk of infection) - they prefer to let the child develop and deal with problems later. It's a common cause of difficulties in breastfeeding as the baby can find it hard to latch on properly, but because most mums bottlefeed (and don't need to suck the same way as they do on the boob) tongue ties aren't always picked up in the early weeks. A tiny snip usually sorts it out for most children, if they need it and if it's detected early enough. The PHNs can advise.

Menas

I was tongue tied and developed a slight lisp. When I was 6 or 7 I was sent to the doctor (an Uncle) who asked me to close my eyes, open my mouth wide, raise my tongue...and then he snipped it. He gave me a fiver and sent me home!

Had a few elocution lessons after that and no problem since.

My wee lad is now 11 weeks and he has the same thing. Not causing a problem for him so far.

But if it does cause him issues in the future I am sure that the remedy will be less barbaric then what I went thru!

david4791

I was just wondering would it be advisable to have the snip as early as possible or leave it till later. Sounds like a horrible procedure.

Eircom_Sucks

my little lad ( 15 days old ) has a small tongue tied and horses his food down

my neice had one and got it snipped at 1 year , so i reckon we'd get it done when he's a few months old

Cat Melodeon

david4791 wrote: »

I was just wondering would it be advisable to have the snip as early as possible or leave it till later. Sounds like a horrible procedure.

Go with doctor's advice on this. If it isn't severe your boy might never need to have it done. If it does end up affecting his speech it can be dealt with at that stage. It's not a nice procedure, but no worse than getting ears pierced or maybe getting a filling. There are no stitches or anything, not unless it's a very severe tie and if your lad's was that bad they'd probably have referred you back to the hospital by now. Only your doctor or the PHN can tell you what's needed.