Tongue-Tied Babies

My youngest son had this problem. He had his clipped in the pediatricians office at two weeks old. They didn't have to anesthetize him at all. It really was no big deal. No blood. He cried only because they had to hold his head still. He was fine literally 30 seconds after it was done!

Hi M. ~
As an OB nurse, I've seen this a few times. From what I've been told, usually you have it clipped by an ENT. Ask your pediatrician to assess him (mention that your father-in-law is a dentist - it can't hurt) and for a referral. I think I've been told that they use a local anesthetic and just perform it in the office.
Definitely pump after feeding him to increase your supply.
Good Luck!
D.

My niece was tongue tied and had her tongue clipped underneath in her doctor's office. It didn't hurt her. She was a few months old at the time. She's fine now.

Good luck!
R.

Hi there, my 26 year old son was born tongue tied and we had it clipped while he was still in the hospital.
But the didn,t clip it enough, i notice while breast feeding i didn't think he was getting enough food. so i put him on the bottle and he did much better. then when he was learning to talk no one could understand a word he said even me. took him back to a doctor and sure enough they had not clipped his tongue enough when he was born. so at three his tongue had to be reclipped. a difference between night and day. he did have to have speach class but he soon learned to speak just fine. most doctors don't know any thing about being tongue tied. so good luck

Both of my grandsons were tongue-tied. My daughter noticed with the first son in the hospital after he was born that he would not latch.....the nurse noticed that he was tongue-tied. When she was discharged from the hospital and on our way home, we stopped at the Dr's office and he "snipped" the little what looked like a string under the tongue and that was that. The same when the 2nd son was born. It was done immediately and not a peep from either of them....do some checking and see what you can come up with. Good Luck

M.,
I have 5 children and 2 of them were tongue tied. With my oldest son we waited until he was 6 to have his tongue clipped and it was due to speech problems. It required a trip to a dentist who specialized in the procedure. We should have had it done when he was a baby, but our peditricians office refused to refer us.
When my youngest son was born, he was also tongue tied and our peditrician (not the same Dr) referred us to a pediatric Ears, Nose, and Throat (ETN) specialist. It turns out that it wasn't severe enough to warrant clipping it as he was nursing just fine. But the ETN said he would do it if we really wanted it clipped.
I would suggest you talk to your pediatrician and request a referral to an ETN. Your pediatrician will most likely make the referral, especially if you let him know it is affecting your success with breastfeeding your baby. I hope this helps.

Hi, I don't have any experience with tongue-tied babies, but I do have some with milk supply. I'm sure someone or many have already responded with this, but to keep the supply up you can pump every couple of hours. I assume your little one can take a bottle so this way you can continue giving him breastmilk until you have the opportunity to see the doctor. Best of luck to you - this is probably a very stressful time - keep enjoying the baby though - those precious first weeks just slip away.

My son started speech at 3 yrs old, and yes other moms mentioned this surgery to me, and even though I thought it was ridiculous I asked my Dr about it to see what her opinion was, and she said no way. This is a very painful surgery (obviously!ow!) for a baby to go through. If for some reason it affected speech later in life, there is always speech therapy, although, most go on without any speech problems. I would speak to a lactation consultant-call the hospital you delivered at or contact la leche league. Good Luck with what you decide!

My nephew had this problem...although my sister in law struggled for months before seeking out help. So kudos to you for being pro active! He was 2-3 months old when she went for help, and they did the little snip procedure, and he was instantly able to nurse correctly. I had asked her how he was with the pain, etc. and she said it didn't seem to bother him at all. Good luck to you!

Hello M., congratulations on your new baby. The problem you describe is not uncommon. It is not a muscle at the tip of the tongue, but rather a "thing" called the "frenum". It has very little blood supply and should not cause your little one much discomfort to have it clipped. Although children can and do learn compenssating tongue movements for speech production, it is much better to have the frenum clipped.
God bless you as you raise your new "gift".
Sincerely, Chuck Unseld, MA, Speech/Language Therapist

My son was very tongue-tied at birth. We debated having the procedure to correct it, as it was really left up to us. We were told by two different doctors that it is no longer "recommended" unless the child has problems eating or with speech, but some parents choose to have it to prevent future problems. He had no difficulty nursing, but we decided to have it done anyway after much praying and consideration because we felt that it would be more difficult later on and that even if he didn't need it for speech reasons, he might wish he had the use of his tongue for "other" ;) things when he was an adult.
It was explained to us that the procedure can be done quickly and simply in you pediatrician's office until about 6 months. The "muscle" you refer to, the frenulum, is actually just a thin piece of skin that thickens as the child grows. After about 6 months, the procedure becomes more complicated and may require minor anesthesia and cause more bleeding.
It was really hard for me to hold him down, but basically it was similar to having a shot. I helped hold him. He screamed mostly because he was being held down and the doctor was sticking something in his mouth. The doctor used sterile scisors to quickly clip the flap of skin and then it was over. My son cried for about 3 minutes and bleed for a few seconds. I think he was frightened by the blood in his mouth as well, but all in all, it was only slightly more difficult than a shot and he never had any problems afterward. He nursed immediately after for comfort. There was no further bleeding, no trouble eating (he was on some solids at this point), no pain or discomfort that I could tell. We did give him a few doses of Tylenol after, as our doctor recommended. Sorry so long, but I hope this helps allay some of your fears. Good luck with whatever decision you make!

Hi M. ~ 3 out of 5 of mine were tounge-tied one now 12 the doc fixed it in his office with a cauterizing pen (when he was a week old and I was in the room), pretty easy, made things much easier, the next one, now 8 1/2 was fixed in the hospital when he was one day old (same way as the older one), the last now 3 (different doctor) was closer to 2 months, due to the pediatrician wanting to watch her thinking it would fix itself, it won't ... I insisted on her seeing the specialist, (it was absolutely excruciating for me to nurse her) the surgeon simply snipped it with a pair of scissors and she stopped crying as soon as I picked her up and she nursed until she was a year old with no problems at all. Once the procedures were over they were done crying and there was no numbing, if I had it to do over again, I would all 3 times. They all talk just fine and you could never tell they had ever had a problem.

Just my personal opinion, the soon it's fixed the better, since it does not fix itself and can cause speech issues that really aren't necessary.

Best of luck to you!

My son was slightly tongue tied at birth as well. Nothing major but enough that the lactatation consultant at the hospital told me to have my doctor do a "snip" on his tongue so he could latch on better. This helped for a bit for us until I developed a post-delivery case of PUPP (rash) which required me to take oral and topical steroids and got my son off of breastfeeding for awhile. Then the farengulum (spelling?)- that tissue under the tongue- grew back in such a way that my son was still a bit tongue tied. My doctor again did the "snip" procudure in his office at the 1 year visit - as I was concerned about speech issues- and it took all of 30 seconds. My son was distraught for about 2 minutes. I was in the room, he used a small tool, and there was no anethesia. We have not had a problem since. I have heard of some docs actually putting a stitch in place after the procedure so that it does not grow back as it did the first time. My doc is a general practitioner so perhaps pediatricians refer this kind of thing out. My viewpoint is the earlier it is done, the less painful and the better. The tongue tying is definitely an issue with breastfeeding in my experience so find a doc that will do the procedure now or get a second opinion. Good luck.

I never got a professional opinion, but I think my daughter may also have this slightly. She nursed for her first 15 months of life, with minimal problems...just some clicking and needing to relatch while nursing, but it wasn't an issue. I wish I had known however that it can effect speech because she is now almost 20 months and I hate to think of her having to have it clipped now. So we'll just wait to see how it goes... I say get a prof. opinion, and go for it while your little one is young. And CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS! on your new baby boy!!!

Hi

Go and have your pedatrician, snip that muscle. My youngest brother, and my niece were both tongue tied at birth. If you do it now, they won't even notice. Yes, it will make a huge difference in speech later in life. I have a cousin who was tongue tied. They didn't snip it until about age 4. Well he has never learned how to speak properly. He is early 20's now and I have to really listen to him to understand.

K.

I know how you feel! I have 3 kids and had this problrm with my 1st daughter, now 7. The lactation consultant recommended clipping it but my pediatrician said that sometimes it just grows and there are no speech problems later on so it wasn't worth it clipping now (my dh didn't want to do it either so it was juist the depressed mom wanting it). I struggled and suffered because she would not latch and then only did for less than 5 mts each time. My advice is to try to get your daughter to latch on as frequently as you can and I know it's super hard with a 3 yr old (especially a boy, I have one of those myself). Ask for help! Call your local leche league, they are so helpful and will come to your house at no charge. I couldn't have done it without them I wanted to quit but I lasted 1 year! They have monthly meetings and you are not pressured to anything, just go and see. Breastfeeding is not easy for everyone but it's so beneficial for the baby. But even if you have to quit IT IS OK. Don't ever feel guilty if you are loving your child.
Good luck!

M.:

My son had the same issue at birth. It was also affecting his nursing abilities. Two different lactation consultants recommended that we have his tongue clipped and gave us the same dr's name. It's Dr. Boucher in Royal Oak. His number is ###-###-####. He'll do it for you. It takes a minute and they recover right away. It was a really hard decision to make, but it ended up really helping my son.

If this is a procedure requiring general anesthesia (and I assume that it is), no reputable doctor will do it until the child is at least 6 months old.

My oldest daughter was tongue tied. I mentioned it when we were still in the hospital and the nurse said she would mention it to the dr. but nothing was done for it. When she was 2 months old and I took her for her baby shots we saw a new dr. I mentioned I thought she was tongue tied and he agreed and left the room. He came back with snips and clipped it right there in the office. Yes she cried. I cried long after she stopped. There was just one drop of blood. She took her pacifier and went right to sleep. She never had a problem after that but I never forgot. I think I was more traumatized than she was :). That was 31 years ago. Hope this helped.

Hi M.,

I deal with this all the time as a Lactation Consultant. You've probably been left with the impression that it's really uncommon, when it's actually quite common. It tends to run in families -but not always. You might want to check on both sides of the family to see if anyone else experienced it, and what they did.

A tongue tie, also called a tight frenulum is when the web of skin that holds the tongue to the floor of the mouth, is tight and closer to the tip of the tongue. It inhibits the tongue's movement. It can cause very painful nursing for mom. That would cause the lower supply you're starting to experience. It also keeps the baby from holding a good latch. So, he'd slip off a lot.

I'd encourage you to get in contact with a local Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in your area. You can find a local LC by either calling the local hospitals, midwives, or on the web at www.ilca.org .The LC can give you the names of doctors (Ear/Nose/Throat specialists, Pediatricians trained in how to do the procedure, and pediatric dentists who do it). While it technically could be called a surgery, it's more often considered a very minor procedure -esp. in the first couple of years. Typically, unless it is really thick, there are no nerve endings in the frenulum until the child turns 2. I've seen the procedure done. Typically, they put a gloved finger under the tongue, and just clip it with sterile scissors (medical ones). After that they dab it with sterile gauze (there is only a drop or so of blood. I'm sorry if that's gross or too graphic for you. I mean it to reassure you only.), and bring the baby to mom to nurse. You'll notice a difference right away in how well the baby nurses. But your little one will get better at feedings as he realizes he can move his tongue freely.

You also might want to check out the local La Leche League groups near you. They are wonderfully supportive and full of great breastfeeding information. It's a nice place to meet other moms and babies. You can find info on that at: www.llli.org .If you should have any questions, please feel free to email me. Best Wishes, S.

This happened to me with my second son. I promptly made an appointment with his pediatrician and he did a simple procedure right there in the office where the snipped the cord of his tongue. They did not put him under but used local to numb the area. It healed quickly and with no problem and he was able to breast feed with no problem once it was done. My son was about 1 month when we had it done. He is now a happy healthy 9 year old boy and has no painful memory of having this done. My advice is, talk to your doctor and see what is right for you and your wee one! I wish you the best.

My oldest, who is 6, was tongue tied also. I am a hygienist and noticed it right away. At her 2 week check up, her Dr. took surgical scissors and cut the skin. She cried for a minute, but she was fine. Being tongue tied can cause some major speech and orthodontic issues, so it is better to take care of it when they are infants!

M.,

I have read some of the responses you received on this. Sorry if I repeat what they have said. Both of my sons were tongue tied. We did not realize it with my oldest until he was 3 years old and having trouble with speech. When he was first born I thought I was doing something wrong because he was uable to nurse. I now know what the problem was. He went through 4 years of speech therepy to correct the speech problems he had. It was a simple in office procedure. They snipped it with scissors and he ate french fries about 10 minutes later!! He barely cried. My youngest had his snipped in the hospital hours after delivery. I urge you to get this taken care of.

Dear M.,

I had twins, boy and girl, and the girl breastfed wonderfully and the boy did not but I kept on with it because he was getting fed the best. All babies are different and one like yours and mine just takes more patience. Enjoy the time it takes to breastfeed and look for ways to make it relaxing for you and your new baby. I would never consider any type of surgery for something that can be overcome with time, patient and some fun time with your baby developing talk. All babies develop at different times. My opinion is to work with what God has given you and seek many opinions before jumping into very invasive procedures that could cause harm to your child in the long run. Google (natural remedy for tongue-tied babies and how to help them breastfeed). You will be amazed at the great information you will receive. Everything that is not a quick fix takes effort on our part but rewards us in the long run. You owe it to you and your family to do the safest things for them. I know it is hard and we run out of patience when we are tired with newborns but these things are temporary and we are here to take care of God's gifts he give us. Pray about this if you feel so inclined and I will pray that God heals and gives you patience and relaxation on this issue. Before you know it they will be grown and on their own. My five-year-old twin still talks less clear than his sister but when I ask him to pronounciate words clearly he can actually do it. I always said he had a lazy mouth as a baby but it is good for them to keep trying. Two weeks is still too soon and you still have time to increase your milk. Most of what they get in the beginning is so concentrated before the real milk flows that they are getting what they need. He may need to nurse more often. Some babies don't get the hang of it for a few weeks and others latch on and drink right away. I am a mother of four and all breastfed differently and to this day they are all so different in looks and personality that I have to tell people (when they ask if they are all mine) that yes, they are and they are all my husband's too! I also recovered from c-sections while nursing all my children. You can do this -- YES, YOU CAN!
Take care and blessings on your family.
L.

Hello M.,

I just wanted to let you know I feel for you. My daughter is now 6 years old, but she was born tongue-tied. I sure wish someone would have told me how hard it would be to breast feed. I ended up giving in to bottle feeding just 4 days after she was born. I was sad, but life got much easier!I already had 2 boys, 5 and 6 1/2 at the time. I was so sad and so worried about when she got older I didn't know what to do. The doctor told me to wait and then I prayed. Well, my daughter speaks great, and as a matter of fact she speaks all the time. NO problems! I can barely tell that she is tongue-tied. She has no idea about it and it does not bother her at all. In fact it is her older brother that ended up with some speech trouble and he is not tongue-tied. So you really just never know.
I would talk to your doctor some more and just go with your gut feeling. There is no real right or wrong answer. None of us know how our future is going to go. I am glad to hear your baby is healthy and you are both doing well.
I may not have been able to give you perfect advice, but I wanted you to know that there are people out there that can feel for you and understand that you just want what is the best for your beautiful baby! Take Care!

I am a pediatric nurse. The pediatrician I work for routinely does frenulectomies in the office on infants. It is usually a very simple procedure. ENT's do it in their offices too. Babies usually do not need to be sedated until they are much older. You should call some ENT doctors or other pediatricians and see who will do it in their office.

I had my daughter's tongue tie snipped before she was 6 weeks. It wasn't painless, but it was fast. She got about as upset during the first immunizations. There was very little blood, and she was drinking from a bottle before we were out of the doctor's office. And she could finally latch on during breast feeding later that night. I wish we hadn't waited so long. Good luck.

Dear M.

I am married to my husband whose tongue is tied. He is an executive in Hewlett Packard and good student. Well in India his mom had the same thought. He speaks well and manages around 50 engineers under him around the globe. There in India they didnot do the operation being worried that it will hamper the speech (the technology was much old then).I really donot know whether he spoke late (he is soft spoken).

Do not worry. Try breastfeeding. But if it is difficult you can pump and substitute. I breastfeed my girls but in special cases you need to change. Here in America everything is advanced so leave it to the doctors. They will take the good decision. Enjoy and love your baby. I know moms always worry. Give a special kiss from us.

Love C.

My little guy had the same problem. Our pediatrician just did a quick procedure in his office at one of his early visits - 4 weeks, I think. I don't remember - it's all kind of a blur... Anyway, all he did was have me hold my son and he used the tool to clip the area so he wasn't tounge-tied anymore. It was over in a couple of minutes. I spent more time holding him than the doctor did doing the procedure. It was that quick.

Really - you shouldn't have to go to an oral surgeon to get the procedure done. You might have a co-pay w/the insurance, but it really isn't a big deal to get fixed.

I would be surprised if you couldn't get it done at your doctor's office.

I am tongue tied and so are 2 of my boys, one more than the other. I failed at breastfeeding for other reasons, so I can't comment on that aspect of it. My 4yr old speaks just fine, and my youngest is just learning to talk but doesn't seem to have a problem. I have heard of the procedure being done, though. Trust me, if a specialist tells you that your child is too young/small to be seen...thank them and trust their advice. You don't want a doctor to give any kind of anesthesia to your baby if they are too little...even a local anesthetic! Personally, I would wait it out, it is unlikely to be severe enough to need surgery.

~L.

Try calling an IBCLC - Barbara Roberston ###-###-#### or Cathy Holland ###-###-#### are well respected in the area. They might be able to give you a name of a pediatrician that will clip the frenulum in office instead of having to wait for the oral surgeon do it under anesthesia in a month or so.

Hi M.,

Well, we have a daughter that was tongue tied. We didn't really discover it until she was 3 years old. Our peditrican told us if we would have know sooner like when she was smaller they could have just clipped it in the office. We ended up going to the hospital to have the surgery and use a pediatric plastic surgeon. It was an expensive procedure all in all. Our insurance helped some but we still had out of pocket costs. So, perhaps if you know your son has it now they can do something earlier for him. We finally noticed our daughter never stuck out her tongue. All little ones do that at some point.That is when we noticed she had problems. She done super after the surgery. She had a list of what not to eat and she ate everything. Done wonderful!

Wishing you the best of luck! M. H.

Boy do I have experience with this! I have two boys that were born tongue tied (their father was). Our first son is now 7 he had no problems breastfeeding or speech. He just can't stick his tongue out very far. Our second son is now 4 and he didn't have a problem breasfeeding but does have to go to speech. My ped. doc. didn't say anything about it just said yeah he is tongue tied. When I took my younger son to the dentist for the first time at 3 that is when the dentist said his should be clipped by an oral surgeon. It was the most painless thing! It is not a big deal and takes just a few minutes. My son did not cry or anything. They just numb it and clip. I am a reading specialist and I often asked my coworker, speech path., about my son's speech and she said it could be due to that. We have many kids at school with speech problems that are not tongue tied though too. My doc. said now they don't clip them unless they have problems with nursing or speech. That is why one son got his done and the other didn't. If you would like to talk more just email me at ____@____.com.

Hi M.,

My daughter had the same thing. When she was born, they told me in the hospital she would need this done. She had trouble sucking ( I breast-fed also), and at 10 days old we took her to an oral surgeon. I would hardly call it surgery. They did a little numbing under the tongue, snipped it and it took no more than a minute for the whole thing. I can't remember what they used to stop the bleeding, but it was immediate and therefore no bleeding. I held her the entire time, as soon as it was done we could leave and by the time we got downstairs to the parking lot she had stopped crying. I can't remember how long it took to heal, but it was all unremarkable and she started to suck fine within a couple of days. There is a real good oral surgery department at Huron-Valley Hospital, Dr. Clayman, (this was 11 years ago). and I also saw a great oral surgeon, Dr. Anderson , in Birmingham at the 555 building for one of my other children. Send me a message if you want any of those numbers. Honestly, this procedure is way harder on you than him. Just get it done so he can properly nourish.

It is my understanding that your pedicatrician can check this in his office and clip it if it needs to be clipped, and that will quickly solve the problem. Please don't give up breastfeeding! This is more common than you'd think!

My second son was also tongue-tied. I had never even heard of it! When I started looking things up on the internet I was freaked out!! I have heard about it alot since I had my son, seems like everyone knows someone who is tongue-tied. I had my son's tongue clipped at 8 weeks, they just cut it with scissors- I was horrified, but he only cried for about 2 minutes, and could nurse normally at the next feeding. The longer you wait, the longer it takes them to realize that they can nurse until they are full. My son would nurse for about 5-10 minutes every hour- I felt like a cow! I was depressed and over whelmed. 6 weeks after getting his tongue clipped he was on track with feedings. A friend at work got her son's tongue clipped after 3 weeks, and did not have as much of an adjustment time. There are a lot of people who think you should just wait and see- but you know what is right for your baby. I have talked to adult men who said they wished they had had their tongue clipped- imagine never being able to like an ice cream cone, and that is just the start. If you have it done in the first few weeks, they just do it in the office, if you wait it becomes a surgery. Ask your pediatrician if they do it, of if they can refer you to someone who does. Good luck! Don't give up on nursing!!

Hi M.- my son had a tied tongue when he was born- not slight it was very noticable. We were advised not to worry about it right away but if his tongue did not naturally stretch that we would need to have it clipped. When he was 9 months old we went to have it done- in the office but doctor said looked better and for us to wait- when he was about 14/15 months old We took him to doctors for a check- up- and discussed the tongue again since our son was not speaking- The doctor clipped in right there in the office- it took about 30 seconds bleed for a few seconds and all was fine. I don't know about the surgery thing- maybe since the kids were older it required surgury but ours was done right in the office. My son is starting to say words now- but did have a delay.