Tongue-tied Newborn Won't Nurse W/o Nipple Shield

My son also had Latch problems but was not tongue tied. We were given a shield in the hospital which helped with his latch, but eventually had a negative effect on my supply. The LC thought it was because my nipples were not getting the proper stimulation. Just something to keep in mind!

Everyone I know had it clipped...Dr Morgolis in BG is excellent. He was my pediatric dentist and my kids now go there.

Well you have 3 options:
get it clipped
wait and continue using the shield while daily trying to get baby to latch without it, and see if that ends up working
and if that doesnt you can have babys tongue clipped later? its not something you have to do right now. I would wait and try (usually you can give up the shield around 2 weeks to a month or so..I used it for a month) and if you are still having issues then clip it or baby may get tooo used to it and then never want to latch without it. Good luck!!!

Hi,

I didn't nurse my son, but he was also tonuge-tied. He was born in June, and his ped. said we'd "keep an eye on it". By Dec. we could see his tongue was starting to fork. We went to an ear, nose, throat doc. What he did was spray something to numb the area and then "snip". It did seem to bleed a lot, but it might have just been because he was so little and I was so nervous : ) We had one follow up after that where they snipped again. He's now 5 and has no speech problems, can lick ice cream, whatever. The only weird thing is his fork never really went away, the tip of his tongue looks like a heart.

My niece didn't get hers done til she was 3. Becasue they waited so long, they actually had to do it as an out-patient. They had started to noctice a lisp, and she couldn't stick her tongue out far enough to lick anything. She's now 8 and fine.

Sorry this was so long, but I just wanted to give you as many details as I could remember lol

Good luck : )

My son was tongue tied also and had a difficult time nursing and also required the nipple shield. I ended up pumping and feeding him with bottles. When he was 18 months old we decided to have the procedure, but I wish that we had done so sooner. I am also a speech-language pathologist and the reviews are mixed on whether to clip or not. My son was not able to lick suckers or ice cream cones before the procedure, but he is able to now! Good luck!

My daughter is also tongue-tied and we were able to breastfeed without any problems. Also, my dr. said that reviews are mixed about clipping the tongue and unless there were extreme feeding issues or if she had trouble later on in life that they would not cut it. I am also an early childhood teacher and I have a lot of friends in the speech/language department and I valued their opinion as much as I did my drs. They also suggested NOT cutting it and that most likely the tongue will stretch out as my daughter grows. She is currently 19 months old and is speaking just fine at this point (developmentally). Does this mean that she won't have speech issues in the future...NO, but getting the tongue clipped does not guarentee that either. Just do your research and go with what you feel is best for your child. Good luck.

My son was tounge tied also and he had a very difficult time breastfeeding. We decided to have his tounge clipped when he was 6 weeks old. I am so glad that we did but I wish I had done it earlier bc he was very used to the bottle and did not want to nurse anymore. The procedure was very quick...I believed he cried for only 30 sec. Good luck!

A.,
My son was also tongue-tied; although he did nurse, it was painful for me. At 8 weeks old we had his tongue clipped and he immediately starting nursing comfortably. The procedure lasts all of 30 seconds and according to the ENT doctor who performed the surgery is relatively painless early on but can be more painful if left untreated and the taken care of later on. My son only cried for a minute after the procedure and I think most of that was that he was upset that the doctor was holding his tongue.

Best of luck,
C.

Hi A. - My son is almost three and tongue-tied. It has not caused any problems at all. He nursed with no trouble. I mention it at every well child appointment, and my doctor says there's no reason to clip it. My son also has started to see a pediatric dentist, and he concurred with my doctor. In fact, my dentist has been in practice for over 10 years and told me that he has only recommended a clip three times during that entire time! I wouldn't worry about it. Congratulations and enjoy your beautiful boy!

I had the same thing happen to me on my third child. I could never get him to latch on correctly so I ended up pumping for all of my feedings except one each day--and that one feeding a day was painful. The lactation consultant in the hospital told me he had tongue tie. My pediatrician said he probably did, but didn't recommend clipping it. Apparently tongue clipping is considered controversial now--although I'm not sure why.

My son is having speech problems--although he has problems with low muscle tone and speech motor planning problems in addition to the tongue tie. YOu may want to get a second opinion on the tongue clipping. If I had to do it over again, I would have.

I personally think nursing is extremely important to my child. If he continues to have issues with nursing, he may give up, or you may give up! Clipping the tongue at this age is such a minimal procedure that barely hurts and has almost no recovery time - simple and fast. If you wait it out to see if he has a speech problem later the procedure becomes much more invasive - most of the time requiring children to be completely sedated and staying in the hospital. In my opinion I would do it now, saving recovery and surgery time/more money for a surgeon/and more pain not to mention the possibility of not nursing as long as you were planning!!!

Hi A. -

I would definitely suggest getting it looked at by a doctor who specializes in tongue-ties, especially if you are having latching issues. I had very serious supply issues, and saw numerous lactation consultants. They always mentioned they thought he had a tongue-tie, so I went to see two doctors about it when he was in his first weeks of life: an ENT at Children's and a pediatric dentist. They both didn't think he was tongue-tied. But at 6 months old, I was still seeing lactation consultants (the best of the best, to try to figure out my issues), and they were still thinking he had a tongue-tie. I was VERY hesitant to believe them because the two doctors had said he wasn't. But they gave me some web sites that discussed other non-BFing issues with tongue-tie. Things like speech difficulty, teeth issues, not being able to properly lick an ice cream cone, French kissing issues (ha). So I decided to look into it with an expert they referred me to in Buffalo Grove. He evaluated my son as having a severe tongue tie, and I grilled him on his credentials and why he thought that to ensure he wasn't needlessly saying that. We ended up doing the surgery, and it wasn't fun but it was VERY quick. On the way home from the doctor, I could see my son using his tongue in ways he never had before. So I am very glad we freed it up for him.

The doctor is Fred Margolis with Partners in Oral Health. ###-###-####. If you'd like me to find the web sites my LCs sent me about tongue-tie, let me know.

A.:

I can't speak to if he will latch without the shield or not but i do think that if he is tongue tied he should be clipped.

there are many reasons to do so. speech/dental/breastfeeding/eating/

warmly,

P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

I personally am tongue-tied with no speech problems. I mean I can't roll my Rs but other that I have no problems with speech. With that said, both of my boys are tongue tied. I nursed my eldest son til he was 1 years old without any problems. I also nursed my youngest son til he was 18 months with no problems. Both my boys are speaking fine right now. Unless they have any speech problems later I don't plan on getting them clipped. I know back in the day the Dr's would always recommend getting it clipped. My sons' ped said that they found no real evidence that it was a necessity so they no longer recommend it unless there are problems. Now there are different degrees of being tongue-tied. Like one of the previous posters said they couldn't touch the top of their mouth. I don't have that problem and neither do my boys. But, if your son does continue to have problems you may want to look at it being clipped. You have to decide what's best for you and your son. I am one, if there is no problem than why get it clipped but not against it if it needs to be done. Good luck.

my brother is 27 years old, so tongue tied that he can't touch the roof of his mouth. He nursed until he was almost 3. He could have it clipped now but he would have to learn to speak all over again. Anyway he is fine with it. The baby is little yet, don't worry about it now just keep working with him. Congratulations on your new baby and try to go easy on yourself and him.

I would definately get the babies tongue clipped, as some of the other moms said it only takes a couple of seconds and they will never remember it being done and the two of you can begin to bond. Some tongues can be tied tighter than others and if your babies is than there can be speech problems later, i wouldn't wait.

Speaking from the dental point of view. The procedure is not a big deal. In your average adoloscent and adult if feels like a slight tongue bite or burn on the roof of the mouth. Yes it can lead to speach impairments or tooth positioning problems. If I had a child that was tongue tied I would modt def get it trimmed. Not sure how the procedure is done on babies but I know local anesthetic is used on older children. Couldn't tell you about the breast feedig end of this. Hope this helps.

I don't think that a short frenulum in a newborn will affect their speech later on. I also don't think that the nursing will get any easier until the frenulum is clipped. I also believe that the earlier you get it clipped the easier it is on the baby (little pain and little to no blood loss). But here are some other resources that you can check on that...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/t023300.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/az12.asp

Best wishes,
J.

My second child was tongue tied. It torn on it's own when he was maybe a year. It was painful, and the dr gave a script for a topical numbing gel.

My third was also tongue tied. We decided to clip it. It was a simple proceedure. They put a clamp on it, then cut it. It was a bit hard to watch, but he was fine shortly afterward. I was surprised that they weren't planning to use any pain medicine or numbing gel. I had brought the numbing gel that I had leftover just in case. When I mentioned using it, the dr was like "that's a good idea". Yeah, you think!

So if you have it done, ask them to call in a prescription for you ahead of time. Pick it up at the pharmacy and bring it with you.

If it's affecting the nursing, I would probably go ahead and get it done with. Just insist on the numbing gel, or at least get some good over the counter stuff.

When my daughter was born I tried nursing her but it wasn't working. On my last day in the hospital a nurse, who was still tongue tied, noticed my daughter was tongue tied. The nurse did have speach issues. My doctor was actually in the room when the nurse found this. I continued to try and nurse my daughter but it hurt so bad I had to quit. Within a couple of days of leaving the hospital, we went to the doctor and he clipped her tongue. She didn't even flinch or cry. It was over within a minute. Best decision we made. She began feeding, now from a bottle, much better and has no residual effects from this and she is now 8. I would definately get this done or your son could end up with speach problems like the nurse had.

I would go and get the opinion of a specialist before getting it clipped, that's for sure. Ask your pediatrician for a referral. Our daughter is also tongue tied (not badly) but she's been nursing without any problems since birth. And I never used a nipple shield. Our family physician did some research and found that she could very well outgrow it. It's really an issue for more severe cases because they have trouble talking (apparently my mother-in-law was tongue-tied and had to be clipped). Our doc said to wait and see... And our daughter is doing so well that I think it's not going to be an issue for us. But our doc also recommended that we see a specialist for a 2nd opinion if we were worried... So that's what I would do. Also, lots of babies use a nipple shield for other reasons and get kind of hooked on it... So I would keep trying to go without it every day and see what happens.

Hi A.,

My son was tongue tied and we had it clipped at Childrens Memorial hospital when he was two weeks old. It was no big deal - he cried for 10 seconds (harder on me then him) - nursed right after and never seemed bothered by it again. He was able to latch much better after that as well. The membrane is so thin it is really easy to clip at that age and it heals very very quickly with no intervention or help from you. They numbed my sons with local drops before they clipped.

I really stressed over the decision and my uncle is a dentist and said there is no reason not to do it. It just prevents problems down the line.

One of my good friends just had to have both her 18 month old and her 3 year old go under anethesia to have theirs clipped due to speech problems. It is a MUCH bigger deal to do it when the child is older. However there is no guarantee that it will cause problems later though as my husband is tongue tied and has no speech problems or any issues because of it.

I guess from our experience - there is no real downside that we saw and if you do it early it isn't a big deal.

Good Luck,
H.

My daughter was tongue tied. I went through two weeks of very painful nursing. The lactation consulant actually discovered it at the hospital but the ped said it wouldn't make a difference with nursing and I didn't know anything about it. So we took her home and I did some research and at her two week visit I had our pediatrician clip her tongue.
It was the BEST decision I ever made!!! I told the pediatrician (a man who never had or would experience nursing that it most certainly DID effect nursing for her and me!!!)
She began to nurse "normally" and I was pain free in two feedings and her tongue (which looked a bit heart shaped at birth) has developed "normally". There is NO SIGN that ther was ever anthing out of the typical. She talked early and has wonderful speech (not that I know what would have happened with that had me not clipped it.) Also, had we not clipped it she never would have been able to stick out her tongue past her lips. She really enjoys playing with her tongue and making faces. I am really glad she can.

The procedure (at two weeks) was fast and less tramatic than a shot. We were in the office for her well check up and charged a bit of a fee for the actual procedure, but it was worth every penny. I think it may be concidered elective though it effected her health and growth to be able to eat comfortably. She did not like being held down (which you do if you vaccinate) and the clip resulted in one drop of blood and she did not cry after we released her from the hold. She was happy and not in pain. I nursed right there in the office after the clip and could already see improvement in my comfort. *She is my second so I had an idea of what to expect with nursing.*

I would tell anyone who asks to have it done!!! Good luck!

My daughter was tongue tied and I would recommend getting it cut now, and here is why. When my daughter was an infant, my pediatrician said we would wait and see and that it probably wouldn't be any problem, but when my daughter was about 18 months, they recommended having it clipped. If they had done it when she was an infant, it would have been SO easy - just a small snip in the doctors office and you go home. They said it doesn't even hurt b/c it's scar tissue anyway. Because we had it done when my daughter was old enough to be scared and not cooperate, we had to put her under and the surgeon had to snip it then. Much more costly and risky and scairy putting such a little one under. I recommend doing it now - then you don't have to worry about it in the future.

First, congrats on the birth of your child! My son was tongue-tied, but by the time we discovered it and made an appointment to get it clipped, he was 3 weeks old. We had it done by laser at a dentist's office. Unfortunately, by that time pumping was doing me no good and Spence flat-out REFUSED to breastfeed. It broke my heart, but I don't regret the surgery. He couldn't stick his tongue out past his bottom lip it was so bad. He was delayed on sticking it out, but now he can do so like any other child and hopefully he won't have any speech issues.

Good luck!

My son was born tongue-tied, and the ped. mentioned it to me in the hospital, but I was so out of it, I don't remember the extent of what she said. Well anyway, we did not have it done, the doctor said we could wait and see if it corrects itself and how his speech was. He did not latch on at all, so he was formula fed because I didn't know what to do. If our next child is born tongue-tied I would have it done. On another note, my son's tongue did correct itself and he has no speech problems at all. The only reason I would have it done with the next child is to be able to breastfeed.