Tongue Tied?

Question

Anyone elses baby born tongue tied? Did you clip it immediatly or wait?

Answer 1

My son was, I believe he was about a month old and it was done in the docs office~no problems whatsoever.

Answer 2

I'm tongue tied. I was scheduled to have my tongue clipped, but it was the same day that my baptism was, so they choose baptism. It's not that bad. You just can't stick your tongue out as far as the other kids. If I were to get it clipped now at the age of 25 then I would have to learn to talk over again and learn to eat ans swallow, plus it's not an out patient surgery anymore, I would have to be put under. The longer you wait the riskier it is. You can forgo it all together if you want, he/she won't hate you for it.

Answer 3

I was born tongue tied and I got cliped at the age of 3. I took speech classes until I was in 3rd grade. I am now 33 years old and I talk quite well! Maybe too well LOL!!!

Answer 4

My ex-husband and several in his family had it and it wasn't an issue way back then and the docs didn't take care of the issue. Now after having it clipped when they were older, they have a hard time pronouncing certain words. I think the earlier the better, that gives them a head start on learning to speak correctly.

Answer 5

My baby had problem latching, so the lactation nurse took a look and thought that "thing" holding the tongue was short and too front. So she referred him to a ENT doctor, who just cut it.

I'd recommend cutting it, it doesn't really hurt the baby, took like 5 seconds. The longer you wait, the more likely that they'll feel pain and be more aware. Yes, sometimes they don't need it but it really doens't hurt to get it cut. And what if he really needed it later, it'd be much harder to do then.

Answer 6

My third child was born with a mild tongue tie. It only seemed to effect us on one side (the bigger side) when nursing and she was gaining weight well so I decided to just work with her. It seemed to stretch because by the time she was a couple of mos old we didn't have any problems nursing.

Answer 7

I was tongue tied when I was born, however my parents waited until I was 3 years old to have it clipped. I couldnt even lick and ice cream cone, my tongue didnt go past my teeth. I think it was then that they noticed that it wasnt just with eating that I had a problem it was with speaking as well.

When a baby has a restrictive or tight frenulum (tongue tie), it can impair the ability of the tongue to move properly to effectively breastfeed. The frenulum is a piece of tissue that attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth.

You can see your own frenulum in the mirror by opening your mouth and sticking your tongue out and up. The frenulum looks like a string that holds the tongue in place.

Tongue tie is just one reason a baby may be experiencing difficulty breastfeeding. It can be difficult to diagnose a baby as tongue-tied and assess if this condition has an impact on breastfeeding. For that reason, it is vital that you obtain an evaluation by a lactation consultant experienced in evaluating the frenulum if you think your baby is tongue-tied.

A restrictive frenulum may cause any, or all, of the following symptoms:

Baby:

Heart-shaped tongue tip. The tip of the tongue may be heart shaped or have a “v” shape indentation in the center when the baby sticks out the tongue or cries. (It is possible to have a restrictive frenulum without this classic symptom or to have a tongue that functions adequately, yet has the heart shaped tip.)
Square or round tongue tip. The tongue looks square, or round, on the tip instead of pointed when extended.
Difficulty extending the tongue. If your baby is tongue tied Your baby has difficulty extending the tongue past the gum line. Tapping the tip of the tongue should cause the tongue to come forward, where it should cross the gums.
Tongue does not cup well. When your little one sucks on your finger the tongue should wrap around it like a hot dog bun wraps around a hot dog.
Difficulty moving tongue from side to side. If you rub your baby’s lower gum, the tongue should follow your finger, side to side.
Frenulum is attached very close to the tip of the tongue. Some babies have frenulums attached near the front, but the frenulum is very elastic and allows effective breastfeeding without treatment.

Breastfeeding problems:

Failure to gain weight. Baby breastfeeds very frequently and yet may fail to gain weight appropriately.
Sound of sucking air. If your baby loses her seal or suction at the breast causing her to come off the breast frequently and creates the sound of sucking air.
Clicking sounds. Your baby may have a restrictive frenulum if the click while breastfeeding is associated with an increase in nipple pain at the time of the click. (The click can be the sound of the tongue snapping back in the mouth or the sound of the loss of suction.)
Tongue doesn’t extend properly. When your baby’s tongue can not been seen over the gumline when you gently peel back the lower lip during a feeding. Peeling back the lip will also frequently cause the baby with a restrictive frenulum to come off the breast because of a poor seal.
Extremely sore nipples. If your nipples hurt through the entire feeding despite the use of good latch and position technique your baby may be tongue tied. The soreness is created by the tongue rubbing against the tip of the nipple when the tongue is in the retracted position.
An increase in pain near the end of the feed as the baby tires and the milk flow slows. Some babies can extend the tongue properly for the early part of the feeding when the milk is flowing faster and they have more energy, but are unable to maintain the correct suck through the whole feeding.
This list is just a guideline. Be aware that some of these same symptoms can be seen in other disorders of breastfeeding and may not indicate frenulum problems.

Tongue-tie is a condition in which the free movement of the tongue is restricted due to abnormal attachment of the base of the tongue (lingual frenulum) towards the tip of the tongue. The lingual frenulum may be too short and taut after birth, or may not have receded and may remain attached too far along the base of the tongue. Children with tongue-tie may be unable to protrude the tongue, touch the roof of the mouth, or move the tongue from side to side. If the lingual frenum extends to the tip of the tongue, a v-shaped notch or heart shape can be seen at the tip. Ankyloglossia is often hereditary, and there is no means of prevention.

Problems Associated with Tongue Tie
Tongue tie can cause feeding problems in infants; if this is the case, feeding difficulties are usually noticed early in an infant’s life. Feeding difficulties may include problems breastfeeding and sucking, poor weight gain for the baby, and poor milk supply for the mother. Feeding difficulties may be a reason to consider early surgery to cut the lingual frenulum and loosen the tongue.

In some children, tongue tie may also cause speech defects, especially articulation of the sounds - l, r, t, d, n, th, sh, and z. Preventing speech defects or improving a child’s articulation may be another reason to consider surgical intervention. The tongue is remarkably able to compensate, however, and many children have no speech impediments due to ankyloglossia.

Although it is difficult to predict which infants with tongue tie are likely to suffer articulation problems later, the following characteristics are common in children with speech problems:

V-shaped notch at the tip of the tongue
Inability to protrude the tongue past the upper gums (or incisors)
Inability to touch the roof of the mouth
Difficulty moving the tongue from side to side
Tongue tie may contribute to dental problems as well, causing a persistent gap between the bottom two front teeth.

Frenulectomy: Surgery for Tongue Tie
When tongue tie surgery (frenulectomy) is recommended in an infant, it may be done in the office. Older children require a brief general anesthesia. It is a simple procedure and there are normally no complications.
Back to the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology

When it comes to whether or not clipping the frenulum is necessary, two things are clear. First, rampant unwarranted clipping has occurred in the past. Clipping the tongue is a procedure that dates back at least a couple hundred years, and many babies endured this procedure unnecessarily. Second, there are clearly some babies who have significant difficulty breastfeeding because of tongue-tie. These infants may actually have trouble gaining weight and cause the mother a good deal of breast tenderness from a disorganized suck due to tongue-tie. The question then remains which babies truly need clipping of the frenulum. And the answer to that is a source of much controversy. Ankyloglossia severe enough to significantly impede breastfeeding is thankfully an uncommon problem. And tongue-tie significant enough to truly cause speech problems is even more uncommon. Most of the time, as the child gets older, the frenulum stretches such that speech problems do not occur. It doesn't surprise me that you have found conflicting answers from different doctors and books because there simply is no consensus on this issue. And unfortunately, there are no good scientific studies to guide in this decision. That being the case, many physicians deal with this issue on a case-by-case basis and recommend clipping only when problems are clearly being caused by the tongue-tie rather than doing it on the assumption that the tongue-tie might cause problems in the future.

I hope this helps.
Robert Steele, MD