Baby Tongue Tied

Both my children are tongue tied. My son is 16 and my daughter is 8 and neither of them have had it cut. My children have not really had any problems with eating or speech, my son cannot lick the top of his lip but that it is really and my daughters is a little better than that. So far the only limitation I have seen is that my son cannot say Austraila. I really think it got better as they got older and the Dr. advised us to wait until they got older to see if it would. Good luck.

Dear T.,

Don't worry! It is not a big deal! My daughter is 30 & I begged her pediatrition to do it when she was tiny but he said it was best to be done before she started school. I was not happy with his answer so I took her to my dentist at the age of 4. He put her in the chair~used a little topical anesthetic & before she knew it he had it clipped! It bled a bit but she really did not cry long at all. Her tongue was tied to the TIP! So bad it would cause her tongue to curl downward with an indention on the tip of it! Never had a problem!
Don't fear!
C. w.

Hi T.,
I'm M.. My son was also tongue tied. My ped also suggested I see a specialist, but my LC recommended another ped that snipped right in her office. I went to see the other ped, and she snipped it right then and there. He was 2 weeks old at the time. I'm not sure if age makes a difference. He only cried from being held down. As soon as it was done I nursed him, and there was probably no more than a few drops of blood. My LC said it was better to see a ped who does it because specialist coterize(sp?) the cut and that can be more painful then the actual cutting it self. She said it can also make the healing time longer. All in all it was not very traumatic since it was done very quickly. I hope that helped you a little =)

Hi T.,

A friend of mines son when through the operation last year. He was 4 at the time and still did not speak. The operaion was simple and did not take long. Since it was in the mouth it healed very quickly and he started talking a few weeks later. Im sure your son will be just fine. Kids are very resilant.

C.

They had to do that to me when I was little and I don't remember a thing! Apparently they just clip the skin under the tongue a little to release it to full movement range. Do it early before speaking development is affected. Don't worry ---

T., no worries!!! We caught my son's when he was 10 days old... when he was hurting me while nursing! OUCH!!! Anyway, we went to an ENT in Wellington. We were in and out in less than 30 min.! He looked under his tongue, took a pair of sterile scisors and snipped once, took another look, snipped again, and was satisfied. Not a cry or a drop of blood!!! The doc. left the room after asking me to nurse the babe, which was the difference in night and day! And that was it!!!

My 16 month old has two tight frenulums, the one under the tongue and the one on his upper lip. I discovered it when he was less than two months old because I still had very painful nursing sessions. After learning more about the procedure I decided against it. It was too painful and not worth it since the only one having problems w/ it was me. He was nursing fine and gaining weight well. I don't believe in clipping it just because of the what ifs.

I was tongue tied also and when they tried to cut it, there was a vein running through it. Since I was so small they told my mom to leave it alone and see if it affected my speech. It did not. I was tongue tied until I was 19yrs old and it never affected me(except I couldn't stick my tongue out at anyone, lol). They cut it when I got my wisdom teeth out but it wasn't necessary and the tip of my tongue was numb for months. I would ask the doctor whether the procedure could affect your babies eating because I know it affected mine for awhile. The procedure itself is not a big deal though.

Hi
My son was born like that also. At 4 months old I got the tie released by Dr Curtis Johnson, he is located near the Broward Mall and also in Coral Springs. He is great and is a ENT pediactric doc. He put the baby to sleep and with a laser it was done. No stitches or anything and I gave the baby tylenol with codeine for 1 day. My Ped didnt suggest to get it done cause he didnt think it would effect anything in the future, but I had to put the baby under to get re-circumcized anyways so the 2 docs did the surgeries at the same time and my baby was put under only once. I know some docs do it right there in the office with a pair of scissors, but I dont know what age they do that up to. I like that mine was put to sleep cause there was no pain.
I think it is better to get it done now before you find out that any speech is affected down the road, now they will never remember it.
Good Luck

Hi T. - my two year old had the surgery a few months ago. I used Dr. Ari Wirtshafter in Boca and he was great. The procedure took a whole ten minutes, LOL. The biggest trauma is just them coming out from under the anesthesia - lots of crying from being disoriented. He didn't seem to be too uncomfortable afterward he ate and drank normally. We did give him pain meds for the first couple of days and he pointed to his tongue occasionally as if it might be bothering him a bit. Of course your little guy is younger so he may react differently. The doctor we saw said they all respond differently, some eat and drink just fine and others are off for a couple of days.

Not sure this was much help... but I do know how nerve wracking it can be, even for such a small procedure.

R.

if it's not interfering w/ eating (& I'm going to guess it has not, since he's now 6months old), then I would ask about waiting. my friend's little boy was tongue-tied & the specialist waited until about 18months.
it was about a week recovery- it hurt his mama more than him I think!

Hi T.,

This is one thing that I wish I had done when my son was younger. Because it did not interfere with eating, etc. we followed our peds advice not to clip. My son is now 6 and he still has some speech delays associated with it as well as some pain occasionally when trying to move his tongue certain ways (like when brushing his teeth, etc.). From what I've been told, this is pretty non-invasive at your son's age, waiting makes the procedure as well as the recovery more complicated. Good luck in your decision!

Sincerely,
C.

My friends son had that done and it was quick and easy and he didn't feel any pain. I hope your child will have the same experience. Good luck!!

My eldest, who is now 14, was tongue tied as a baby. We went to the specialist, adn he actually suggested we wait and see. By thetime he was a year old, it had stretched back and out of the way. Ask the specialist if this is an option. If not... From what I understood at the time, was that it was a fairly simple procedure and heals very quickly. Best of luck to you and your little one.

Our son was born tongue tied and this was first pointed out to us when he was less than a day old by the ped who visited him in the hospital. Luckily we are patients at Palm Beach Pediatrics and two doctors there, Dr. Kraft and Dr. Stout specialize in frenectomy (sp?). When DS went in for his 1 week visit, he had his tongue clipped in the office. No medication and minimal bleeding (a bandage applied briefly stopped it). I nursed him and he was just fine! (He cried MORE at his 2 month shots than he did for this.)
Matthew's tongue took awhile to "settle in" and no longer has a groove in the front part... he moves it around his mouth very well now. I'm sure he'll use it one day to stick his tongue out at me, dad, or big sis... LOL (I didn't think, but that's something that someone who is tongue-tied can't do... lick ice cream either... hmm)
I'd encourage you to get the procedure done asap. I understand it becomes more difficult with time and speech therapy may be required if you wait too long.
Best wishes,
T.