Tongue Tie Advice?

Question

My 5 day old has a pretty significant tongue tie. We are bottle feeling so it hasn’t necessarily affected her latch or weight gain/feeding, which is great. The pediatrician that saw her in the hospital said that it is definitely significant enough to consider fixing, but that it also isn’t necessary. He said that it will stretch with her as she grows and that it won’t cause any speech problems.
We’ve noticed in the last few days that she dribbles a lot of milk when feeding, as if she’s having a tough time sealing her mouth around the bottle or moving the milk to the back of her mouth. We are meeting with her pediatrician again tomorrow to discuss and ask questions but wanted to pop on here and see if any of you had any advice or experience?
My initial thought was that I didn’t want to put her through a surgery if it wasn’t necessary. BUT if it’s going to cause her problems drinking or using her paci, then I’m thinking we might should go ahead and get it clipped?

Answer

I would get it fixed but not by the person that told you it would stretch on its own (it won’t).  My son was 16 months before we were able to get his fixed and he was having issues with speech and swallowing (his tongue wasn’t able to move food to the sides of his mouth).  
There is a tongue tied baby support group on Facebook that helped me find a provider that knows what they’re doing.  It was very helpful. 
Dr ghaheri’s website might be helpful too

Answer

My son had a pretty significant tongue tie that didn’t get diagnosed right away. It caused significant latch issues, so it was well worth it to get it clipped. It took like five minutes for the whole procedure and he had seemingly no pain afterwards. I would get another opinion. But personally I’m not sure I would chance it stretching out later. I’d do it while the baby is really small. 🤷‍♀️

Answer

Usually when there's a tongue tie there's also a lip tie. I'd get a second opinion if I were you mama. It's better to go ahead and get them taken care of when they're little because when they are older they have to go through therapy before they can get it done

Answer

Both my kids had lip ties. Didn't affect weight gain, but made latching very painful for me. With our first, my husband didn't want to do unnecessary surgery, so we didn't get it fixed right away. At 2 months I told him I'd rather give birth again than continue feeding our son. With our daughter we got it done at 2 weeks. With the third we'll probably do it sooner if it's an issue.

Answer

My son (younger) had a significant tongue tie (right to the tip of his tongue) that we got corrected while in the hospital. It was great. Quick snip while I stood right there, then immediately on the boob for soothing. My daughter (older) had a mild tongue tie that I was told would stretch as well so we left it alone. Now, my sister's son is in his mid teens and HIS tongue tie is starting to mess up his teeth and he may need orthodontics. That spooked me so I went to the dentist and scheduled my daughter to get hers clipped when she was about 2. We should have checked reviews on the place because she had a TERRIBLE experience. I had to stay home with my son, but my husband said he assisted giving the sedative because she was super nervous and they did nothing to put her at ease. Then they strapped her down while she was still awake and pulled out the instruments. They shooed my gus and out of the room and he said he heard her SCREAMING the whole time. He was all panicky. Finally the nurse came out red-faced and was trying to play off that she had so many years experience in pediatric dentistry. Whatever. The dentist came out and told him he could go home, gave no exercises, and said she could eat right away. My daughter was only JUST falling asleep as they drove home. She ended up biting her tongue so bad that the tip had a big, white, firm, gummy-like patch for a long time. She had a nightmare that night, refused to talk that day and wouldn't let us near her moth for a few days. I called to complain to the dentist and he brushed me off, then at the end of the call said "Is that all?" And when I confirmed the end of my list of complaints he hung up on me. She's 3 now and has improved a lot. I can look in her mouth, we talk about good doctors, I can brush her teeth and she hasn't had a nightmare since. It was a BAD experience, though. I thought if we did it young, like 2, she wouldn't be as affected.

Answer

Make an appt to see a pediatric dentist. Our daughter had both a lip and tongue tie corrected by a ped dentist. She was 2 weeks old. It takes as long as they are old to relearn to use their mouth muscles. So it took her two weeks to relearn to eat. The sooner you have it done, the easier the recovery. Our dentist did a laser procedure. It took maybe 15 min from when they left with her to when she came back. She nursed immediately after. Then it was about four weeks of exercises and stretches so it wouldn’t reattach. No way would I want to attempt those with an older, stronger kid who has teeth.

Answer

My son had a tongue tie and since I was breast feeding we went ahead and got it corrected right then and there in the hospital. It wasn't a surgery type of thing, they simply just cut it right then and there. It was painful to watch, but I knew it was for the best since I really wanted to breastfeed. My son is now 4 and did have a speech delay which the pediatrician did say it could be from that. But at 2 we got him the therapy he needed for it and is now doing better than ever. And whose to say if that's really why he had a speech delay, it could be for many different reasons. 
The way I see it is it's a 50/50 chance either way. But if correcting it now is better than possibly having to do it later on down the road, I'd go ahead and do it.

Tongue Tie Advice?

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