Frenulum Cutting / Baby Is Tongue Tied!

My girlfriend's 18 month old was tongue tied, she had a lactation consultant come to the house and told her. They took her to the doc and he left it up to them to decide, they did it, maybe at about 1 1/2 months but for her it didn't change her sucking habits & she couldn't breastfeed. So if you do it, I would say the sooner the better.
K.

My son is 8 and had his frenulum snipped when he was a baby, the did not snip it enough and he is having trouble with tongue placement for speech. We are in the process of deciding if we can teach him the movement and if his tongue will reach or if we need to have it snipped more.

Gosh, a few months ago someone wrote in with this question and, from the responses, I couldn't believe how many people knew about this, had kids who had this, or had had it themselves who all offered all sorts of wonderful advice. I hope you get the same response!

My baby daughter was tongue tied and had difficulty eating too. At six weeks, I think it was, we had her tongue tie cut. The tongue bled for a few seconds, she cried for a few seconds, (I cried a little longer), then it was over. It has never been an issue ever again. I am glad we did it (and I'm not into doing anything that isn't absolutely necessary). She is nine now and thriving in every way.

Good luck. Looking back, this is one of the easiest "problems" we have ever had to deal with concerning the kids, and one that was the most easily rectified. I just wish all the other headaches/heartaches that crop up as a parent were this easily resolved!

Both my husband and I were born tongue-tied. His was cut as an infant when family noticed his speech was different and mine never was as my parents had no idea. I was fortunate in that it never affected my speech. When our son was born, my husband had the wisdom to have the nurse check my son's frenulum right away and sure enough he was tongue-tied. We had it cut the next day at the hospital along with the circumcision. I'm glad we did it and I think it made nursing much easier for him too. His latching on wasn't so great and the suction wasn't as strong as I expected, but boy could I tell the difference afterward. I agree with the other moms to have it done sooner rather than later. It will work out fine.

We had our son's frenulum clipped at 5 weeks after experiencing some challenges with breastfeeding. (He is now 7.5 months old). Whether or not to clip was a tough decision to make. I agonized for about a month before finally having it done. My husband and I read up on different people's experiences (posted online), read the American Academy of Pediatrics articles on frenotomy (or frenulectomy, depending on which article you read), and just sat with it for a long time. We had decided before our son's birth not to have any invasive procedures done to him during the birth or afterwards (no pain medications during his birth, no circumcision, etc)...I say that only to emphasize how hard a decision this was for us. We saw five different lactation consultants and two different ENTs to get LOTS of professional opinions before having the procedure done. But after being told by the second ENT specialist that the tongue tie may affect his speech in the future, we decided to have it done. My son practically slept through the procedure, and I have noticed more dexterity with his tongue since then. Long story short, my only advice is to make sure the ENT specialist is good with kids. It seems like a totally obvious point, but the first ENT we went to was not, and I would not have been comfortable having him clip my son's frenulum. The ENT at Children's in Oakland was wonderful and I totally trusted him. His name is Robert Wesman, and you can check out his website online. http://www.robertwesman.com
The only other thing that I'd say is that I'm really glad I had it done at 5 weeks, rather than waiting months and months... it would be even harder for me to do it now that he is more aware.
Good luck with your decision.

Both of my boys were tongue tied. My older son was pretty bad so we had his cut. He could not stick his tongue out of his mouth at all. He couldn't suck on a pacifier and it was affecting his nursing. I was told it could affect their speech and didn't want to wait that long before we took care of it. We had it cut around 3 months. It made a huge difference. My younger son's isn't as bad. So I opted to wait to see if it affect his speech.

The precedure is quick. They numb it first with that liquid stuff. There was more bleeding then I expected, but it heals really fast. He was able to nurse right after they were done.

If your daughter is having problems latching on, I would get it cut as soon as possible.

Dear B L,
Congratulations on your beautiful 3 week old baby!
Get it clipped. Don't wait. It's not the same thing as "should I circumsize or shouldn't I?"
People get their baby's ears pierced and depending on the extent of the "tie", it could be just about as simple a procedure.
I actually had a friend when I was a little girl who was tongue tied. I remember her vividly. She didn't have a lot of friends because she talked funny. I didn't care. I thought she was unique and great. Now as an adult, I can look back and realize that what she sounded like was a deaf child trying to talk. She could not move her tongue enough to form words. She would open her mouth and show me why she couldn't speak right and I will never forget the first time she showed me. I said, "Why can't your mom just take some scissors and cut that thing?" She finally had it done the summer before we went to 5th grade. I don't know why her parents waited that long. Her whole life of talking funny and being taken out of class for special speach therapy. To this day, she is the only person I ever knew with that condition, but when I was pregnant with each of my kids all those years later, I said to myself, "If that happens, I'm not waiting."
This topic has come up before and I know there are varying degrees....some people say just leave it alone and your kid can learn to deal. But why?
Look in the mirror and say the wordS "THE". "LIPSTICK". "PURPLE". Think about what your tongue is doing while you say it and then pretend your tongue can't cooperate. The tongue effects chewing and swallowing and everything else.
Absolutely everything is a personal decision. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to your own baby. Only you can get the opinions of medical professionals and decide what is best. I personally think that taking care of these things the younger, the better.

Very best of wishes!

I realize this is a bit different than what you are considering, but I'd thought I'd let you know how great the laser procedure went for us. We just had our daughter's upper lip frenulum cut back with a laser at the dentist because it was interfeering with her two front teeth on top. She has a large gap between them & the procedure is suppose to insure that her adult teeth will grow in together without the gap. It was such a simple procedure done very quickly (15 min.) in the dentists office because the the dentist (who is a close friend) said that the fiberous tissue wasn't strong/thick enough to warrant an oral surgeon. They applied a local gel anthestetic & then gave her a shot to further numb the area, did the procedure & was done. No blood. No tears & we've just been giving her some liquid tylenol for a couple of days. It's already almost healed up now a couple of days later.
I think the laser technology is great. We are very happy with how it went for our daughter. I hope this information helps somehow. Good luck to you.

Check out my profile to see my dental experience. I really suggest a consult with a pediatric (children) dentist to see if he is tongue tied and to what severity. Don't take a pediatrician's word, go to someone who is trained in dentistry and you will get the best, most up to date info. I personally would have the surgery, it isn't hard or very painful, and heals quickly.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi there, I know this can be scary. My daughter was tongue tied and at 3 weeks I had her frenulum cut. It really isn't a big deal in hindsight and when it happened, she cried (balled) but with a little tylenol was fine. My daughter is now 4.5 and doesn't stop talking!! Everything at 3 weeks is a big deal because you are getting use to everything but trust me, your child will be okay too. Hang in there mom!

I am tongue tied - severely, it turns out, but no one ever mentioned anything or noticed until my own mother, a dental hygenist in her youth, noticed one day when I was about 8 or 9. I was always a champion breastfeeder, and "got it" right from the get go, so the extreme extend of my "tongue tie" never effected me, even from the moment I was born. She talked to my dentist about it: the only reason there might be to clip a tongue tied child is in infancy if it causes latch issues when breast feeding. Other worries with a tongue tied infant are possible speech issues in the future, but those are rare, even in severe cases such as mine. I can only stick the tip of my tongue out of my mouth, but have never had a moment of speech issues or impediments: in fact, I was reading by the time I was 3, so my language skills were always very accelerated! Speech has so much more to do with the brain than it does with anatomy.
I am a Stanford trained speech pathologist now (funny I should go into that field!) and I would suggest not clipping her tongue unless you are sure it is that that is causing her latch issues, and not just the learning curve that goes along with breastfeeding. There are lots of babies AND mothers that don't just "take" to breastfeeding right away - it can take a few months for everyone, mom and baby included, and a visit from a lactation specialist for both parties involved to really get the hang of breastfeeding. If you are set on clipping it, do it in her infancy (ie now) so that it does not cause speech issues for her after she learns to talk (if you clip the tongue of someone who already speaks with the way their frenulum is naturally, they have to learn all over again how to speak with a clipped tongue and will often experience speech impediments because of the clipping). When the brain has already learned to talk, the brain has already learned how to "deal" with a "tongue tie", and she will most definitely have to see a speech pathologist in order to re-teach her to speak with a freed up tongue. I always loved showing other kid's my tongue - they always thought it was cool, and I was never teased about it if thats what your issue is with it.

I will even go so far to say, since we are speaking to each other without children around, it has caused no issues in my adult sexual life either. The fact that it doesn't easily stick OUT has nothing to do with the function of it. I will leave it at that...LOL (that is a question I got from friends once we were in HS.... "How do you french kiss....?" Trust me it isn't an issue.

Dear BL:

I can sure relate to your delima regarding your baby's frenulum. I'm not sure if it is a genetic condition, but there have been several in my family (and extended family) that have had this condition. In some it caused a lisping that remained into adulthood. In one of my own children it caused frustration and discomfort during early language development, and in another it made breast feeding extremely difficult, and had a great impact on early language development. I was slightly "tougue tied" early in life. Unfortunately it did not stop me from talking. It did, however, cause me pain and frustration, as when I ate or spoke the frenulum rubbed against my teeth and it was quite painful. When I was somewhere between four and five years old it was actually rubbing against my sharp little teeth to the point where it sliced through the frenulum and freed it up. After a bit of bleeding it was fine. The same thing happened to my first child at about the same age. My second child, however, has Down's Syndrome, and with that has many other medical issues. It prevented him from nursing properly when he was a baby, and later from chewing his food properly. When he was about five, we finally decided that he didn't need any other issues around speech development, and this had definately become a problem. So his ENT agreed that it would be in his best interest to cut it. He was fine, and it actually improved his ability to repeat sounds needed to produce audible speech. Like everything else there seem to be different degrees to which it can affect child development, but thinking back, I wish my parents had cut my frenulum. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck.

my daughter was also tongue tied but we did not cut because there was not a guarantee this would fix her nursing issue. we did however have to use the tube to help feed her while she was nursing. she was my first child so everything was tough with her. :-0 she was a slow eater and still is...she is four now and her tongue just doesnt come out like my other children but she is just perfect. I am not sure i helped at all but we did not cut her frenulum I think my kids just have small tongues.???

Hi, We were told our son was tongue tied when he was 2 days old, they said that there might be speech problems and he would not be able to stick his tongue out, lick ice cream very well etc.. We chose to have it clipped when he was 6 days old. The procedure is extremley quick and there was no blood it was over in a minute. Now he is 17 mo. and makes all kinds of noises clicking his tongue etc... He sticks it out and I have notice no speech problems. It was a great decision for us.

My nephew born Dec 07 was tongue tied and having trouble latching on. They did the procedure right in the hospital and we saw him 2 days later and he seemed to have no ill effects from the procedure. He was eating fine, wasn't fussy (he barely ever cried) and was overall an adorable little guy. Apparently that runs in families, as my brother in law was born that way too and also had the procedure done as an infant. I think there are many different variations of tongue tied, so depending on to what degree the child is tongue tied will depend on the consequences. But definitely, if you are having trouble breastfeeding do the procedure. Better to do it now proactively than wait until she has trouble with speech and may be possibly old enough to remember the procedure. Good luck with your decision.

Hi- My firstborn was tongue tied and we had it clipped when she was about 10 days. It was very quick and while she cried for a minute she immediately latched on properly and nursed vigorously for the first time in her short life. Being a first time Mom I didn't realize how weak her latch on was and how she just didn't have a strong suction. She immediately started gaining more and had no more problems nursing (she's now a happy, healthy 10-year old). Sadly for me it was too late to prevent months of breast infections that left me VERY sick and ended up with abscesses in both breasts. I'll spare you the gory details but it was the most challenging time in my life and I was nearly hospitalized twice. The deal is even if your baby is getting enough milk to gain she may not be fully emptying the breast which can lead to mastitis. If there is any question it may help, do it, as people have said it is no big deal and not considered "surgery". It's a ten second out patient procedure, no drugs, stitches and very little pain. If you are doing it in the hopes that breastfeeding will be easier don't take no for an answer from your Doctor as we had to search to find one who would do it. My experience was that there are lots of Doctors who did not feel breastfeeding was all that important. I knew for me it was and fought to continue. In hindsight, nursing was one of the best things I have ever done for my girls and our relationship. Hope sharing my experience will help. Good Luck!

We just had it done with our daughter, who was having trouble latching and was not gaining enough weight. Hers was not an obvious case (short frenulum in the back). It has made a difference already, although my pediatrician warned it might not make a big diff, but we understood it to be a very mild procedure with little pain and few risks. It was no problem. In and out of the ear/nose/throat doctor's office in 15 minutes.

Just do it, my son was tounge tied and we did it at a couple of weeks old. He barely cried, I mean he did, but he took his binkie, I'd given an infant dose of tylenol prior and he was asleep before we left kaiser. It's made a huge difference, in fact one of the cutest things he does is stick his little tounge out then switches to a kiss. This of course is as long as it's just the small stretch of skin keeping the tounge from moving out of the mouth. If it's a bigger area or problem, you may want a specialist to check it out. But if it's just that small little piece, they just "snip it" and it's done. It makes a huge difference for the baby. Good luck!
C.

My daughter was tongue tied. At one week I asked the dr. to snip it because she was struggeling to latch well. I was bleeding and cracked and it sucked. The procedure was quick, she cried a little, but no real blood. Then we used a nipple shield (bought a Baby's R Us or Target for about $5) until I was heald and she was better at latching. It still took months before she stuck her tongue out properly, but now at 20 months she has no problem speaking well (has over 120 words and phrases), and I don't regret having her tongue snipped. You can tell if they have the short frenulum by the "Forked" look in the middle. I remember the first time I saw it in the hospital, I thought she looked so cute! Boy was I wrong. Anyway, the dr. said they prefer to wait til they are older in case it cuts itself (usually by them accidentally biting their tongue, or falling and their teeth simply cut it), but I say Why? It's simple, they never remember it, and if you're having trouble nursing, do it. Why wait for more problems to arise, like speech issues? I say go for it!

my son was born tongue tied and we were not aware of it until the first trip to the dentist at almost 3. He did have speech issues some related to the tongue being tied others not related. One of the first questions they asked is if he had a hard time latching on and the answer is YES! I finally gave up the breasfeeding and when I did go to the bottle we had a VERY hard time finding a nipple that he was good with. He was a little over 3 when he had the procedure and it was not a pleasant experience. Because he obviously had teeth, he had to be put under and when he awoke he was still soooo numb he bit the corner of his tongue really bad and bled ALOT. The blood scared him more than anything as well as us! He went to speech therapy and did excersies to "stretch " the tonuge, it helped alot! I was told if we had figured it out earlier in his little life that the procedure could have been done right in the doctor's office with just a little numbing. This was my experience, I am sure you will hear others, hopefully a little better than mine! I DO HIGHLY suggest if it is something you are considering do it while she is young, babies are so resilant and will much better than toddlers! GOOD LUCK!!!

My son, born August 2005, is tongue tied. While in hospital he wouldn't latch and one of the nurses there noticed he was tongue tied. We were suppose to have an ENT specialist come see us before we left the hospital to have the procedure done but no one ever came. We made an appt. with an ENT when my son was two weeks. We decided to stop trying to breatfeed and just bottle feed. The doctor said that there wasn't a need to have the procedure done. My son talks wonderfully for a 3 year old now. And he hasn't any issue with his tongue being tied.

My 14mo is tongue tied. His pediatrician said it is no longer acceptable to cut the frenulum and we should wait until speech begins.

Yes breastfeed was tough and pretty painful, but either he figured it out or I got used to his style and the pain subsided. I am still nursing him a few times a day. He really struggles with sipply cups, so we just have him drink out of a cup or a straw and he does pretty good. Sometimes he drools back much of what he drinks, but all in all he is doing great.

We are teaching him to stick his tongue out (seems silly) but the frenulum is slowly stretching. His tongue comes out a little farther each week. He says several words clearly, no L words yet though.

Hi, there was a baby in our Mother's group that kept losing weight over a period of months. His Mother was an instructor in early childcare development, and she felt really frustrated
that even with all her expertise she couldn't seem to help her son gain weight.She was breastfeeding him, but added the bottle and solid foods and he was still losing weight. A counselor with La Leche league said he needed his frenulum cut. After his frenulum was cut, he was able to latch on properly for breastfeeding. He became healthy and much happier, because before that he was always hungry.I don't know about future speech impediments or anything, but in that case the baby was literally starving to death and needed his frenulum cut J.

Same issue with my son. Had it clipped at 6 mos. Pediatrician would not do it and advised against it. Got second opinion from another Pediatrician who also said no. Went directly to Ear Nose & Throat doctor (Mercy Laguna ENT). Very simple procedure with no crying. I think his immunizations were more painful.

It is a simple procedure to have the thin skin under the tongue clipped. I didn't realize my son's tongue was tied until he got old enough to stick it out at me. He also did have a speech impediment. I got it clipped and he got mad at me, but I just stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. Have a doctor check it it is a simple procedure. He's now a wonderful son--just kidding.

My son & I went through a VERY rough time with breastfeeding when he was born!!! He couldn't open his mouth wide enough to nurse, and I thought it was just because my nipples/areolas are overlarge (I'm a DD). So, I endured toe-curling pain while my nipples got more and more infected, and I didn't know any different until my sister came to visit when Ryan (my son) was 14 days old. She said she had NEVER seen nipples look like that (her daugher was 21 mo at the time and was breastfed), so I called my midwives who referred me to a lactaion consultant.

Almost immediately, my LC diagnosed tongue-tie, so I made an appointment with a specialist who told me that he was NOT tongue-tied and it was just something that would correct itself as he and his mouth got bigger. Well, nothing changed, except I had a heck of a nipple infection, wasn't able/allowed to nurse (doc's orders), had to pump and bottle-feed and it took close to 2 months to heal enough that I could then go back to nursing with a nipple shield.

Still nothing improved, and my LC still swore he was tongue-tied and gave me the name and number of her friend who participated in a Type 3 tongue-tie study with an LC out of NYC. I emailed her, and she gave me the LC's email. This LC was AMAZING!!!!! Just by looking at THREE pictures, she could tell he had the Type 3 tongue-tie and referred me to a pediatrician who clipped tongues.

I made an appointment, he got his tongue clipped at 4mo, and I cannot even begin to tell you the DIFFERENCE RIGHT AWAY!!!!!! She asked me to nurse right after, and it was like someone had flipped a switch!! He opened his mouth SO wide, and everything was GREAT! He's almost 2 now, and we still nurse at bedtime, and everything's still great! It was a simple procedure that bled a little, but they say doesn't hurt. I couldn't imagine that, but the pediatrician said that most babies protest being held down more than having their tongue clipped. The whole thing took less than 3 minutes from laying him down to picking him back up.

I would HIGHLY recommend it!!! I don't know if my son's speech would've truly been impacted, but just from a breastfeeding viewpoint, I would find a respected pediatrician in the area and get her tongue clipped. Good luck and know that whatever decision you make is the one you feel is right for your family at this time!!!!!

B L,

Please check out Robert Steele M.D. tongue-tie, to cut or not to cut. I think this might help with your question. Also, a M. by the name of (Love R) I think is a RDA (registered dental assistant) and always has great advise on such things. And as the article I am quoting suggests, unless the baby is loosing weight and truly having trouble nursing, it may not be necessary to cut. Good Luck in your decision.

Snip it, snip it, snip it!!!!! My son had horrible problems. We noticed day one he was tongue tied. Our doctor said it would stretch out on it's own. He never was able to breast feed and has had to go through years of speech therapy. When he was two we had some major dental work done so while he was knocked out, I asked the dentist to snip his frenulum. Turns out he had 3!!!! One on top and two on the bottom. I thought I was so on top of things, but never thought to count. So you never know what is hiding. It was the best thing we ever did. And what's funny is I got mixed reactions from different speech therapists before we did it. I was so conflicted! I would highly recommend doing it as young as possible. I know there are folks here who have had no problems tongue tied their whole lives, but there are also many who suffered greatly. If you can avoid that with a simple procedure, why not?

I had my now 8 1/2 month old's frenulum snipped when he was ~ 3 months. Our pediatrician recommended having a specialist take a loot at the 2 month appt, but since he was still able to nurse, I couldn't get an emergency appt right away with the specialist. He didn't seem bothered by the tongue issue, but the specialist said his was connected very high up to the end of the tongue & everyone was surprised he was eating okay. The actual procedure was not fun, but it was pretty quick and then I let him nurse once the bleeding stopped. He fell asleep very quickly and never complained again when I had to run my finger around the area (to make sure it does not reconnect before it is fully healed). I had been having pain on my right side when nursing, but after his tongue was opened up, I never really had a problem after that. I cannot answer to future consequences of not having it done. Hope this helps!

Hi,
I was tongue tied until I was 19 at which point I had it cut. I was having problems with my gums, my gums were being pulled down due to me being tongue tied. If I had not gotten it done there was a very good chance that I would have lost a tooth and have to have reconstructive surgery. My grandma was also tongue tied and she did lose a tooth due to it. With my grandma and I, the speech was never impacted. But, with my experence, if either of my girls would have been tongue tied, I would have had it cut as soon as possible to save them from further problems in the future.
-A.

My daughter was tongue tied but the doctors did not want to clip her tongue when she was an infant. So we did not. She had no problems with breast feeding or her vocabulary as she learned to talk, but I did notice that she was having trouble pronouncing her "th" sounds.
The doctors suggested waiting until she was a little older (5 years old or school age) before we do anything.
At age 3, her dentist said he thought the tongue tie was causing problems with her front teeth so he referred her to an oral surgeon who recommended lasering the frenulum. We decided to have the tongue tie lasered (instead of clipped) so that she would not have any future speech problems and/or dental problems. My daughter had the procedure done in the hospital and had to be put under. We did not have any problems at all with the procedure and there was no bleeding from the procedure. She was a little sore for 1 day and she would only drink cold drinks and by the next day she was back to eating normal.
After the procedure she did have better movement of her tongue and she is still practicing to re-learn her "th" sounds but she is getting better at it all the time.

hi, we had the same thing withmy daughter! Her tongue was heart shaped and she couldnt nurse right-without gumming me to death and she couldnt suck properly. the drs acted like we could wait til she developed speech problems, and i said "if she lives that long without being able to eat!!"This is not major surgery, they snipped the phrenulum in a second at my insisitence! not that i ever would choose a painful procedure, but it was obviously needed. hope this helps and your daughter is ok,take care and congrats! enjoy!

My almost 2yr old son was born tongue tied. At one of his first check-ups the dr. did the procedure right in the office. I want to say he was either 6 or 8 weeks old. He was having a little trouble latching on to nurse before he had it done but I just thought that he was fussy because I wasn't producing enough for him. I never put the two together until after the fact because it wasn't something that I had noticed. It was a quick painless procedure for him but painful for me to have to watch him strapped and held down having his tongue clipped loose. He cried for a few moments, but it was much rougher on me and my 2 yr old at the time. He now has great speach for a child of his age and chatters constantly. Much more so than his brother did at this age. I think that its sometihng that is going to help in the long run and if you are going to have it done, now is the time to do it because they aren't going to remember it like if htey were older. I hope that this helps.

My youngest daughter is tongue tied. When she sticks her tongue out, it makes a heart shape. We were told by her speech therapist that she needed to get the frenulum clipped, but when we took her to the doctor, he refused to do it. She went through 8 years of speech therapy. She is now 14 years old and she speaks just fine without the surgery.

My daughter had this procedure done 3 days after she was born. It was much better for breastfeeding because she was having a difficult time latching. Also, it seemed relatively painless because in less than 2 minutes she was happy and laughing again.

In terms of consequences of not proceeding, I am personally tongue tied. It is not major, but sometimes my speech gets slurred when I speak too quickly. I am definitely on the milder end of the spectrum. I have considered having the procedure done a few years ago. However, through my sister's experience, I learned that this is rather painful for adults. So, I would recommend that you go ahead with the process now while the pain is relatively low. It will make a huge difference on a number of different levels.

Cheers,
Overjoyd

My daughter was severely tongue tied! It was so tight she also had trouble taking a paci and had to have long bottle nipples. Short nipples wouldn't work. Her Dr. said that the precedure is not usually recommended because they can outgrow it- BUT if they don't outgrow it their future language IS hugely impacted because their tongue cannot move properly to form correct sounds. By the time they realize this- it can mean months and months of language therapy.

My daughter had the outpatient surgery at 3 months of age and it was completed in 5-10 minutes max. She will scream- but she will not be screaming for the pain as much as for the frustration of being all wrapped up in a mummy like wrapping attached to the table securely so her hands cannot get in the way and she cannot arch her back or move or kick at the wrong moment.

We noticed a definate and immediate improvement to her eating and paci/nipple skills and she speaks ahead of her age group. She is a 29 month old assessed with 36-38 month speaking skills. She speaks clearer than many 3 and 4 year olds we know. I doubt very much this would be the case if she hadn't had the surgery.

Good luck and I hope this helped! =)

Usually a doxtor can tell you if and when this procedure needs to be done. You don't say how old your baby is but if old enough to go to a speech therapist they could also advise you. All babies sound tongue tied when they are learning how to talk.

Hi there - three out of my four children (now aged 6,4,3,1) were tongue tied. The first two had very tight/short little phrenulums - you could tell when they were crying their tongue would be pulled back more than other babies, and they couldn't stick their tongues out at all. Neither one had difficulty breast feeding but since I had been told the procedure was so simple I decided to give them the chance of not having speech problems etc. Because they didn't have a problem latching on I waited until they were about 6 months old to snip the tongue. We went in, the doctor (as far as I remember) dabbed on an antiseptic, the baby started to cry (which is actually what they want, so the tongue is pulled up) and he took a tiny scissor type clamp, clamped the phrenulum and then with a tiny scalpel he sliced the front of the phrenulum. The skin opened so easily and it was over in seconds. By then I was bottle feeding so I immediately gave the baby a bottle and that was that. As if nothing had happened. No bleeding or any signs of soreness.
With the third I took her at about 6 months and the doctor said her phrenulum was too thick to just slice in that way. He said wait until she was at least a year and do it under a general anaesthetic. I didn't want her to go through with that, so I still haven't done it and she's now 3. THere seems to be no noticeable problem with speech or anything.
My advice to you is to do the procedure before they need to do a general - it is less traumatic than a whole hospital visit. I am afraid I don't know about snipping it at such a young age - it may be pretty difficult on such a tiny phrenulum.
I do also have a 3 year old nephew who was struggling with speech, he had a general just this summer to snip the tongue and it was all very quick and easy too.
Good luck and happy babies!

My niece had this done, but they waited until she was in kindergarten (and it became more evident that her speech was becoming more impacted.) They live across the country and i would only see her once a year or so, but even so, i never knew that she had this condition until she had the procedure done. If you don't hear much from other Mamasource people on this, let me know and i can get more info from my sister-in-law about for you.

LOL, I agree with Kristin and am also tongue tied to the extent she is. I was never breastfed as a baby as I was also premature and back in the day I was born I don't think it was an option that was presented to my Mom. Pictures of me as a baby would incidate I had no problem with the bottle. I used too hate that I'd get laughed at when I tried to stick out my tongue at someone but no lasting emotional scars and I probably had to "use my words". As far as speech, every once in awhile my S's sound funny but that may be the case even if I wasn't tongue tied. I can also tie the stem of a cherry (the ones you get in drinks) into a knot with my tongue in record time so no loss of dexterity there. I'd say follow your instinct, if it is causing problems it is better to do it now than wait because it seems more painful the older you get. I have a friend who is/was also tongue tied. For some reason she had it clipped (we are in our 40s) She wished she didn't as it hurt like heck to have this done as an adult. Take care!