My 13 month old daughter has what I believe to be an upper lip tie. She has a very thick frenulum that extends down the upper gum and a significant gap between her two front teeth. Before I noticed the frenulum I thought the gap was normal for a kid with only 7 teeth so far, but now I'm slightly concerned about it.
We had a couple of issues in the beginning of our breastfeeding relationship, which looking back now could be attributed to an upper lip tie. Most notably, she had a very shallow latch that caused me extreme pain for over 6 weeks. I developed a cracked, bleeding sore on my right nipple (probably due to the shallow latch) that finally healed about 8 weeks after my milk came in (which was 2.5 days post partum).
I had flat nipples and she had a tiny mouth, so I thought that was our issue. But even to this day her latch leaves a bit to be desired. Her upper lip hardly ever flanges out on its own; only if I fix it myself. And she leaves teeth marks on my nipple with every nursing session, although I don't feel pain.
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this, and if so, I was hoping to hear about how you dealt with it (if at all). It's my understanding that it can cause dental and speech issues down the road. My daughter does speak very well for her age although she has a bit of a lisp, but again I figure that's pretty normal for a 13 month old.
If you have any insight I would be glad to hear it.
I'm hesitant to bring her to the pediatrician at this stage in the game, as she's just been through a myriad of unrelated tests and health issues recently and is subsequently terrified of the doctor. I was planning on bringing it up at her 15 month well check but any information I can soak up between now and then would be extremely helpful.
Sorry to update this a year and a half later! Better late than never, right? ;)
It turns out my daughter does have an upper lip tie. She just turned 30 months and is still breastfeeding, but now that I'm aware of the tie I can do things to help her latch, like manually flange her upper lip and make sure she gets a deep latch on the first try. Now that she's old enough to understand I just tell her that she's hurting mommy and needs to try again.
It did cause some pain when she was brushing her teeth, so if you suspect your child has an upper lip tie and they hate having their teeth brushed (especially the top ones), that could be part of the reason why. It helped us to be very gentle with her top teeth, moving the toothbrush back and forth very slowly, and then letting her do it "all by herself" afterward. But you have to be careful not to be too vigorous because it could be hurting your child.
Here are some links that were very useful to me when I was doing my research:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/651395/what_is_a...
Your baby's lips should resemble this when latched on properly: http://www.todaysparent.com/images/newborn/20041203_13582...
If your latch is bad due to the tie, it could look like this instead (which is painful and wrong!): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_abGRa1b0BJc/S-B4hqJ4CdI/AAAAAAA...
We chose not to have the tie clipped because it wasn't causing speech issues and we were able to clean her teeth without an issue. Also, if clipped too early, the scar tissue formed in place of the frenulum can actually cause more scar tissue, spreading the teeth apart even worse and leading to more dental issues. For those reasons, my daughter's dentist advised against getting it artificially clipped. He said if she hits it on something it'll break on its own and won't cause that same scar tissue.
If anyone has any more questions feel free to message me!
I remember being able to whistle through the gap in my front teeth--a feat nobody else could do in my first grade class! Even after it got snipped, I didn't notice my teeth growing together until maybe high school. I didn't need braces, either, and those teeth are so tight together, it's a chore to get dental floss through!
My 9 yo son also had this problem. I did not affect his speech however it did affect his dental health. He had a big gap in his front teeth. I was advised not to do anthing until most of his permanent teeth came in as sometimes the gap will close itself. Last year I did have it removed by laser. There are two options, surgically or laser. We opted for the laser as it was done right at our dentist office and without putting him under anesthesia. I was a very simple and quick procedure. That being said, we still do not know if it will be enough to close the gap. We are still waiting for the rest of his teeth to descend. He is very slow to lose teeth. My feeling is we will still need braces but that's okay too. If your dtr is nursing okay right now and as long as you don't notice a speech issue, I wouldn't worry about it at this time. There's nothing you can do for it now short of surgery. This is quite common and you may even want to ask your own dentist his experience with this. If you have any questions, email me..
L.
My son had the same thing but it actually broke one day on it's own when I lifted lip up to brush his teeth. He is also tongue tied. He will actually be visiting an ENT very shortly as he has trouble prounouncing certain letters. He is 3 1/2 years old. I noticed the tongue tie as a newborn but the pediatrician assured me that he would grow out of it. However, he hasn't. It makes me angry because if she would have listened to me in the beginning, they could have snipped it right in the office. Now that he's older, they will actually need to sedate him and that scares me. I wish you luck.
I do know a little girl(6yrs. old) who has the same thing. Her speach is ok-does have a lisp. It is getting bigger-and they can do surgery on it. Kids can be cruel-at this age(6) it hasn`t hit yet. But knew an older woman that was made fun of terribly, she did eventually have the surgery.
GET TO AN ENT ASAP!!! My son had a lower frenulum problem. The ped said that he would outgrow it. This was told to me in the hospital (I noticed it immeditaely, that's how tight it was). Well, guess what?!?! We get to two and a half, and THEN has to have it cut. So there we were, 2 1/2 years into development with his speech and mouth muscles totally delayed. Now he is 7 1/2 and still working with speech therapists. I beg you, for the sakes of all in your family, to go in and have it dealt with now to avoid any issues down the road. I have never been so adament with advice on here, but I am very serious about this. It is nothing to have it cut, but pure hell for the child to have speech issues for years following.
Our doctor told us to wait and see about our son's tongue tie. We didn't want to have to have it snipped later -- he would be old enough to remember it AND why wait to see if it caused problems? We went to an ENT and they snipped it that day. The snip was hard to watch -- I felt awful! But he was fine two minutes later. They literally just laser it or cut it, it only takes a few seconds. In my experience it's better to do it while they are young. My husband feels the same. We are both glad we did this for our son and don't have to wait and see if it causes problems -- now we know it won't, and he doesn't remember a thing.
My daughter had this too. Huge gap in the front teeth and the frenulum hung way down. We took her to the pediatrician and dentist and even asked an orthodontist about it. They all to just wait. Either they would have to "cut" it or it would fix itself. It has fixed itself and she barely has any space between her front teeth now. (She'll be 5 in Sept.)
I'd suggest to give it time. She's young and her mouth is going to go through lots of changes. Best of luck!
first I want to say yay for you for sticking with breast feeding despite the early issues.
second, both my girls have this. The dentist is in charge of this. My pediatric dentist said he doesn't do anything about it until the permanent teeth come in for various reasons.For a second opinion I also talked my dentist about it, he said he doesn't do anything about this until their adult teeth come in either.
I wouldn't take her to a pediatrician, but a dentist instead.
13mos have lots of weird speech habits that have nothing to do with how they'll speak at 20.
I'm sure the thought of one more doctor is the last thingyouw ant, but this is an easy fix. She will need to see an oral surgeon, who can 'snip' it. It takes about a minute and then it is over, and by doing that you will avoid speech and eating problems in the future. My daughter ahd the same problem, but under her tongue, and she couldn't suck properly because of it. I had it done when she was 10 days old, she cried for about 3-4 mimutes and then was fine. I do not think a lisp is an age related issue.
Hi so im having the same problem my daughter is ten months and we have had non stop problems with my nipples asked the doc about it a few times and he said they dont do it didnt even look now she has a big gap in teeth kept wondering were this came from no one on eather side of the family has it im on it any info you found out would be great if you passed it a long
thanks for everyones info its great i can do my own research and not be the only one
