Tongue tie in newborn - appointment at Kings

[alice32]

My friend's newborn son has a tongue tie which is seriously affecting the baby's ability to feed as well as causing her (and her nipples) serious pain. After an initial assessment today, she has been told she will have to wait 5-7 days for the actual snip appointment at Kings. I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on how and if this could be brought forward. She's pretty desperate and 7 days feels like a very long time.

Any advice very welcome ? thank you!

[AnyaJoeli]

If she's willing to pay you can get it done privately, she can contact a lactation consultant who would be able to do it there and then. When I had problems with mine I saw Ann Dobson who was wonderful http://www.ann-dobson.co.uk, as it happened mine didn't need to be snipped but if he had done she would have been able to do it. Other friends and my sister have also used her and she's been an absolute blessing. She comes to your house and spends hours with you and babe working out what the problems are and helping you.

Also I would really recommend she takes her newborn for cranial osteopathy?it was amazing what the cranial osteo was able to illuminate about how my son's birth had affected him, he was all scrunched up and because he wasn't breathing when he came out it meant that his ribcage was still compressed and there was tension all up his neck and jaw, which in turn affected his ability to suck and swallow, he was carrying a lot of tension and pain which meant that latching on was pretty much impossible. I think everyone, mums and babies, should do cranial osteopathy particularly after a traumatic birth but even after a "normal" one there are so many factors that might affect feeding that the newborn can't articulate to you but that a cranial osteo can detect. I took mine at 6 weeks after 6 weeks of constant painful struggling with breastfeeding and general struggles and really wish I'd taken him before that as 3 sessions really made a difference and seemed to help alleviate whatever was causing him so much distress. I'd recommend the lovely lady at Dulwich Therapy Rooms, or Fabiano Da Silva who's based on Barry road.

[Knomester]

Having been through the same (for the second time) recently, I would highly recommend Katherine (Katie) Fisher. She was a godsend for us over the Easter bank holiday weekend, seeing us at shirt notice on Good Friday and performing the procedure on Easter Monday. We then had 2 follow up appointments and numerous telephone consultations (all included in her price of ?120).

I also agree with the other poster about cranial osteopathy. Your friend may also wish to seek advice about other infections she may have which sadly often go hand in hand with tongue tie and nipple trauma (thrush, staph, etc).

I'll dig out the other threads I started and post them here for you once my boys are in bed.

[Knomester]

Here are he links to other threads with general info on tongue tie and Katie Fisher as promised:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1307062,1307062#msg-1307062

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,570543

[alice32]

This is all so helpful - thank you. She's managed to get a private appointment for today, so very relieved.

Thank you again for these suggestions.

Alice

[sb]

.

[Fragolina]

Hi SB, my son also has a posterior tongue tie. We had breastfeeding issues, and had a Kings referral for a snip, but after visiting the OCC (cranial osteopaths) I was advised to wait before going ahead with it. It seems that they could loosen up the tight muscles & help with his tight neck which in turn helped with the breastfeeding. After each growth spurt we'd have to return as the issue seemed to return until he reached around three & a half months & suddenly after one particular session things got a lot better. I also received great support from a few of the local lactation consultants at the Breastfeeding Caf?s.

In our case I'm really glad that we didn't go ahead with the snip as it eventually all worked out, plus I know that my son would have hated me massaging the scar tissue underneath his tongue!

He's now 19 months old & moving his tongue freely & speaking very well already despite still having a visible posterior tongue tie.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like any further info, I know how tough it feels to be in your position x

[tarafitness]

Hi there

My son had posterior tongue tie - which was unfortunately missed the first time round by the otherwise fantastic lactation consultant/midwife who came to see us at home when he was a few days old.

He was getting progressively more visibly gaunt, and his weight dropped down to the 9th percentile (50th at birth). I noticed the lip tie (as that's often indicative of the PTT) and went to see the same lactation consultant again who agreed that he had quite a serious tie.

Unfortunately the referral process to King's was a 2 stage one, so he ended up waiting another 2 weeks to have it rectified... this was far too long in my view as he was 6 weeks by that point and had gotten used to feeding without the use of his tongue - which was firmly rooted to the base of his mouth - so he had to in effect learn how to feed again afterwards, which took many weeks.

The actual release itself was over very quickly, but having to starve him for hours beforehand was incredibly stressful as he was feeding almost constantly at that point (but obviously getting very little out) and was hysterical by the time he was seen. They had to distract him and attempt to calm him down before they could assess his latch properly. I was in tears too, I think mainly because my son was so upset and every part of me wanted to feed him, but also because of the huge relief when they agreed that he was very tongue tied. It was a very emotional time back then!

I'm very happy that he had the snip as he's now in the 78th percentile for weight and we're still going strong with the breastfeeding at 7 1/2 months.

I didn't do the massage because it distressed him too much. I'd have the odd purposeful prod/stretch around under the tongue, but nowhere near as aggressively/forceful as we were shown (which seemed absolutely fine when they demonstrated on our hands... another case when it comes to the underside of your baby's tongue!). There are mixed views as to whether it actually has any effect on re-attachment or not.

If I have another child I will get them checked immediately for tongue tie. I wouldn't have it released if it didn't affect feeding - unless I could see that there was no mobility and therefore would inhibit his ability to eat solids. I know that my son wouldn't be able to move food round his mouth as effectively as he does if he hadn't had it snipped.

x

[sb]

.