Has anyone ever had to have their childs tongue clipped?

No, but when my DS was born and not latching the lactation consultant suggested that we might need to get my DS tongue clippled. It rally flipped us out and then the nurse was very good and suggested we use a particular nipple for his bottle so his tongue will get ok. The ped was not worried and said that they never clip the tongue untill like 2 yrs or if the child is having speech problem.

How old is your kid?

My daughter had the same problem latching on when she was a baby. Now she's 3 and the doctor and speech therapist tell me that they couldn't believe my old doctors didn't clip it when she was baby because the procedure is so much more simple then. Now that she's older she has to be put to sleep and everything and I'm freaking out.

What kind of problem is your daughter having?

I was told that as a baby once they are able to take their tongue out then its fine. Once we started DS on the the NUK nipple he started taking his tongue out(like when they are rooting). Did your daughter do that?

She's 3 now. She eventually learned to breastfeed but it just irks me that they didn't see the signs then and now I'm stuck making this decision after her speech is already developed. I had her assessed by a speech therapist and her tongue tie is moderate. I think the only real problem she has is the "th" sound. Her speech is actually as well as most childrens twice her age. Meaning like she can say things like "strong" very well, when normally the 3 constanant sounds usually aren't mastered until age 6. It seems weird to me...but thats what the speech therapist said. So if she can speak exceptionally well should I be clipping her tongue? The "th" sound usually isn't developed at her age anyways so is her tongue really stopping her from saying it or is it just a matter of time? But I don't want her to suffer through the clipping and I don't want her to suffer later if I don't clip it now. Tough decision. The older they get the worse the procedure can be, so I have to decide now. My husband thinks we should do it, so we probably will.

I have recently changed my ped. I am definately going to talk to him on my next visit. DS is right now 13mths and babbles a lot and says mama and daddy(dada).

Good luck with your daughter. Let us know what happens!

Thanks!

My son was born tongue-tied, and when I asked the ped about it, he said that the chance for infection was too high to clip it unless it was causing speech problems. He also had problems with the "th" sound (it came out like "f"), but by the time he was in 2nd grade, he had corrected it himself. (No speech therapy was required.) He's now 15-year-old and has no problem other than he can't stick his tongue out at his little brother.

I hear now that instead of clipping it, they can laser it. I've had the frenum that attaches the bottom of my lower-front teeth to my lower lip done because it was pulling down my gum and it didn't really hurt at all and it healed fast. My dentist suggested asking my pediatric dentist about doing Mitch's, but I figure why bother now.

Hi there!

We had my son's tongue clipped when he was six days old. At the time I was terrified, and it was simply by chance we found so fast what his problem was anyhow. He could not latch onto my breast, nor could he bottle feed. His tongue was so tightly tied, the milk would just run right out the corners of his mouth, he was not getting enough to eat by far! It was done by a plactic surgeon. It took like literally half a minute or less. It bled one tiny drop, he SLEPT right through the whole proceedure(if u could call it that). Not to mention we are talking about a baby that rarely was quiet, as he was already colicky from approx. 10 minutes after birth(very rare), and he slept thru it. He nursed for the first time successfully when we returned home within the hour, when he awoke. He still has had some fairly minor speech issues he is getting help at school with(he is now 7 and in 2nd grade) but I am so glad we had someone around at the time that knew what was happening, or He would have had to be tube fed, and God knows what else :confused:

Sorry for the novel. BUT. as for the question on whether or not to do it now to a 3 yr old? I wouldnt, especially seens how she is not having major problems with speech. Considering the risks of having to have general anethesia done on her, etc,... I just wouldnt risk it. I dont think unless it is a severely tight tie, and there are feeding a thriving issues, I just think the speech part of it is overrated by some doctors and well meaning family members. Just MY humble opinion though, you need to do what is right for YOUR family, and CHILD :)

Good Luck!
Enjoy your little girl.

jaenjoeysmom.

Two of my sons had their tongue's clipped. They were "tongue tied". Tony was 15 and Torrey was 5 when they did it. Tony they did in the office and Torrey had to have a general anesthestic.

I had completely forgotten all about this until reading this thread! When my brother was a teenager, he had his tongue clipped because he couldn't even stick his tongue out. Meaning he couldn't (or had a hard time) kiss(ing) girls! Haha! :)

my grandson was very tongue tied when he was born we were being told he would need speech threapy when he began to talk his tongue was cliped when he was about 3 month's old and you know what it was the right thing to do he will be 3 in jan and he can talk better than most 5 yearolds it was a very simple procedure he didn't even cry i was nervous when it was done wondering if it was the right thing and it turned out to be just that

My neice had it done no big deal at all! She was fine right after it was done.

Personally, I would get it done so it doesn't affect the child later.

Pferg101

We just had our almost 3yr old's clipped, but it was a sideline thing. He has very underdeveloped tooth enamel from getting sick as a preemie, so regardless of how well and often we brush, his cavities are awful.

They put him under general anaesthesia for the dental work, and since he was knocked out anyhow, the dentist did it. His pediatrician had just noticed his frenulum and said to do it while he was unconscious. The dentist, however, said she would NOT do it unless she could see that the tightness of it was pulling along his gumline. When she got into the operating room, she checked it, then decided to clip.

She says if its not pulling the gumline, then its not severe. Even if the kid has speech problems, they learn to work around them as they get older.

FYI, he never latched on worth a hoot, but he could take a bottle. I pumped for 5 months trying to get him to go for it...wish I'd known it was a lost cause! All that pumping! But, he did get the antibodies, so that's what counts.

If it ain't terribly broke, don't fix it.

Hi. I don't know if you are still curious about this tongue clipping issue but I am 27 and my tongue was never clipped. I have extremely articulate speech but my mom had to really work with me on certain words. I have a friend whose didn't realize her son's tongue was attached until he was three months old (after a lot of unrealized problems with breastfeeding). You could barely if at all understand her son. Within a week of his tongue being clipped, he could talk so drastically different I wouldn't have believed it without hearing it myself. My son was born just a week later (last March) and I noticed that his tongue was attached as soon as they put him on my stomach. When he had problems latching on we didn't even hesitate in getting it clipped and in fact did not leave the hospital until it was done. We left five minutes after it was done. No bleeding, no problems. Unfortunately, the lactation consultants had already had me use a nipple shield so I still went through three months of struggling to get my son to latch back on to me. The deal is that like 40 years ago parents didn't even know what tongue tied was because doctors just automatically clipped the tongue. And long before that midwives kept their pinkie finger long and just sliced across the flesh. But then doctors decided that the tongue being attached didn't affect speech or breastfeeding and now there is a huge debate between the doctors and the lactation people. The doctor on call didn't want to have our son's tongue clipped and just told us that the lactation people didn't know what they were talking about and that our son was just an uncoordinated sucker. The breastfeeding people came in ten minutes later and said that the doctors don't know what they are talking about. So go figure. If my second child's tongue is attached, I will have it clipped before I ever latch him/her on to the breast. The long and short of it is that the procedure is 100 times easier and less painful to do when a child is first born and for all the speech and breastfeeding or bottlefeeding problems that can occur it is well worth doing just in case. But you really have to fight in some places to get it done. Some doctors are real jerks about it. A good resource is the baby book that Drs. Bill and Martha Sears write. {removed} Good Luck, Laura