ADVICE RATING |
 4.78 (Highly recommend) from 16 votes (511 Visits) |
Hello to all of my Minti mates!
Tonight I was looking at some of my son Jordan's baby memory books and came across a section where I had written about my worries of his tongue tie. I thought I would share my story with you all.
When Jordan
was born, all of the normal routine checks and tests were completed (with flying colours i might also add, hehe) and then the doctor then commented on how the little piece of tissue under the tongue appeared to reach all the way to the tip of his tongue. This bit of tissue is called the lingual frenulum. With a name like that, no wonder he was tongue tied! Being the proud as punch parents we were at the time, we didn't actually notice this "problem" until we were shown. We were left wondering how this happened. I had heard stories of people having to have surgery to cut this tongue tissue to release the tongue and how painful it was ect. I was immediately picturing my poor baby being wheeled into the operating room and being preped for surgery. A little dramatic and a complete over reaction, I know but I'm sure you can all see why I was worried. Anyway, our doctor mentioned that in time, Jordan will need surgery to loosen his tongue but it was our choice as to wether we do it now or later. Me, being the eternal do it later on type, said no, we shall wait a while longer and see how he goes.
The months passed and his tongue did not appear to be getting any better. He had absolutely no problems latching onto me to feed nor when he was eventually drinking milk from a bottle. Infact, he didn't display any signs of having a problem or being uncomfortable. Where as the original doctor stated that we should be begining to see these signs at around 4-6mth of age. Nope, none!
I was always concious of having his tongue tie checked at every doctors appointment just incase I was missing something until my new doctor asked my why I was worrying. He said that Jordan shouldn't have any problems as the frenulum would recede over his first year of life until it is completely normal. Apparently this is meant to happen whilst they are still in the womb but not with Jordan. He advised waiting the full year and then looking at it again to decide an action plan if needed. Well this suited me, I didn't need to be told twice, so on with life we went! After a year or so, we noticed his tongue tie had improved and the doctor said it had resolved itself. What a relief it was to hear those words. To think we had the option to put him through surgery when he was a little baby...
I am left wondering how many other people out there has the misconception about having to have surgery on a baby who has tongue tie. We were told by many older folk that we should have it done otherwise Jordan will never be able to speak properly. This was not so in our case. Yes, some childeren will develop speech difficulties due to the tongue tie and in these circumstances, surgery would and should be done. My main concern with this is how would parents know that a speech problem of a 2yr old is actually due to the tongue tie and not just a simple speech problem like many many kids have! That is a really hard question and one that I would be refering to a speech therapist.
I guess what I am trying to point out here is if your child does infact have a tongue tie and it is not affecting him or her at all in regards to drinking ect, then after a double check consultation with your doctor, let things go for a while. See how it goes for the first year. Don't do what I did and worry unnecessarily about having to put your baby under the knife to release the tongue. Nine out of ten times it will fix itself and your childs tongue will look just as it should.
Thankyou for reading
(June 2007) (
