We Believe 2 1/2 Yo Daughter Is Tongue Tied

Both of my daughters were tongue tied. With my first daughter we didn't realize it until she was 2, and with my second we discovered it right after birth. For the baby we had hers clipped right there in the office and it was fine. For my older daughter we were going to have to wait until she had gotten quite a bit older to do the same thing. She ended up needing her tonsils out when she was 2 1/2 so they snipped it while she was under. Unfortunately hers didn't work. It grew back. She talks fine and always has, but she can't stick her tongue out very far at all. I mean she can't lick an ice cream cone, she can't hardly get her tongue out past her lips. Kind of hard for her sometimes to deal with, but she speaks so fine I hate to even do it again. Hers is a rare case of it growing back-she is just a quick healer I guess. There weren't any side effects from the actual frenulectomy. Good Luck!

My almost 4 yr old son is tongue tied. We have opted to wait to have anything done until he is older and can understand the procedure, if we do anything at all. He is unable to lick his top lip, an ice cream cone blow raspberries. Almost everyone that he talks to can understand him. His pediatric dentist told us that he could take care of it. He said that all they do is clamp the tongue and use a laser to "clip" it. He said that there wasn't a lot of pain during or after and that the healing time was quick. I just didn't want to terrify my son at the dentist office at such a young age! Check into the laser and see if that would be a better option.

My daughter had this procedure done when she was about 3 and 1/2 years old. The ENT told us that she was the worst case he has ever seen. My daughter couldn't stick out her tongue at all. The ENT had to cut and then stitch the flap up so that it wouldn't reoccur. My daughter went under and was in surgery around 45 minutes. She went home that same day and was back to normal the next day. It was worth it for us because she now talking wonderfully can and can use her tongue well.

My husband and his nephew were both tongue-tied and both had a frenulumectomy. My husband's dentist just went, "snip!" during an office visit when he was about seven (I'm sure that had to be against some law....), and his nephew had it done at around age five under local anesthesia by an oral surgeon. Both had speech problems before the procedure and talked normally afterward. It seems like it really was no big deal.

I, too, am an adoptive mom. I would have loved to breastfeed my daughter. How were you able to do it? The two avenues I knew about were taking hormones and pumping prior to birth. I have some existing hormonal issues (why I couldn't get PG), so I didn't want to exacerbate them--or pass on hormonal medicine through breastmilk to my daughter. As for pumping, since there is always a chance that an adoption will not go through, I didn't want to create breast milk in case the adoption did not happen. Is there another way? We're thinking of adopting #2.

I don't have any experience personally with this procedure, but I did have a friend who went through it. She was probably about 17 at the time she had it done and she said it was no problem. She was given a sedative and the procedure only took about 30 minutes total (of course this was back in 2001) and she was only out of school for 2 days because of it. She loved the results and didn't know why she didn't do it earlier. Of course, my friend was quite a bit older so I don't know how a little one would handle it. Hope this eases your mind about it.

A.

My niece had to have this done. They did it when she a few months old & she came through it fine & with very little side effects (wouldn't suck a bottle right away). she wasn't talking yet, obviously, so I don't know about the speech part. I'm sorry I can't comment on improvements, but wanted to say it seems like a fairly simple procedure, but nobody likes to see a little one have any type of procedure.

B.. kudos to you in your attempt to bf. my 8 yo daughter is tongue-tied. cannot lick the top lip, her tongue looks like a "w" when extended vs a "v". Our pediatricians said that generally they do not clip them anymore...so her's has NEVER been done. The only reason they would have clipped her tongue at birth is if her tongue would not extend her bottom lip, but it did. I was blessed enough to work w/ 2 great Lactation consultants when she was first born who had experience w/ working w/ tongue-tied babies and able to help us have a wonderful 9 mth long breastfeeding relationship (til my daughter decided NO more) and i pumped to cups for her for 2 more mths.

But when my daughter started preschool at almost 4yo, which she qualified for free svcs thru the state b/c of her tongue-tie. She started w/ speech therapies and has been continuously going since. She's a normal 3rd grade child who sometimes when she talks too fast, she can be difficult to understand but for the most part, she's easily understood and is doing wonderfully. She's worked herself down to speech 2x/wk at school. Plus we work w/ her at home.

Surgery is not the only option. We have given our daughter the option of having it done now, since she's older, and has a choice. Her stance is God made her this way, who is she to change it? ;) And we support that, just was we would if she decided to have the surgery. I believe that if the child is older, it's an out-patient, oral surgery that would not require going under...talk to your dentist or ENT, as they would be the ones to perform that type of surgery. good luck.

Hi B.!
My son had his tongue clipped this past April and really...I haven't seen much of a difference. His speech was always well-articulated and his errors could be easily corrected. The only thing that it did was elongate the tongue for easier movement (i.e. licking a popsicle, lollipop, etc.). It was a procedure that didn't take but a minute or two to do and the post-op was excellent.
I, myself, am a speech-language pathologist and the research states that this procedure isn't showing much benefits, but it is more for cosmetic reasons.
If you, yourself, have seen that your child has looked different, than investigate that your insurance will cover this procedure (some insurances look at it as cosmetic, so make sure your doctor doesn't write it down as so) and if it will ease your mind, go with the procedure. Your child will still need speech therapy to adjust to the elongation of her tongue and to learn how to pronounce the articulation errors, but it could be a benefit in the long run.
Good luck!
-A.

One of my 15 grandbabies had the same thing. We noticed she had trouble with certain sounds and that made certain words difficult to understand,but the thing that really hit that something else was wrong was she couldn't stick her tongue out. We discourage the kids from doing that but we have tried to get the kids to roll their tongue,we get a kick out of watching them work so hard at it and Nikki couldn't even get her tongue out of her mouth.
She had the procedure and yes she was put under but it was short and all went well. It healed quickly was not painful for her and is doing great. Nikki was about 4yr. when she went through her ordeal. She speaks clearly now at 7. We don't remember how long it took for her speach to clear up because it was a continual process slow at first because she was used to saying words a certain way and then one day we noticed she was doing great. She never had to have speach therapy it was not necessary according to the Dr. Hope all goes well for you and don't be scared be excited your little girl will get a new clear speaking voice.
God bless Candy

Don't beat yourself up over this -- it has happened to quite a few people I know. It's not your fault...the doctors don't push for it now anyway. You would have probably been told to wait and see if it causes a problem. I have many friends that are speech and language therapists/pathologists & they are split down the middle on whether they believe in the surgery or not. We knew from the time the lactation consultant saw it in the hospital & we still had to wait until we had problems. Our daughter was also tongue-tied and we had her surgery at about 5 months. We wanted it done right away due to nursing problems, but the doctor (in Washington DC) had the wait & see approach...which is what most medical professionals are doing with this problem. The procedure is much easier the earlier you do it. By the time we got to St. Louis, my daughter was no longer thriving and I was having milk supply issues. I was nursing her for almost an hour every time & I was still feeding her at least 10 times a day. I was beat & she wasn't getting enough. I wanted to breastfeed only, but this problem made it impossible by the time I could get the doctors convinced to give me a referral to an ENT. Each parent has to make the decision that was right for their child, but when we started having feeding/thriving issues that was all I needed to push harder. I believe in breastfeeding very strongly & was so disappointed to have it turn out to be such a horrible experience for my daughter. It makes me sad to think how hungry she was. I also don't believe that waiting to see if there will be speech problems and other problems -- they can do it without anesthesia if they do it younger, but we had to put her under for it. It was fine, but to see a 5 month old go through something like that was difficult. Good luck with your decision...as you can see, there is good advice out here from both sides!

Me and my daughter who is 8 are both tongue tied, hers is how you are describing and worse than mine. She has not had any problems with hers. I think there are children out there with speech problems without being tongue tied, usually being corrected with speech therapy and not surgery. Like I said my daughter is tongue tied to the very tip of her tongue and has no problems at all other than she can't stick her tongue out at me. If you do choose surgery I wish you the best!

B.,
I was very interested in reading your responses. I have worked in the public schools as a speech therapist for 10 years. I have had a few students with this condition. Most opt to have the procedure done in the early years. It can inhibit progress towards speech goals due to limited tongue mobility. Your dr. [ENT] and therapist can determine the adequacy for speech production. Also, I knew a gentleman in college that had the procedure done at the age of 21 yrs. It did affect his speech as he had to work to strengthen and stabilize the tongue. He was fine though. If your daughter's speech is intelligible to an unfamiliar listener and it does not impact overall movement, it may not be necessary to do right away, as the other mom decided. Ask your speech therapist if he/she is doing oral motor therapy with Karah. That will help with stability, mobility and differentiation of the speech muscles. I assume you can trust that the therapist has determined that the hearing impairment is not the issue here. As you probably are aware that certain sound production is affected by the type/severity of the hearing impairment. He/she probably noticed that lingual sounds are difficult and tongue posture may be weak. Our tongue actually rests towards the roof of our mouth not at the bottom. Either way, it doesn't hurt to have it looked at. Best of luck, I am interested to find out what you decide.
Take care-E.

A Frenuloplasty is a very simple procedure the doctor will put her under general anesthesia just to make sure she doesn't hurt and then cut a z pattern into the little piece of tissue under the tongue. It doesn't take long to heal either (my son was talking 2 days later). The difference it made was amazing!!! Just make sure that you have a good ENT.
Good Luck :)

We had to deal with tongue-tie too! We noticed it in the hospital, but the doctor and lactation consultant said it was mild and would probably stretch. I asked about it at every appointment and finally the doctor said lets just see an ENT and see what he thought. So at 4 months we had the surgery, under general anesthia, which in the end was no big deal, but scary for us at the time. The surgery took 3 minutes and our little guy never showed any discomfort. I wish I had been more insistent when he was born, then it is a simple office procedure. I know many choose not to have the surgery, but as someone who did we are so glad we did. We could tell an immediate difference in the way our little guy moved his tongue, not only in and out but side to side as well. Good luck with your decision.

Hi B., my girlfriend's little boy had this same problem! It was actually a simple procedure that they had done. I'll email this to my girlfriend Cissy and see if she can tell you more about it than I can. Good luck!

My oldest daughter had that when she was born. I had never heard of it before, either. They just clipped hers in the hospital the day after she was born, and it was no big deal at all. I haven't heard about having it done when the kids are older, but in general, sores on the mouth heal really quickly, so I would guess that it could be fixed fairly easily. And if you let it go.... I suspect my husband had that when he was little and no one ever caught it. He didn't really talk until he was three, and had to go to speech classes in grade school, but he made it to adulthood just fine (although I accuse him of mumbling sometimes). Good luck. I'm sure your little girl will do great.

My 4 yr old was severely tongue tied when he was born. It was so bad he had a really hard time moving his tongue or even sucking a bottle. His tongue was even heart shaped because of it. The hospital set up an appointment with an Ear Nose Throat specialist when he was 9 days old. She said that they used to numb the area before, but the needle to deliver the medication was more painful than the actual procedure so she just went ahead and snipped it right there. It took maybe 2 seconds. Looking back in his baby book I wrote it only took a week to heal. It never bothered him a bit once it was done. He ate right away, never cried, etc.

Hi B.,

My son was tongue tied. We had his frenulectomy done about 2 years old. He wasn't having speech problems but he did have breastfeeding problems. I wish I'd known more about it earlier, too. But regret helps nothing and I do believe that everything happens for a reason. For example, maybe surgery would have affected him in a bad way when he was younger. Anyway, whether it is true of not, I choose to believe that everything happens for a reason because it is comforting to me :-) and there is not one darn thing I can do about not knowing sooner how to fix or change things!

But, the surgery was minor and I was more anxious and traumatized about it than my son. He recovered quickly and easily.

Good luck with whatever you decide and I am truly sorry that you have had so many problems to deal with because of not having more and better information sooner. This parenting thing can make you feel old sometimes!!

It is good that you are dealing with your daughters problems now so that they can be a distant memory one day!!

L. C.

B.,
My cousin actually had that procedure done and everything turned out fine...and that was over 25 years ago, so I am sure that today it is a breeze. Good luck!!

I am a Speech & Language Therapist.

Neither of my children had short frenums, so I haven't been through what you have. I just wanted to commend you for nursing your adopted baby! And then pumping. Wow. I just sent your story to my sister who nursed her adopted son. She also experienced issues with his latch, possibly in part due to a short frenum that doctors didn't want to address. I think you both are amazing mothers for working so hard to nurse your adopted children.

B.,

It is a simple and routine procedure nothing to worry about. Our son Ryan had it done at 6 years old. We didn't realize he was tongue tied until then. Isn't that crazy? One day I was looking in his mouth for hiccups and asked him to lift his tongue and he couldn't. Now looking back we can see a lot of things...He never did breast feed, he pronounced yellow "lellow". He made a huge mess eating ice cream. I guess we thought he was so perfect we just didn't see it. What is strange to us is his Doctors, Preschool Teachers, or Kindergarten Teacher never said anything about it either. You would have thought someone would have caught it sooner. Anyway Ryan had the surgery last year and it went perfect. You would never know now that he ever had a problem. Speech is perfect and he can lick an ice cream cone like a pro!!!! Hope this email helps calm your fears a little.

C.

B.,
I had only heard the expression, until the DR. told my daughter and myself that my 2 year old grandson was "tounge tied"
Because of his age, and teeth, they had to actually take him into surgery, he had a little gas, but woke immeditaly and was just a very little groggy.
The Dr. simply snipped and cotterized his tounge and Alex never missed a beat!
My daughter was very afraid and so was I, but it was really simple, he was in and out start to finish in under 3 hours.
C.