Breastfeeding Help- Part 3- Tight Frenulum

I would wait until the thrush resolves. My son has the same thing. He is a year old now and has not had any issues with it yet. My pediatrician says if it becomes a problem for speech then he should clip it. So far he says about 6 words without a problem. It could also depend on how short it is.

I see you're in Miami.
Go to Faith Ploude, IBCLC, at Mercy Hospital.
She is WORTH every penny!!!

if you can get baby to latch then 'they' usually will put off clipping until baby is about 18 months old- this happened to my friend's baby. I suppose it's to give it a chance to stretch out...

Hi M., congratulations! You need to try to stretch the tongue out by taking a cloth or gauze pad and pulling it out in all directions. Go up, side to side, and in out. This will most likely cause speech delay or disorder so make sure an ENT sees it and determines if it should be clipped. If the baby has trouble nursing he will have trouble eating, talking and so on, so if you are not satisfied with the Drs recommendation see a speech and language therapist who is trained in oral motor function. Prevention is the key. I heard they don't like to clip till 6 months but why wait? The baby will be 6 months delayed already in their oral motor development. Be proactive and for sure give him PLENTY of TUMMY TIME!!!

S.
www.developmentalbaby.vpweb.com

Congrats on your son!

My now 4 yr old daughter had some problems nursing at first and at some point someone (probably her pediatrician) mentioned the short frenulum under her tongue. It was never severe enough to pursue clipping.

Fast forward to when she was 3 at her first Dentist appt, the Dr asked me if she had any issues with her speech (totally unprompted) and I mentioned that I was just starting the process to get her tested through Child Find b/c she was missing a few letter sounds which her peers were speaking well.

My daughter is now in a prek speech session twice a week for 90 minutes a day to help her with her trouble letters/sounds.

After the first day the speech teacher said that she would be fine with some work and there was nothing physically preventing her from saying the words correctly. After just a few weeks she could say her name perfectly (2 trouble letters in her own name!).

Would she be in the speech class had I clipped her when little? I don't know...BUT it was mentioned along the way by several Doctors and Dentists...it just wasn't really bad.

Whatever decision you make for your boy I'm sure will be the right one!

Oh it's such a load of hooey! I was told I needed to clip my daughter too but I thought it was ridiculous. They said she will lisp, have speech problems, etc. She had none!
Why would you want to cut a part of your little child that has just entered this world? Scary!!!

Hi M.,

When my son was a couple of months old, we had this procedure done. I was noticing clicking noise while breastfeeding and I was very sore and blistered. The procedure itself was very quick, but I'm sure it wasn't entirely pain free for my son or me (I cried too, but I think my son's crying stopped first!) It was worth it though because we were able to continue on to a full year of healthy nursing! Good luck!

hi M.! i am a proud mom of 2, now a sahm. before i had my daughter i was a surgical dental assistant (frenectomys) were something we did frequently on children but not generally befor age 5. depending on the dr. local anesthetics r used along with sutures or in some cases lasors. every dr. is different but if your baby does in fact have a low frenum i would wait a few years. ~A. f

My friend, Layla, a midwife at The Birth Cottage in Tallahassee had a son with a tight frenulum. she breastfed him and chose not to clip it. It eventually stretched itself out.

Which frenulum?

I had the one under my upper lip clipped in middle school. It was keeping my two front teeth from closing together, so I had a gap between my teeth. The dentist clipped it and the teeth closed within a few months.

Lactation Consultants are sometimes nurses, sometimes they have no other medical training. I would not consider such an intervention without consulting your pediatrician and perhaps even a ears, nose and throat doctor. If your child is able to latch, there is no reason to put him through this procedure right now, if ever.

If, when he gets older, he has speech impairments because of being "tongue tied" then you still have the option of clipping it.

I would not do it now if he can otherwise successfully nurse. Not only is there too much bacteria between the two of you at the moment, but he doesn't need the additional trauma when there are already breastfeeding difficulties.

Great job on hanging in there though. Breastfeeding is the absolute best thing you can do for your little one.

My son has this issue but was breastfeeding fine and later on speech was not a problem. The pediatrician wasn't concerned. It hasn't stretched out like some people have said about their kids. He's 8 now and the tip was hurting recently. The ped said the tongue was probably growing but not the skin. We've taken him to a specialist but haven't done anything yet. I do wish we had it done earlier because now I'm basically letting my son make the decision. The tongue isn't hurting now so it's kind of on the back burner.

If you're going to have it clipped, it's far easier to have it done now rather then a few weeks from now. It's hard to watch, but the area is numbed and it's really not uncomfortable for the babes.

The thrush is probaby the biggest cause of the pain, but has it always been painful to nurse? Just when your son latches or for the entire feed, and afterwards? A tongue tie can definitely inhibit a decent latch and cause feeding difficulties as well as a painful latch.

If it were me, I'd get it clipped, but I'd probably also want a second or third opinion. I'd probably contact La Leche and see if you can go to a meeting. They are a wealth of information with so much support and encouragement and someone will be able to evaluate the latch, the tongue tie, the thrush, etc.

Also, good for you for sticking with it! Breastfeeding can be tiring and difficult at times, and it can be so demoralizing to constantly face struggles, especially when you are tired and learning the ropes of new motherhood. It does get easier, I promise. :)

If the tight frenulum is truly causing a problem with proper latch (should be definately re-confirmed by a lactation consultant), then I would follow their advice as to whether they recommend that it be clipped. If they say yes, then the sooner, the better.... (with the exception of finding out if it is ok to do while battling yeast)...

My son had a short frenulum and was able to latch but was having some trouble (sucking and popping off weirdly) and getting a lot of gas because of the air intake. It was recommended to have it clipped at the ENT. He was 8 weeks. They kept him in his carseat and it was over within a minute....BUT he did scream for a long time. It was upsetting, but he latched very well immediately. Yes, I should have had it done earlier had we known what the problem was, NO I would not have put him under gas for it, and yes he would have probably stretched it on his own over time but that option was not going to help us breastfeeding at the time....

I would say to find out the yeast situation, evaluate your latch and determine if it could really be improved and then HURRY if you are going to do it! I also would use some numbing stuff like Baby Oragel or something else natural - for that area a few min before the procedure (even though the Dr will say he doesn't need it, my little guy REALLY needed it!)....

Best wishes!

Clip it! I had my son's tongue clipped when he was only 1 month old. He was having a hard time latching on the first few days and the lactation consultant said that was the reason. I talked to my son's pediatrician and he wanted to wait and see if nursing would stretch the tongue (pulling on it will nothing unless you do it frequently and that's not ideal or recommended). My son was not gaining enough weight, although he was gaining some, and the pediatrician said it would be helpful if we got it clipped, but since he was gaining weight we were able to make the final decision. My husbands family has a history of being tongue tied (with minor speech issues)and after talking to an ear, nose, and throat doctor (the one that does the clipping) we found out that they clip without numbing (ouch!), but it only takes about 1.5 seconds (litterally). They do not numb it because the numbing (needle) is actually more painful than the clipping... imagine that- also topical numbing does not go deep enough and tastes bad. Anyway, after they clipped my son;s tongue he was able to latch on, he did not act as if he felt any discomfort after about 30 minutes. He did have a little bit of blood fly out on to my shirt after it happened (he was crying so hard that saliva was flying out), but like I said after 30 minutes he was fine. The mouth heals very quickly and his tongue had completely healed in just 2 days. After getting over the initial 30 minutes of discomfort, he quickly latched on, and he was like a totally different baby. He gained a ton of weight and he is now 21 months old with a huge vocabulary. I think if we had decided not to get his tongue clipped he would need speech therapy (his tongue was attached almost all the way to the tip). I am glad we made the decision to do it while he was tiny, as opposed to waiting. I think waiting would have made doctor's visits more terrifying than they are now, and since he now has salt, and other "irritants" in his diet this would have been a problem. If you are going to do it, do it while your son is still on the boob. Good luck. Keep us posted!
p.s. as far as dealing with the thrush, an ENT should be able to better educate you on this. Give the ENT or your pediatrician's office a call and they will, more likely than not, give you an answer over the phone.

My son was just diagnosed with tongue tie this past week. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric ENT who confirmed what I had suspected. The ENT said he would have done the clipping in the office, but my son is already 2 months old and way too wiggly. So in our case, they will give him a little gas to put him to sleep and clip it and he will wake up. They said there is very little pain - he probably won't need any pain relief at all. And very little bleeding - he will probably not require any stitches. Since your little guy is so tiny, he may not fight it too much and they can just do it in the office and it will be done. They assured me that I will be able to nurse immediately afterward. So take him ASAP before he gets wiggly. As for the thrush, I have fought that battle before. My middle son and I passed it back and forth forever. It's hard to get rid of completely, but just keep up with the treatment for both of you until it is gone. Good luck!

I was tongue tied (short frenulum) & am fine... take your baby to a Dr. & apparently the clip is easy (I have no memory of it :)

Here is an article -I am sure you are researching, (but if you just looked for short frenulum vs. tongie tied) you may have missed some :)

http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAprMay02p27.html

M.,

My son had a slight "tongue tie"--his tongue almost looked square when he really stuck it out! It was not a problem nursing, however, and is now completely gone/unnoticeable.

My pediatrician strongly recommended waiting to see if there was a real problem before doing anything. He said most of them resolve themselves--stretch out--just fine.

Apparently, clipping them was very popular a few years back and still comes up, but isn't necessary most of the time.

I've never dealt with thrush, but my instinct would not to create an open sore in the mouth until it clears up.

Good luck and hang in there!

M.,
Congratulations on the birth of your son!!
Both of my kids were "tongue tied". I took them to an ENT (Ear, Nose, & Throat) Doc to have it clipped. It was no big deal at all. Both of my boys were more pissed off about the doc having his hand in their mouth rather than any discomfort from having their frenulum clipped.
I was told that the longer you wait to have this done, the more of a procedure it becomes. So I would do it sooner rather than later if you are considering it.
It helped both of my boys latch on better....it can also cause a speech impediment.
I dont know about the thrush issue. But your Pediatrician will probably refer you to an ENT to have it done. Both of my kids had it done by 3 weeks. They do it in the office. They numb it with an oral that you hold in his mouth.
It really was no big deal.
Good luck!
H.

M., they just had a wonderful show on "The Doctors" about breasts and breast issues. They covered several breastfeeding topics and suggested "nipple sheilds" manufactured by Medella to solve soreness. I believe it also helped with latching on. Since I haven't breast fed for 11 years this is new territory for me but might be worth exploring instead of a surgical option.
J.

M.,

Please have the baby seen by the pediatrician. Not only will this cause problems feeding but later will cause speech problems. Im not sure about this procudure and thrush but this is going to cause feeding problems as you have been experiencing. This is a very easy procedure and it will do nothing but good for your baby.