Tongue Tied - Warren,MA

Yes. It's easier to clip the fenulum (the thin membrane under the tongue than connects it to the bottom of the mouth) when they're younger and before it really affects their speech. The fenulum is sometimes too short and often goes unseen/ undiagnosed and is very important as it affects eating & speech down the road.

As a child gets older, the membrane thickens and the longer you wait, the more difficult the procedure becomes. I was tongue tied too and at five, it started affecting my speech, giving me a bit of a lisp or French-sounding accent, according to some. I had to have general anesthesia done, nothing major, but it's a lot easier when they're younger. Recovery was easy and my speech improved dramatically.

My baby was born with toungue tie too. In my son's case it was attached to the very tip of the tongue (extreme - level 1) which made it hard for him to nurse, though not impossible. He somehow was able to adapt using a nipple shield, but it took him a very long time to nurse (45 minutes or so).

Once the fenulum under the tongue was clipped by his pediatrician in a 5-second procedure, he was able to stick out his tongue and move it without any problems, and nursing quickly improved.

Most cases are not so readily visible - look to see if your child can stick out his tongue (for moms with younger babies, stick your finger in - sometimes they push it out). If the tongue doesn't pass his gum line, doesn't stick out past her lips, or if the shape seems odd (like a "w") there may be a problem.

I'm not sure what the process would be for a three year old but absolutely ask the doctor about it. By the way, the pediatrician who clipped my son's fenulum was experienced in this.

I would speak to your pediatrician about it and speak to someone at your school disctrict (not at the preschool), but where they would attend elementary school. They offer early intervention by law in CA so it may be worth a phone call.

When my son was born, the hospital said he had a tongue tie and they wanted to clip it. We didn't let them and when we brought him into see his pediatrician for the first time, he said he was fine and that it would gently stretch as he got older. My brother had a pretty severe tongue tie and my parents didn't have it clipped. They found him a good speech therapist who worked with him and helped him gently and painlessly learn to overcome his speech impediments. You need to do what's right for your son - do your research so that you can make the best and most informed decision. Good luck!

HI, I was a nanny for 5 years and the middle boy had this problem. His mom had it snipped and he has not stopped talking lol. I hope this works 4 u.

Our daughter's tongue was 'tied' when she was born. The doctors noticed it in the hospital because she had a difficult time latching. The doctors at the hospital recommended that it be clipped because of speech and because of simple things like being able to lick an icecream cone like other kids. The doc said that all of the older kids that get clipped wish they had it done earlier.

I had my daughter checked out for this when she was very small, and they said to wait till she was speaking. We took her to a specialist at Mass General in Boston who was helpful in advising us what to do, or what not to do. They didn't seem to want to operate without reason.

If there is concern, i would have your pedi refer you to a specialist for an opinion.

good luck!

We very recently went through this. My son had been bottle-fed so did not have feeding issues (much more likely to notice with breastfed babies because of latch issues). He talked very early and a ton but was difficult to understand to anyone other than me.

When he started preschool at 3 he was put into speech services and they advised having his tongue clipped -- his was severely tied. Our pediatrician was against it at first because he had never had an older child get a tongue clipped before. He recommended trying speech first which we did for the rest of that school year and the entire summer at a hospital based program. The speech therapist was great -- worked with him three times a week and gave us exercises to do at home to try to stretch it. I am also a teacher and had lots of recommendations from speech therapists I work with that we tried. We worked really hard with him but felt that it was basically a failure -- none of the exercises were doing him any good because his tongue was so tied he couldn't do them.

We kept working with the pediatrician and finally were recommended to a specialist through Children's Hospital in Boston who met with him and completely agreed it should be done. My pedi was great about not wanting to recommend someone who would clip it just because we asked. He wanted someone who would truly evaluate my son and decide if there were other issues besides the tongue-tie that should addressed instead or in addition (in addition to the speech sounds we were concerned about messy eating -- because of the messy eating he wondered if it could be a muscular thing as well). The doctor was great.

Problem is with an older child they do have to be put to sleep. Nervewracking for us but it was truly was no big deal to him. Whole procedure from putting him out to coming to get us was probably 15 minutes. We stayed with him while they put him to sleep, then we left while they did the procedure. They brought us back in before he woke up so when he woke up he was curled up in my lap in a rocking chair. He had no idea what had happened and was perfectly fine. He could eat within an hour and had no restrictions or bleeding or soreness or anything. Later that night I told him he could stick his tongue out because the doctor fixed it -- he was shocked and so excited. He still couldn't really stick it out though -- it was pretty funny.

It has taken him a really long time to learn how to use his tongue and I wish I had realized and done it earlier. He was 4 1/2 when he had it done. He is now 6 1/2 and he is still learning to really use his tongue. He was released from speech and is doing great but he still can't spit when he brushes his teeth and we are still trying to "break" bad habits he developed from when it was tied (like constantly using his hands to keep food in his mouth when he eats). Funny thing -- it came up in conversation recently and he had no idea what we were talking about. He has absolutely no recollection of having been tongue tied or of having it clipped. This is a kid who remembers EVERYTHING so it just goes to show that it was no big deal to him.

Good luck and feel free to contact me privately if you want to talk. The whole experience was really stressful on me as a parent. You second guess everything and you just want to make the best decision for your child. I wish I had known people who had been through it at a later age like this to talk to, so if I can be of support at all I would be happy to.

E.

In my opinion I would have it done. I questioned it with my second daughter because of the way she sucked her bottle my pediatrician said she was fine and not to worry but I took her the the ENT for another thing and he said she was slightly tongue tied and it is heriditary( some of my cousins kids were too) He said it would take to seconds and I had it done right there. Why chance the speech when it can be easily fixed before it becomes a bigger issue. I dont know what the procedure is for 3yr olds but I would look into it.
On a little side note my sister dated someone who was tongue tied and she said he wasnt the best kisser because of it. lol

My husband has this problem and never had it fixed, he has never had any issues with speech or eating his whole life. He can't stick his tongue out past his lips. So it doesn't always impact them, although I'm sure its easiest to fix the younger they are like most things.

As a child who had a lisp early on and not having intervention until I was in school [I was born in 1961] first grade. I would greatly suggest that you fix this issue when your child is young. Having a speech impediment is extremely difficult for a child, yeas everyone said I was cute but I was made fun of, hated to read aloud because of giggling. I was also taken out of reading class to work on my speech so class work was also an issue.When I was 8 yrs old I had a plastic baseball bat in my mouth and severed the cord under my tongue [ yeah stupid thing but I did it] I was taken to the ER and they stitched it and said I would probably talk funny my mom told them I already talked funny and that I had a lisp. Well I never told the speech teacher about my stitches I continued to be in the class and every-time I lisped it hurt --bottom line is I stopped lisping and the only good thing is I do articulate some words because of the speech class. please fix this early and good luck with whatever choice you make