Newborn DS has tongue tie - surgeon recommendations pls

DS's tongue tie was very severe, his entire tongue was adhered....and his surgery was at 5 months old. they cauterized it so much that he now has huge lumps of scar tissue under his tongue. He is ok though, but obviously was never breast fed.

Both my babies have had tongue-tie, I can totally understand why someone who didn't know what the procedure involves might be hesitant about doing it but in my case breastfeeding was so excruciating that even though I was upset at the idea, I went ahead and booked it when my son was 1 week old. As my paediatrician had said, the procedure was like cutting a hang-nail, seriously. My son cried when they sprayed the anaesthetic spray in his mouth and then when they cut the tie (which is a tiny thread of skin) there was only a small drop of blood. Having been through that and realising that compared to say, the heel prick test they do at birth, or a vaccination, its really nothing, when my daughter too was born with tt we had it snipped at 3 days old. This time around the Dr didn't even use the spray, as he said newborns just gag and choke on it. He cut the tie and it didn't even bleed, she woke momentarily, looked puzzled and promptly went back off to sleep without even a grimace. With a newborn it really is so simple and painless that it makes sense to snip it especially if you are having any of the issues that an un-snipped tie can lead to such as a painful breastfeeding experience, a baby not gaining weight well (due to ineffective latch), a gassy refluxy baby (due to swallowing air from a bad latch) to name a few. Later on a tt can cause issues with solids and speech although many people have ties and are unaffected aside from maybe being bad kissers ;) The frenum thickens and becomes more vascular as the baby gets older so after a few months then the procedure becomes a lot more complex, possible requiring a general anaesthetic and even stitches, so for if there are any feeding issues then a wait and see approach isn't the best. Something I didn't know about first time around is that where there is a tt there is often an upper lip tie too, I only learned about these when my son's top teeth cam e through with a huge gap in the middle and I then read about lip tie, his is quite obvious, extending right between his teeth and on to his palate. He's now done with breastfeeding and it wold be a nightmare to try and deal with it at his un-cooperative toddler stage but when he is old enough to sit still we'll get it lasered so that his adult teeth don't come through with a gap too. My daughter is 11 weeks and clearly has lip tie too, there are no experts in Doha so as soon as her passport and RP are fully processed our plan is to go to Dubai and see Dr Delphine, she seems to be the most experienced person in the UAE as far as I can gather.

Both my babies were born tongue tied. My little boy was booked in with the tongue tie specialist but on the day they realised that he had cut his tongue tie himself with a sharp piece of his nail! So he didn't need to have the procedure ( this shows how tiny and thin the membrane is). My daughter had a bad tongue ie and was booked in at 5 dys old to a specialist unit in the uk. They asked me to swaddle her and have a bottle ready. They took her to the next cubicle - only a curtain between us and within 30 seconds she was back in my arms. She slept through the whole thing! They told me to feed her straightaway the only problem I had was trying to wake her up to feed her! .So for all those with tongue tied babies I would say most definitely get the procedure done. It's not an operation just a medical procedure so get that whole putting my baby through an operation thing out of your heads as its frightening. Don't know who I would have gone to in Dubai but have only heard good stuff about dr delphine. It's not just speech that cn be affected - the one thing that stuck with me ( which sounds really silly now but it's the thing that upset) me is they won't be able to lick a lolly! My midwife was the one to pick up my tongue ties and she was most definitely in the get it sorted camp this was in the uk so no pressure because of spending money privately it was done on the NHS and when I see my little girl sticking her tongue out o lick a great big ice cream I know I made the right decision. I hope my experience has allayed any concerns about the decision to cut or leave.

A friend's baby had a procedure done by Dr Ayman Jundi. They were very happy with the whole thing. He's at Dubai London Clinic

DD had a tongue tie at birth and the paed at City told us it was only minor so just to ignore it. Feeding was an absolute nightmare so we took her to Dr Delphine at Motor City, as she was recommended as specialising in tongue tie. She told us DD's tongue tie was clear and pronounced, and gave us information on what might happen if we left it and what fixing it would entail. We chose to fix it (although we never felt pressured to do so) and it was a ten-second procedure. Within hours feeding was much easier, and completely painless after a couple of days. DD cried when the tie was snipped and that was it. Immediately after the procedure we were able to see she could move her tongue far better than before, and it was obvious how much the tie had restricted movement before.

I would say dont do... "some" doctors prefer to operate for any small thing.. I was told as well that my DS had a tongue tie when he was born, the lactation consultate confirmed as well and i had a cracked bleeding nipple then, the nipple shield helped a lot then to heal and breastfeeding went well for 2 years after, kept visiting the dr and asking every check up about it until he was 18months and then they told me (no need to do anything). now he is 4years and speaks very well and fluently... im so glad i didnt do it then and cant forget how i paniced and i cried then

I really don't understand! A lisp is cute with little ones but not so when they get older. Why allow a child to grow up with a lisp when it can be dealt with so easily?

Hey I was told my LO - now 3yr old DS was born with a tongue tie - so latching on was almost impossible - until the lactation consultant at city at the time - doretta - showed me how to breast feed him using this weird mustella breast shields Thankfully this was done while we were still in hospital the ped at the time told me - we can consider operating as well but if we don't have problems to just leave him - but he will have a lisp we chose not to operate by 2 months he was able to breastfeed without the shields and now at 2.10 months he talks none stop - but with a slight lisp I think in an odd way it adds character so glad we didn't operate if you don't have a dr you have to operate with maybe get a few opinions - from your lactation consultant and one or 2 paediatricians before you make the firm decision to operate especially in the mouth i think make sure you really have to before you do it

I disagree with Ail K, my DS had his snipped at 4 months old here in Dubai no problems at all it was a very minor procedure. It COULD lead to speech problems, so why take the risk for such a small snip, which is often done when the baby is just a few days old. Mine was at Medcare but the surgeon has now left there.

Don't let anyone touch it! I've had a tongue tie for 49 years, so far so good! When I was a baby my mother was told it would only be looked at if it caused any problems, and most don't, so I still have it, just leave well alone unless it's absolutely necessary to cut it. BTW, I have no speech problems :-)

Don't do it in Latifa Hosp, based on personal experience, they left DS's mouth a mess and ended up being sorted out in American Hosp.