My tongue tied daughter
This was not the blog I was expecting to write this morning.
Last week I planned to write a quick blog asking your advice on how to help my daughter swallowing some pill prescribed by the Doctor. Difficulty swallowing is also called Oropharyngeal dysphagia! And we have covered it in a previous blog post.
But it was Saturday afternoon that we found out the reason.
We were travelling by train to my cousin’s husband’s 40th birthday party since you ask. Now all children of any age find a 90 minute rail journey somewhat on the boring side. So my son and my daughter and another of my cousins decided to have a tongue sticking out competition.
And that is when we discovered that our daughter was tongue tied. You can see from the photo above the extent to which she can stick out her tongue.
So what next?
That is the purpose of this post. Do you have any experience of know about tongue tie? My daughter is 13 so is interested in finding out what to do now (and so are my wife and I).
We see the Doctor in 10 days but any hints on what to expect would be gratefully received. It would be great if you could share in the comments section below.
Just as a point of information the UK’s NHS define “Tongue–tie (ankyloglossia) “… “a problem affecting some babies with a tight piece of skin between the underside of their tongue and the floor of their mouth (lingual frenulum). It can sometimes affect the baby’s feeding, making it hard for them to attach properly to their mother’s breast.”
My 2 year old son had tounge tie his doctor sent me to the ENT to get an evaluation and he ended up having to get the procedure done to get it snipped, but ever since than hes been able to make more sounds now that hes able to lift up his tounge, and he’s continuing his speech therapies.
It can impact speech, they way teeth grow and space out, and also the number of fillings people need as the tongue doesn’t clear around the teeth as well as it could otherwise. Other potential issues are snoring and other breathing problems, bad breath, etc. Personally, I’d get the TT divided if it was my child, but I work with breastfeeding mothers and see the issues that TTs cause from an early age 🙂 Hope you get some advice from the medical profession so you can make an informed choice. Look up Dr Kotlow for more info if you want to do your own research: http://www.kiddsteeth.com/articles.php?mode=desktop
Oh it’s not surgery at all they just cut it in the doctors office. Usually at birth if you are breastfeeding because depending on how bad it is it effects breastfeeding. My kids all had it bad enough that they cut it but a lot of times it will rip itself. I have seen that too. When the tongue actually forks is usually when they cut it
It does affect speech. But not enough to warrant a surgery.
I am 32. Didn’t know I was tongue tied til my friend had her daughter last year and had her tongue clipped. Her husband is 29 and he is tongue tied as well. In the 80s, they didn’t clip like they do now. But other than losing tongue sticking out contests (my friend could actually touch her nose her tongue was so long) I don’t see any reason to worry at 13 years old. Hers sticks out as far as mine. So long as she’s not trying to roll her Rs in Spanish, she will be just fine.
All of my children were tongue tied. Three were clipped the fourth ripped on its own. It does affect feeding and speech. Cutting it is fairly simple and done right in a doctors office. You just have to find a doctor that does it.