I keep hearing about tongue and lip-ties. Could my baby have one?
I remember the first time I heard about a tongue-tie. I was horrified. Not just because I had no idea that this was even a thing, but because something so small could matter so much.
In case you’re unfamiliar with what a tongue or lip tie is, let me try to explain it the best I can. Do you know that stringy thing that you see when you open your mouth and raise your tongue toward the roof of your mouth? That “thing” is called your frenulum. Funny sounding word for a funny little thing. Well you also have one that connects your top lip to the inside of you gums above your teeth. Sometimes these frenulums can be too tight, or short, or low… Why does this matter? Well when they are too short, it can restrict the tongue, or the lip and this can impact the way your baby latches. It can also impact speech later on in life and the placement of adult teeth when they come in.
Next thing I know, a few more of my friends have babies, and I hear about this more. Then I hear they are having difficulty with breastfeeding and they received the recommendations to have the tie corrected or “clipped”.
Let me tell you about my experience with tongue and lip tie.
So here I am, birth, baby and info nerd. A doula. And a crazy paranoid woman who is having her first baby after the anxiety that infertility caused me. You know after hearing all about this I looked in my daughter’s mouth as soon as she was born, thinking I could diagnose this myself. (This is where you insert the swirling pointer finger next to my head and hear the cuckoo sound). In my not so professional opinion, her tongue looked fine. Her lip, that was a different story. So, at her first pediatrician appointment I say I think she has a lip tie. My doctor asked if she was latching ok, and I said yes, she’s nursing well. She told me not to worry about it. Fast forward a few months and my daughter was diagnosed with Torticollis. Someone mentioned to me that many babies with Torticollis also have tongue and lip ties (I cannot find proof of this- this is simply what prompted me to inquire further), and I of course said, AHA! I suspected this all along. After talking to a few friends, the recommendation was the same. Don’t ask your pediatrician, or a LC. See a professional; see a pediatric dentist.
Guess what? We go, and the pediatric dentist says she not only has a lip-tie, but a tongue-tie as well. I felt so torn. Why should I have it lasered to correct it, putting her in pain, when she is nursing well and gaining. I asked him if he thought it might help release her torticollis and he said it could. We opted for the correction. You guys, I cried so loudly in the waiting room the receptionist asked me to step outside. It was done in about 60 seconds. I picked up my daughter and placed her on the breast and I felt a HUGE difference in her latch. Had she been compensating for the improper latch by turning her neck and head, and contributing to her torticollis? Maybe, there is no way to tell. But, both really improved.
You can read more about this in the article “Is There Really a Tongue-Tie Epidemic?” by Rita Brhel here. Here is my take away. If you are concerned with a tongue or lip-tie, I would recommend seeing a pediatric dentist right away. He explained it to me like this. Sure, you could go to your doctor and talk about a tooth ache, but who would be the one fixing the cavity? The Pediatric dentist is the person who would correct the tie, they are the experts in the diagnosis.
Good Luck, Mamas!
~ Desirae