So you’ve just given birth to your wonderful new bundle of joy. You’re checking him/her all over, making sure everything is where it’s supposed to be. Ten tiny fingers, ten teeny toes, so far everything seems to be in order…until the baby cries and you get a good look inside of his/her mouth. Hmm, the tongue looks a little odd. It could be that your baby is tongue tied. Am I referring to the saying that means “at a loss for words”, obviously not since we’re talking about a newborn baby.
I have actually given birth to two beautiful, perfectly wonderful tongue tied infants. What does being tongue tied mean exactly? According to breastfeedingbasics.com, the term ankyloglossia is the medical term for being tongue tied. This is when the band of tissue that connects the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth ,known as the frenulum, is too short or tight. This can cause the child to have impaired movement of their tongue, which can interfere with breastfeeding, and later on, speech development.
Ankylogglossia is congenital and can actually be hereditary. No one else in my family has the condition that I am aware of, but then again, I don’t usually go around asking my older relatives such questions. All I know is that it does appear to be true, because my oldest son, who had the most severe case, and my youngest daughter, are from different marriages, so we have two different fathers, and the same mom, me. Guess it lies within my gene pool.
When my oldest son was born, I noticed that he had this cute little heart shaped tongue. I also noticed that he could barely stick his tongue out, and then I began to notice that when nursing, he would slip off the breast several times, and lose suction. It made the first several weeks of nursing very painful for me, because it was making my nipples extremely sore. Being my first child, I had nothing to compare the experience to, until my second child came along seventeen months later. What a world of difference! Then I really understood the full impact of how my oldest child’s tongue tied condition had affected his nursing. I brought this up right away with his pediatrician, who was in favor of a “wait-and-see” approach. His doctor did not recommend what they refer to as a ‘tongue-clipping’ at this age, but rather wanted to wait and see if it later impacted his speech. Many pediatricians will not jump on the ‘tongue-clipping’ bandwagon, but would rather wait to see if the frenulum stretches out on it’s own, which it sometimes will. So, I was left to deal with the issues, but he did thrive, so it wasn’t that big of a deal at the time.
As my son grew into a toddler and began to eat more solid foods, I would notice that he would often gag while eating bread products, which I began to suspect was due to him being tongue tied. Without full mobility and use of the tongue, eating certain foods was challenging, so we always had to be very careful with him and pay close attention while he ate. Again, he continued to thrive and the pediatricians again suggested waiting, perhaps until the school years, only if it was affecting his speech.
Well, he became quite a little talker, and I did begin to notice some issues with his speech as a toddler. I would simply try to say the words correctly to him and try to have him copy me, but he just couldn’t seem to make the “th” ,”sh”, and especially, the “ch” sounds. Then, when he came to me one day and told me his friends were making fun of the way he said “church”, I knew it was time. He was still pre-school aged at this time, so I wanted to have the tongue-clipping procedure, known as a “frenetomy” , done before he started Kindergarten. At this point in time, the pediatrician was on board with the idea, and I made him an appointment with an ear/nose/throat specialist.
It was a simple, in-office procedure, where he was given a local anesthetic, and was fully awake during the whole procedure. Now, to hear him tell it, it was quite scary, but he was five at the time. He got a lot of cool toys from the doctor afterwards, so that took some of the sting off of it. My son did not like having the procedure done, but yet, immediately afterwards, it made a huge difference in his speech, and it healed quite quickly without any complications whatsoever. I explained to the school that he had been tongue tied and had this procedure performed , and they recommended he take speech sessions with the speech therapist at the school. After only one or two sessions, they then determined that he didn’t even need speech therapy. I then considered the frenetomy a full success!
I am happy to report that he is now a wonderful 22 year old young man with a beautiful girlfriend and college education, who doesn’t only speak well, but sings great as well. He never let it get in his way, and went on to perform in school plays (in the lead no less!), and performed with several show choirs, and even auditioned for American Idol. You would never know he was born tongue tied.
My daughter on the other hand, had an extremely mild case. Her tongue did not have the ‘heart shape’ when she stuck it out, and her case never interfered with nursing, eating or speech. I had discussed her tongue tied condition with her group of pediatricians, because of what had occurred with my oldest son, and all of them agreed that her case was so mild, no one would do a frenetomy on her, because in her case, it would be purely for ‘cosmetic’ reasons. I figured if they weren’t worried about, neither would I. To be honest, I rarely even think about it anymore with her, because she speaks so clearly and has no issues with it. I also believe that her frenulum did stretch over time all on it’s own, with no intervention.
If you are concerned that you baby may be tongue tied, please talk to your pediatrician about this. They will determine what needs to be done, and when. If it so severe as to interfere with bottle or breast feeding to the point where the infant is not thriving , they may opt for earlier intervention than they did in the case of my son. Either way, don’t sweat this, your baby is still quite perfect no matter what, and this is something that is easily fixed.
