May 28 2010
Sniped at Both Ends
Poor Elliott. First it was the bris when he was a week old and then yesterday I took him to the pediatric surgeon to get his tongue evaluated. The lactation consultant suggested I do this because she suspected that he might be “tongue tied.” The other terms used for this are ‘Ankyloglossia’ or ‘short frenum’ which mean that the lingual frenum is short and restricts the mobility of the tongue. In Elliott’s case the tip of his tongue couldn’t touch the roof of his mouth and the lactation consultant thought it might be restricting his ability to nurse efficiently.
I took him in to be evaluated and sure enough the doctor at Children’s Memorial said he was in fact ‘tongue tied.’ She said she couldn’t be certain it would help with breastfeeding but kids with this are likely to have speech problems later since there are certain sounds that can only be made when the tongue touches the roof of your mouth. If we waited until he’s older to have the frenum sniped it would require sedation and surgery. Instead, she just snipped it right there in the hospital yesterday and it took about 2 seconds. He nursed and was asleep in my arms 10 minutes later.
His latch seems a little more comfortable for me and he seems to be gulping away so I’m hoping this helps solve some of my nursing challenges and also avoids any speech issues later.
Here’s a link I found with more info about being “tongue tied.”
