Tongue Tied - Vancouver,WA

We went through this when my daughter was about 18 months. I was upset, because it was identified when she was a baby and they said they would "keep an eye on it." Well, it never got better, so at 18 months we had to go to a Pediatric Surgeon to get it clipped. The PS told us that if we had it done when she was an infant, they could have done it in the office with a quick clip and she would not need "surgery" with anestesia. Well, she was so scared, there was no way the PS would have been able to safely cut it without anestesia. I think they used a scalpel, not laser.

But I digress....

We had it done and it was no big deal. She ate popsicles for a day and was good to go. I guess there are not a lot of nerve endings there so the pain is minimal. Because we got it done before her speech really started, there was no issue there.

We had to do this with my son, I think he was almost three. It was the dentist that pointed this out to us. He asked me if I had problems breastfeeding, YES I DID! (I even had called a nurse at the hospital to ask how to ween my son to bottle because he was having issues with the me breast, the nurse, a male told me I would hate myself for doing this and my real friends would hate me too!) Couldnt find the right nipple for the child either when we went to bottle. Long story short IF a doctor had figured this out if would have saved us a lot of time and pain. I believe a scalpel was used for my son, He was put under, taken into the operation room and brought back to us. As he was recovering his tongue was still very numb, he actually bit a little chunk off, which caused a lot of blood, which in turn freaked him out! Not by any means am I tying to freak you out, just want to give you a little info what could happen, so you can watch your child carefully do you dont have the same experience. My son aslo had the speech delays and went through speech therapy, he is now 11 and still has a bit of an issue with his tongue and his speech. Good luck to you and your son!

Hi L.,
My 3 year old nephew just had this done. I'm not sure of the details but it was no big deal - no tears and he wasn't bothered by it at all. My sister-in-law lives in Vancouver also so if you would like more details about everything private message me and I will get it for you!

:)

My daughter had this done at just around 3 by an oral surgeon. It took about 45 minutes and they did have to put her under because the scalpel is so sharpe he didn't want to take any chances she might move even the slightest bit. After taking her home there was some pain but the biggest issue was swelling so they had me push popcicles all day along with oral pain meds. The next day she was getting back to her old self. I strongly recommend the oral surgeon as it is not as scary for the kids they walk in and you carry them out. It isn't like going in the hospital. I think it was much more of an ordeal for me than for her. :)

My son is slightly tongue tied, but not to the point where it "has" to be done...but from what I've been told, it really is a very simple procedure.

My 6 year old son is tongue tied but it hasn't cause him any speech delays. We have talked about clipping his tongue with his pediatrician who said that he could do it. My son's dentist also said he could clip it. It sounds to be a quick ready procedure, at least in. my son's case. Talk to your son's pediatrician and see what they say ackout it, they can suggest what kind of doctor you need. We haven't clipped my son's tongue yet, it isn't affecting his speech but he does very irritated that he can't stick his tonguelike other kids.