Lip tie, what to do (if anything)?

[Celesse]

DS appears to have a lip tie. Latch so far has caused me no pain. I think perhaps its a bit shallow buts its hard to tell as I have big areola. It does take him a few goes to get a big enough mouth and he sometimes seems to manage to get the bottom of the nipple in his mouth better than the top. He doesn't always get fish lips with his latch. I can't assess his weight gain in relation to how well he is transferring the milk as we have other issues (both of us being poorly at different times during the last 4 weeks) which mean he is currently supplemented and my supply is low (but I'm on domeperidone and its getting better).

How do I tell if a lip tie is causing problems? and what if anything do I need to do about it?

 

[oldmamamia]

hi i just posted here yesterday "doctor said i was nuerotic" if you want to have read, charlie had a tongue tie snipped and now after struggling with feed and sleep probs ive finally been referred to a dental and facial surgeon, charlie clamps his mouth and sucks with difficultly from my nipple and can only manage very short feeds whih means he never sleeps more than an hour night or day as he never gets a good feed, he cant take a bottle or dummy as he cant make a seal on the teat so the milk just pours out the side of his mouth, lip ties can lead to future dental problems as the top 2 teeth grow either side of the skin leaving a gap which then can cause a lisp and speech probs, it seems very common in the states to get this sorted but quite hard in the uk, you need a referral from your doc although after me trying for 7mths thats easier said than done, good luck

 

[Hopeful42nd]

I was told my son was slightly tongue tied at birth. When I questioned the doctors they simply asked if he was latching on properly to feed. Yes, no issues, so they said to leave it be, if he has speech problems when he gets a bit older they can do something then. They said its a simple thing now or then.
My son will be 1 at the end of this month. He makes all the same noises as other babies, can say some words, imitates car and animal notices well. The best thing is, he's actually grown out of it a bit, he can stick his tongue out!
For you, I guess it depends in how severe the tie is. I have never heard of it making a gap in the teeth, but I'm no expert. I can just say my experience.
Good luck, I'm sure you'll choose what is best for your child.

 

[cranberry987]

I'm wondering about lip tie too. Had a tt snipped and they said they don't do anything at all for lip tie. I don't even know if my LO is normal or tied. He looks tied but could be normal for all I know

Spoke to someone from LLL and they said its pretty impossible to get them
To snip it anyway so it's moot.

Would love to hear what you come up with. Also pics of normal/tied lips. Google doesn't come up with any normal mouths when I search, and why would it.

 

[oldmamamia]

this is a picture of a severe lip tie and the effect it has on the position of the teeth

https://forum.baby-gaga.com/about1075514.html

 

[becsparkel]

In the uk it seems there is only 1 doctor who provides LT revision and I believe it's performed under GA.

https://www.manchesterentdoctor.co.uk/

My DS also has a lip tie and I'm sure it's causing some of the pain- he also had posterior tongue tie which has just been revised for a 2nd time. There's a tongue/lip tie facebook support group if you're interested?

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/tonguetiebabies/

 

[oldmamamia]

In the uk it seems there is only 1 doctor who provides LT revision and I believe it's performed under GA.

https://www.manchesterentdoctor.co.uk/

My DS also has a lip tie and I'm sure it's causing some of the pain- he also had posterior tongue tie which has just been revised for a 2nd time. There's a tongue/lip tie facebook support group if you're interested?

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/tonguetiebabies/

thanks, ive just requested to join x there seems to be so little help or advice for us uk mums but when you talk to the american mums on here or other forums it seems to be done quite easily over there sometimes by their dentists, do you think its more of a cosmetic thing rather than health, the americans all seem to have lovely straight teeth whereas it doesnt seem a priority to the brits

 

[lisaf]

Here is a pic of the different levels of tongue-tie, starting with a normal one
https://forums.ivillage.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29051i640C59E8127DF51F/image-size/large?v=mpbl-1&px=600

It may not be an issue now, if there is no discomfort, no problems with eating, then its probably not worth doing just yet. Many kids fall and tear theirs, sometimes dentists snip it if its causing issues with the teeth.

I had pain when nursing and he never got a really good latch... the seal would break at the slightest movement. Getting the lip tie snipped made a huge difference for me.

 

[cranberry987]

So my LO isn't like the normal pic. He gets suction on a nipple shield fine (ie I can't pull it out) but not on the bare nipple but thats probably just a technique issue if he can do it on th shield

Could someone who knows about this stuff make a sticky? Quite hard to find info about lip ties and I've seen a lot of questions recently.

 

[lisaf]

Hmm, I never tried the nipple shield after the tongue tie was clipped... I would think its possible that its easier to get a latch/seal on the shield though
This blog shows pictures of a trick to helping get a deeper latch if you want to try that.
https://thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot.com/2011/03/introducing-maxillary-labial-frenulum.html

There is a limit to how many stickies they can have and we're at the max. They are asking right now to remove the growth charts one and put up one on TTC while BFing through tandem feeding etc...

 

[fifi-folle]

As others have said in the UK they don't do anything about lip ties until the adult teeth come in. I was told a lip tie doesn't affect bf'ing, by a man who has no idea how uncomfortable it can be. I had one but it tore when I was a child.
Feeding for us has improved over the weeks as I think the frenulum may loosen slightly with time (could be wrong though, it may be I'm losing sensation!!!)

 

[becsparkel]

Oldmamamia - I don't know re cosmetic v health. If a baby's not gaining weight because of it then surely it's health, tho difficult to tell because a LT is very often accompanied by a TT. I don't know enough about the proceedure though, I wonder why it's done under GA?? Perhaps it's more painful? It's the GA that puts me off.

Looking at the Facebook group, I'm wrong, looks like there are 3 doctors who do it.

 

[becsparkel]

Fili-folly, could be right. I met someone today at a LLL meeting and she said her LO's LT was much better simply because she was bigger and the tie became less prominent. I would. Love to get to that stage... Painfree bf-ing seems like a dream!

 

[becsparkel]

Her LO is 7.5 months

 

[lisaf]

They didn't have to put my son under to do it. It may depend on the age of the child and the skill of the doctor doing the procedure. They strapped my son down to a board that held his body down and his head was strapped into place. It wasn't fun, he screamed his head off but he was numbed up and screaming because he didn't like being pinned down and didn't like stuff being put in his mouth.

 

[becsparkel]

Unfortunately it's different in the UK Lisa, not sure why. If they snip it in the US, I don't see why it's so rare over here (and it's done under GA, I think). I spoke to my LC today who thought it was due to the risk of over snipping and it affecting the baby's smile.

 

[lisaf]

from what I've read, the GA aspect is based on the doctor's preference and skill/comfort level.

 

[Poppy7]

My little boy had this ever so slightly. It never affected feeding though. He fell off a slide about a month ago and tore it naturally. I believe that if the lip tie isn't severe this is usually what happens (most children fall and knock their mouth at some point) and the doctors won't do anything about it.

 

[tannembaum]

Wow both my little girls have ties like the last pic, they go down the gum and around the back of the gum.
DD1 was bottle fed with expressed milk until she was 6 weeks. I found as she got bigger and her mouth got bigger she was easier to feed. I also learnt how to sandwich my breast and shape it to fit her mouth. I fed DD1 until she self weaned at 12 months, so it is possible to BF. I won't lie though, it was HARD work!

DD2 is easier to feed but I think thats just as I have experience feeding with a lip tie and automaticly fed DD2 as I did DD1.

As other ladies have said in the UK they don't do anything for lip ties (or so I've been told)

A google search will probably bring up that LO will need speach therapy because of the lip tie but I don't believe that as DD1's speach is perfect for her age so don't dwell on that

 

[tannembaum]

This is DD2's tie. It's not that clear sorry but it was pretty hard getting the pic lol. DD1 is very sleepy and grumpy so I'm not even going to attemp a pic of her mouth lol