Has anyone's bub had a frenulectomy done?

I have booked B in for one on the 2nd of March and im totally freaking about it - i actually can't stop crying!
Took her to a Childrens Health Care Nurse today and she recommended - ive known for a little while that it would prob need getting done eventually, but now that its booked in im feeling like such a bad mum!
i wish it was picked up at birth, so it could of been done straight away, i wish someone found it before i gave up breastfeeding, because we were having massive troubles, i wish the Pead had of picked it up at her 6wk appt.
But no one mentioned it - i had to discover it myself!
and when she has it snipped she will be 4mths old - that has to be absolutly painful for her.
How bad of a mum am i for not getting it done sooner!!!! :cry:

noooo dont feel bad!!
my girlfriens son had t have one it was quick and healed quickly

your a great mum!!
you little B will just be fine!!

How old was he?
and do u know if he was upset and in pain for a fair while after it?

i wanna know if its not a bad thing and such a simple procedure than why is the problem ignored?

Oh Harmony :hug:

You are not a bad mum darl, your a fantastic mum to gorgeous little B !!

I am sorry that the dr's didnt pick it up at the 6wk check up but you have picked it up now and your doing something to help your daughter so dont for one second feel as though you are a bad mummy ...because you aren't.

Thinking of you x

hj- they didn't do anything sooner in case it rectified itself ( which in her 2n son it did)

he was about 4 months and he was pretty good straight after and normal the next day.

sweets....... your little girl will be fine.

Hun, please don't feel bad. DS1 had a tongue-tie also and we only discovered by accident when he was 2 weeks that that was the reason he couldn't attach. Before that a couple of the midwives had mentioned that he had one, but didn't think it was causing a problem. We were just very, very lucky that we saw a doctor who specialises in t-t - we went there for something else! He ended up having it snipped at 3 weeks and it was very easy and painless.

I am sure it will be fine hun. I know of people who have had it done in older babies and it hasn't been as bad as they were expecting. I hope this is true for you also. And definitely don't feel guilty - it's the health system that's let you down.

dont feel bad hun! DD had one and we had it snipped at 9 weeks and it wasnt that bad at all! as soon as it was done and the doc was finished i stuck a bottle in her gob and that was it! no tears, no bleeding! :hugs: i think its harder on us mums than it is for the bubs, just like immunisations, we stress they dont care all that much! good luck sweets she'll be fine i promise

Thanks MR and Skybie - i feel a little bit better about it - i know it will make things easier for her, and in the long run she will benifit - but im just so upset it wasnt discovered sooner. I beat my self up and cried for ages when i gave up BFing, and to think if this was found i would prob still be BFing! Oh well i guess no point in dwelling on the "what could of beens", is there?
Hopefully it wont hurt my bubba girl too much! i cried with her when she got her needles and im sure going to cry with her when she gets this done! life can be cruel, but i guess there are worst things out there.
im sure come the next day she will forget about it! :crossfingers:

Thanks for telling me about ur experiences with t-t!

Ooooooo tomorrow is D day and im soooo feeling sick about it!
Poor B has been sick with a cold the past few days too and is just starting to feel better, so im feeling extra bad for what is about to happen tomorrow for her!
Im thinking i should cancel and give her a break a bit - but the appt was hard to get and the longer i leave it the worse it might be for her.... or should i cancel?

Incase anyone is interested B had the snip done today!
Broke my heart hearing her scream, but she is as happy as Larry now! However still not drinking! im hoping thats okay and things will be fine tomorrow!

Tis the morning after the snip and B is doing great!!! she slept all night and this morning wont stop poking her tongue out!!! soooo cute!

oh wow- what a relief for you!!

so glad to hear

That is wonderful news. So glad B and Mummy are both doing well.

Oh hun, I haven't been around for a couple of days, but I am so glad to hear that it went so well. That's really great news.

DS was the same with sticking his tongue out LOL!

Just thought i would quickly pop in and say it has been almost 2wks since B has had this done and she wont stop sticking her little tongue out! soooo cute!
so very glad that we went ahead and did it!
however come time for bub number 2 instead of checking for 10 fingers and toes i will be checking for tongue tie!!!

DS has tongue tie....at every check up i always get the nurse to look, but every time she tells me the same thing 'Its not to bad, he is drinking fine so dont worry'...but i do...he cant stick his tongue out and when he tries he gets a W tongue :(

Kim - I was told that also at every check up - i was also told that it will fix its self eventually - but i didn't want to take any risks - and risks B have speech problems etc later in life - so i thought while she is little may aswell get it fixed - i thought about it ALOT!!! and now im SO glad we got it done!
she had a V shape when sticking her tongue out!
Its totally up too you but in all honesty - i recommend getting it done!

Sorry I've only just found this thread!
Hj1981 - Glad to hear your DD's snip was a success! It is fantastic watching them poke their tongues out huh?

Harrison had his TT snipped at 5 weeks. It made a huge difference to how he fed from me... straight after it was done he went on the boob and fed properly for the first time, no nipple shields, just me and him... it was fantastic.
He is 2 now and very cheeky... he pokes his tongue out at us and we feel happy that he can do so... even watching him lick ice cream makes us happy because if he hadn't had the snip done, he wouldn't ever have been able to do those things.

Lisa - my only regret is that the TT wasnt found out earlier enough so i could continue BFing!
im actually shocked at how common it is! they say it is meant to be hereditry but no one in either my side of the family or DH's side of the family has it - how bout u?
Im sooo glad it all went well for Harrison!

No there is nothing either side of my family either. My Aunty ended up having a bub with a TT and it was snipped in the hospital.
I told my midwife for this bub that Harry had a TT and they told us that if bub has a TT, they will have it snipped straight away which is brilliant.

kim - check out the royal womens website on tongue tie info. DS didnt have his snipped til nearly 8 weeks. They have a thorough checklist assessment that they do there, and if you get over a certain score they will snip it for you.
DS just made it by 1 point. His was particularly tight, but he also had a short tongue, so while it made something of a difference it wasnt the miracle that the girl next to me got, her baby poked his tongue out right away and looked like that guy from Kiss! lol
I dont know if there is an age limit, and I dont think you need a referral.

hj1981 - Its not heriditery as such but can run in families.

I asked at birth for the LC to check DS, because MIL said DH had one. She said he didnt.
I asked at 5 of the 6 breastfeeding daystays I went to to have it checked, and they all said no, he doesnt have one.

My son made a habit of feeding well at daystay so that the LCs must have thought I was nuts to keep wanting to come back, he was like a different child at home. Im sure they thought I just wanted to sleep in the armchairs.

At daystay number 6, when he finally played up, the LC observing the feed said - well is there a reason you didnt have his tongut tie snipped? then the other one came over and said yes he definitely had one and have me the phone numbers for 3 OBs in the city who could do a frenulectomy.
I went to see Lionel Steinberg, but he wouldnt do it becuase it was too tight and he didnt think it was necessary, so I took him to the womens to get assessed there.

Thanks Hj and Ray.....i have a check up today and im going to get it looked at again....imnot to keen on this health nurse, so i think ill get my GP to look when i get his 2 month needled done as well.

Im more concerned with the speech problems later on then anything now. The thought of it being snipped turns my stomach as well :(

Kim, the snip itself is pretty tame - it really doesn't hurt them as there are no nerves there - the only discomfort is from having someone poking around in their mouths. But I think with an older baby/child an anaesthetic is used so it might be that the nerves to do grow in the area at a certain age.

Apart from the speech, feeding etc, another main issue is dental decay, as the tongue can't clear the food in the mouth properly. So there are certainly good reasons to have it done in many cases.

The MCHN and mws all told me DS's wasn't bad enough to cause any problems but I know differently now. He was able to attach without the shields immediately after having it done, and now that I can see what his tongue is supposed to do, I can see how much of a problem it was before.

Kim, the snip itself is pretty tame - it really doesn't hurt them as there are no nerves there - the only discomfort is from having someone poking around in their mouths. But I think with an older baby/child an anaesthetic is used so it might be that the nerves to do grow in the area at a certain age.

Apart from the speech, feeding etc, another main issue is dental decay, as the tongue can't clear the food in the mouth properly. So there are certainly good reasons to have it done in many cases.

The MCHN and mws all told me DS's wasn't bad enough to cause any problems but I know differently now. He was able to attach without the shields immediately after having it done, and now that I can see what his tongue is supposed to do, I can see how much of a problem it was before.

ETA - BTW, after we found out about DS's t-t, MIL remembered that one of her boys had one which was snipped also - she can't remember whether it was DH or BIL, but she'd completely forgotten until she heard about DS's.

Kim -i was the same - i was shaking so much when i took her in and was getting quite upset - i think its more the part where they have to hold them down that upsets them the most! and B only cried for a few seconds and there was no blood! it really wasnt that bad! i had it done at Mt Gravatt - i wasnt aloud in when it got done - it only took like 2 seconds than they brought her out for me to feed her to help her and to check that she could suck fine!
Let us know how u go!

They are great there hj aren't they? That's where DS had his done also. The doc knew so much about it - he even recognised that I had mastitis without me telling him! Apparently it's really common with t-tied bubs.

Harry only cried for a second too... there was 1 tiny droplet of blood, but he attached to me straight away and the bleeding didn't get beyond that initial droplet.
Like the others have said, I was also told Harrison's TT was fairly small but when the paediatric surgeon saw it he told me it was definitely a bad tie and should have been snipped asap.

~Sally~ got Brendan's TT snipped when he was older and he needed to have a proper operation for it under GA.

I was with DS the whole time, though I did have the option not to be there if I chose too.
Lisa Amir at the RWH is just awesome I cant rave about her enough.

rayray - how bad was that? i made the mistake of googling it and saw a TT being sniped on utube so i was kinda glad i wasnt aloud in!

MR - yep they were really good! did u have dr russell?

Yep! He was fantastic.

I was in with Harrison the whole time his got snipped. The most distressing part was watching him be held down. There were student Dr's in there helping and observing too. The second it was done he was handed over to me and put on the boob. Because they needed to hold Harrison's face he got upset. The minute that his face was let go he was ok.

Well im back..i told the nurse she HAD to look. Well Zachery had other ideas and just wanted to keep smiling and giggling but refused to tryand poke his tongue out. She kepy saying it was fine, btu when i mentioned his tongue does the heart shape she kind of stopped and took me seriously. She said that whilst she does agree its close to the tip, she doesnt think it would ever cause any problems, but when i get 2 month needles done, see the GP and gets his opinion on it. Otherwise if i feel its a problem then get it snipped.

So really no clear 'yes' or 'no' answer from her.

Kinda upset me a bit...cos i said 'will it hurt'..and being the women she is said 'well it wont hurt you'....grrrrr.

Kim - from what i have been told and from what i have experienced TT is a taboo subject so to say - they like to ignore it!
I was told that it wouldnt hurt cause there is no nerves or anything that it was just a bit of spare skin so to say!
B was fine once they gave her back to me! so cant be sure really if it hurts or not - but i think the sooner u get it done (if u get it done) the better for the bub!!!
But like i said its totally up too you!

Thanks heap Hj....im going to speak to my GP who i trust alot more and go from there. Id say ill probably get it snipped..just to be on the safe side.

When i said to the nurse i was worried it might cause problems she said 'like what' and i mentioned speech and she wanted to know what made me think that, said that id been doing some reserchon the net and she kinds got all narky saying things like the net always worries people more then it should blah blah...rude but meh...LOL

It was a taboo subject for me too. I was offered a referral for circumcision for Harry but they wouldn't give me one for tongue tie. Crazy!
I didn't want the darn circumcision, I wanted a baby who could feed properly!
In the end the ECHN suggested I go see the visiting Paediatric Surgeons who ended up getting me in so quickly and snipping it.

my sister had one but it wasnt recognised until she got a mouth infection when she was 2 coz she couldnt lick the roof of her mouth the only thing is when she was a baby she could click her tongue thats probably why they didnt pick up on it

Kim, I would just ring the RWH directly, they have a formal assessement process and wont do it if they dont think its required, but wil take you seriously. DS's did not make the heart shape and his was snipped...

here is a link to some info on it - Tongue Tie