I was sitting here this afternoon, with Isaac on my lap playing. Clap hands, kiss cheeks, poke out your tongue.
It was good fun, except he was being difficult and not poking out his tongue.
Clap hands, kiss cheeks, poke out your tongue.
He giggled, he clapped, he kissed me, he attempted to poke out his tongue.
And that’s when I noticed it, like a slap in the face.
He’s tongue tied. Badly tongue tied.
When he pokes out his tongue, it almost looks heart shaped, with the tip of his tongue curling under and completely unable to move past his bottom teeth.
Suddenly, an awful lot of things make sense.
Breastfeeding Isaac has always been difficult. Painful as well. He’s always torn my nipples to shreds and it hurts. But he’s my second baby and we’ve kept going. He’s almost 13 months now and we’re still breastfeeding. And guess what? It still hurts.
Funnily enough, tongue tie can cause issues with swallowing and eating. Geez, I wonder who that sounds like?
Needless to say, I’ll be ringing the Paediatricians tomorrow to ask for an earlier appointment. I know that in older children nowadays they like to wait and see if it grow out, but honestly, with the problems we’re having already, I’d like it taken care of. I’m not sure how much ‘he can’t swallow anything properly’ stress I can put up with.
Plus, from looking at photos from the last 8 months or so, I think it might be getting worse and more noticeable, rather than better and looser.
Anyway! That’s why he isn’t swallowing properly.
Figures.
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yay! for answers. IMHO, worth snipping if t’s affecting feeding, wait and watch if it’s not. (That would be my advice) :p
(Love to hear about how it goes, you know, as a professional and all that, want to know if my recommendation would ahve been correct)
Normally if it’s affecting speech, we try some therapy first, but if it’s not going there then recommend the snip
hope they can fit him in earlier..
good luck..
poor lil boy..
Good to know the answer to your problem, now to tackle the health system ! Good luck!
I did think of that because I was in hospital with a mum who had trouble breastfeeding because her son was tongue tied, but for some reason I thought you would have picked up on it already if he was? But as you said it is possibly getting worse (so you wouldn’t have realised until now) so hopefully they can do something for him. What do they do to help that sort of thing?
My 2 sons were both tongue-tied and with my oldest it did affect breastfeeding, but it broke at about 3 months old. My youngest (now 16 m.o.) has just outgrown it, so I agree with you – you should be seeing it getting less pronounced.
Really glad to hear you’ve found a reason, and that it’s an easier one to deal with than EDS related stuff! BG Xx
Catherine – I thought I’d see it getting looser too, but from photos and the fact I’ve only just picked it up now (how on earth did I miss it?) I think it’s getting worse. It’s the very tip of his tongue attached from what I can see, not just the bottom attached close.
Fiona – Will definitely follow up with it and let you know what they decide to do. The fact it’s affecting his eating makes me want it fixed, even when he’s not losing weight.
Wowee. Well there you have it. I’m sure the paed will go with whatever course of action you would like to take. I agree that it’s a good idea to have it done if it’s affecting his swallowing. Poor little guy – and poor you with the nipple shredding!
That’s that problem figured out then! Zack is slightly tongue-tied. Bad enough that he couldn’t latch on when I tried to breastfeed him, but not as bad as Isaac, and he seems to have grown out of it, although he still can’t stick his tongue right out like some people can!
Hope it gets seen to asap. xx
I’m glad you’ve figured it out, but your ped should have check him for that at his first check up, so I’m a bit annoyed for you (my doc checked both my boys as a matter of course; neither was tongue tied.) Hopefully just a quick snip and they’ll send you on your way. And I bet the kid starts eating like a horse.
Oh my. Good luck. Poor him. And you.
That’s funny, I’ve never heard of tongue-tied except as a figure of speech, so I had to look it up to see what it was. I think it makes sense to have it checked out sooner rather than later.
I’m glad you have a reason.
Bravo Mama!
Well done for noticing, and well done for still breastfeeding, despite your difficulties. He’s a lucky boy to have such a wonderful mother!
ah ding!
Love it when everything suddenly slips into place and something that has been troubling you begins to make sense…. I’m sure contemplating getting it snipped isn’t filling you with joy but it sounds like it might make a huge difference to both of you! Hope you get a quick appointment and you are able to move forward!
Oh, dear… poor Isaac. And poor Mama. But I am so glad that you caught it early.
My nephew here in Poland, Micha?, was almost three years old before they noticed that he also had a problem with his tongue; it was so bad that he was not able to speak properly. He could only say ‘aaahhh’. I kept telling my husband to tell his cousin to get Micha? checked – I was very worried that a child 2 months older than my son Max could not speak, while Max was chattering clearly and fluently in two languages! I am still amazed that the doctor did not twig to anything being wrong faster (I’m no doctor, but even I knew something was not right), but there you go. Welcome to the Polish state-run medical system in a small town. I found out after Micha?’s surgery that his (now former) doctor spent all these years telling Micha?’s parents that he was just a dumb child.
Good luck with this! Let us know how Isaac gets on at the doctor.
Yay for answers! It sounds really likely. Good luck at the doctors.
Hey V … My oldest was tongue tied. They fixed it in the hospital before we came home. He wanted nothing to do with breast feeding, although, after his tongue was fixed the doc told me he would probably be fine with it. He is fine now, although, his tongue is not rounded at the end, it is, like you described, almost heart shaped.
HI,
The new layout looks really good.. very clean and fresh. Lots of light
Noah was tongue tied too. He had it snipped when he was around 18 months old, I think.
It made a huge difference to his eating.
Apparently it helps with speech too. i can’t vouch for that because I think Noah would have overcome that issue with or without the snip.
Hope your paed can help you out.
Well, well, well, (three holes in the ground), tongue tie is the one thing that I would never have thought of. Glad you spotted it and hope it gets fixed really soon. Isaac will be so much happier when he can poke his tongue out at Amy.
Impressive that you have been able to breastfeed him, pain and all! I hope it’s an easy fix so he can get on with life and never even remember it.
It must be a bit of a relief that a.) you know what’s going on, and b.) it’s treatable
poor little guy. he’ll be wagging his tongue at you in no time
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