Anybody heard of incision of tongue fold done to an infant?

Question

When my son was 2 weeks old the doctor clipped the membrane (frenulum membrane) from the bottom of his tongue because he could not latch on to my nipples when I am breastfeeding him. Is this normal?

Answer 1

Yep - as others have said, it's pretty normal, but not done as frequently as it used to be. Mine was clipped when I was only a couple of days old.

Answer 2

Your son was what they call "tongue tied." You're lucky it was realized when it was. If it's left intact, it can cause speech problems. It's just that the skin was too close to the tip of his tongue making it so that he can't use his tongue normally. I'm not sure exactly how common it is but I do know that I've heard of it quite a bit. When you breast feed, a baby uses their tongue differently than they do when using a bottle. I'm assuming your son latches on good now? If so, I'm glad you found the reason for him not latching on. I know someone that had to have his frenulum clipped and the only problem he had (if you can even call it a problem) is that he can't roll his "r's" when he talks in Spanish.  

Answer 3

you are lucky a friend of mine had to wait till her daughter was 4 years old and now has to have speech therapy because she learned  to talk while her tongue was tied and now she has can't talk clearly because the tongue moved so much more.

Answer 4

You're lucky your doctor did it at all! My son is going on a year (in a week) and I still haven't found anyone willing to do it, even though he couldn't latch to breastfeed and started to lose weight. I had to pump, because the doctors refused to do it, and said it's not necessary.

Yes, it's normal. Some babies are born with a very tight frenulum (called a tongue tie) making it hard for them to latch when breastfeeding. Later in life it can cause speech problems and they have a hard time eating or even just l*****g an ice cream.

Just be glad they did it this early, and enjoy your breastfeeding experience.

My son is too old to have it done without general anesthesia now, so we have to either have it done under anesthesia now, or wait until they take out his tonsils and do it then. It's driving me insane.