Tongue tie.

[Nana]

On Saturday my DD2 asked if I could go with her to have her second child's tongue tie snipped. I went with her the first time & wasn't looking forward to it. It had to be done privately (£200) so isn't cheap. The midwife spends time finding out about the baby, feeding mostly & breathing etc before she examines them. She then decides if it's necessary or not.

In my DGD's case it was quite a bad tongue tie. I said to the midwife that the midwife who checked first of all said the baby was fine. The former said it was because some midwives aren't trained in that area. When my GS2 was due for his I looked the procedure up. I read where the midwives 'back in the day' grew their little finger nail long so they could do the tongue tie if necessary when the baby was delivered.

Whilst we were waiting I was chatting to the receptionist saying how my Nan was regarded as the community midwife. She's had no training but just delivered a lot of babies.

I was saying to my DD that you'd wonder why it's a service (Tongue tie) the NHS don't offer. The midwife who does it works & lives in London all week then comes up North at the weekends. She has full bookings both days too. Parents even travel from abroad.

I just wondered on your opinions my friends.😊

[Plantaholic]

I can't see any reason for it not to be done on the NHS.

[Oma]

I remember when my DD was born 43 years ago it was automatically checked but I cant remember my DS 36 being checked and certainly not my grandchildren, if it was checked at birth it would be a simple thing , as Plant said cant see why it cant be done on NHS either

[Nanto2girls]

I can't remember eother of ours being checked for tongue tie,when they were born. Both of ours were born at home,
so i don't know if they just checked when it was a hospital birth.
It's expensive to have it done private isn't it. i would have thought it would be available on the NHS as well.

[Pearl5]

I cannot remember if mine were checked, but I have read this on the NHS website, maybe it can be done on the NHS, I too cannot see why not, I would have thought they would offer it to babies Nana....x

[Daisy]

I can't remember which of my grand-daughters it was, but the midwife doing the first home visit thought she might need it doing. But at the next check up she decided it was OK. I can't remember hearing about it before, but maybe it's one of the things that are checked at birth and isn't mentioned unless there's thought to be a problem.

[granma2aj]

My gs is 3yr had tongue tie which was done on nhs a few weeks after his birth it was not done at the local hospital but one about 15 mile away

[Daisy]

Reading granma2aj's post, it might be one of those procedures that are done by some NHS Trusts but not others - the infamous post code lottery.

[Nana]

Thanks for your feedback. I looked it up & there are some NHS hospitals near us who offer it. If the baby is feeding ok & growing ( putting on weight) this seems to be the main criteria not to have it done by NHS.This was why GD was unable to have it done on the NHS. However when she was examined at the private clinic she was 75% tongue tie. Good ending tho' as GD is feeding much better now & exploring more with her tongue.

[Gemini]

My eldest grandson was found to have this, but not until he was several months old, if not a year. I forget now exactly when. It could be done on the NHS , but at that age it was a worse experience, in DDs eyes so she decided against it. Like Nanas GD he was feeding well and growing. They said it could loosen in time, and it has. He is 4 now, and some parts of his speech are slightly different, but he can be understood and I forget about it most of the time.
DD was cross that he wasn't diagnosed at birth when he could have had a simpler less distressing procedure.

Good to hear things are going well for your baby GD, Nana.

[Nana]

Thanks Gem. She's just over 10lbs now so is growing well. Even tho' she was checked early she wasn't recognised as having tongue tie. I can understand your DD's annoyance as it is something that needs detecting early. I'm pleased he's ok now.

[Libra Gran]

My eldest son 46 this year had a tongue tie,visited GP and he did a little snip there and then.Surprisingly didn't bleed much at all. That was a long time ago though,GPs probably don't do it anymore. Brian junior was abut 2 weeks old,couldn't suckle properly that's how it came to light.