I am one of the most pro-active parents I know. To the extent that I’ve been talking with a friend recently about whether I’m actually looking for problems or just sorting things out before they become problems. Sometimes it’s a really fine line but then I find out I didn’t do enough. My son had a tongue tie cut at 6 weeks of age, an anterior tie. I thought: Awesome, job done. Umm…nope.
To backtrack for a moment – I have a confession to make. My big phobia is dentistry. Huge. If I could have avoided one issue with my kids it would be issues with their teeth. I don’t know how much you believe in manifesting your reality, but I’m pretty sure the universe was listening and just missed out on the NOT in “please, NOT teeth issues!!”
So, ironically, my kids have teeth issues – high palates, narrow jaws. Read: $$$$. But why? Well, I’m fast discovering there’s a whole lot to learn about lip and tongue ties. Here’s some of what I have learnt:
- It doesn’t just affect breastfeeding, but that’s all anybody is looking for or caring about when a baby is 6 weeks old, trust me. (And this is when you want to be addressing it – pinning down a 2 year old for this sort of thing is not my idea of fun.)
- Most Drs, midwives and even lactation consultants still do NOT know a lot about ties and are not very good at detecting them. There’s a steep learning curve occurring at the moment and even the health professionals are at different points on that curve and generally aruging with other people who are at different points on that curve or who have chosen a different modality for addressing ties (eg scalpel vs laser).
- When there is an anterior tie, there is always a posterior tie, when there is a lip tie, there is almost always a poterior tie. When you don’t think there is a tie but the child has a narrow palate or speech impediment, there is probably a posterior tie. If either parent has a speech impediment or had braces as a kid, there could be a posterior tie…OMG FIND AN EXPERT and get everyone checked for posterior ties ok!?
- If you aren’t convinced you got the right diagnosis, go get a second or third opinion – find someone who is a qualified orofascial myologist…or several someones…just to be sure…(see point 2 above).
- If you have a tie revised (nice way of saying cut) – you should get checked by a chiropractor or osteopath to loosen any restrictions the tie was causing.
- If you have it cut you’ll probably be given exercises so it’ll stay un-cut. I’ve read that these exercises don’t change much (again, controversial), and you probably will get some reattachment and may have to have it cut more than once to get close to 100% tongue movement and functioning.
I have taken my children to several (many) assessments and paediatric chiros, osteos and dentists, not to mention orofascial myologists. Seriously, if you want to ask me about referals and recommendations I can give you the down-low on just about every one of the Brisbane contingent and even a few in Melbourne and I’m happy to help. It’s confusing, stressful and there is little agreement among experts. I am by no means an expert, but I can share where I’ve been and what I’ve learnt – I don’t ever want anyone to struggle as I did, so if I can guide in some small way…just ask.