Tongue tie and solids

amother

Fri, Mar 21 2014, 10:41 am

My baby is six months old. We haven't had any problems with nursing, so I was surprised when about 2 months ago, the speech therapist who comes over to work with my older child mentioned that it looked like the baby has a little tongue tie. I said we didn't have any problems nursing, so she said if it ain't broke, don't fix it, it's obviously minor if I didn't have any reason to suspect it. We just started solids this week, and the baby cannot get the food down. It's NOT tongue thrust- my older one did that when we started solids, so I know what it looks like, and I know it just takes a few tries to get over it. The baby isn't doing that. He's swirling the food around his mouth and actually really WANTS to eat it, but can't get it back to his throat. He spits it out and then cries from frustration, then grabs the food to try again. Could tongue tie be making it hard for him to do solids? Should I look into getting it clipped? Would my regular ped be able to handle this or will I need a specialist? Thanks.

amother

Sat, Mar 22 2014, 4:36 pm

He doesn't necessarily need his tongue tie treated. Some babies have a harder time learning to deal with solids than others. Take my daughter for example. She was tongue tied, we got it treated. She STILL had a hard time dealing with solid food. I actually took a month before we could give her anything that wasn't almost totally liquid. So give your baby liquidier food - I took mashed food or baby food and mixed a little with my breastmilk (formula works too!), and over the course of several days/weeks, I gradually increased the amount of 'solids' in the milk. My daughter eventually got the hang of it. Even at a year old, she still has a dislike with foods of new textures (but she eats sandwiches, chicken, kugel, vegetables, pancakes, omelettes, etc. In other words, she now eats real food just fine!).

The tongue tie cutting procedure is unpleasant, and sometimes for an older baby they have to do it under anesthesia. It's worth first asking your pediatrician for a recommendation for a therapist who specializes in eating (oral motor skills etc) - this can be a physical therapist speech therapist, or maybe even a separate eating therapist (I can't remember what they are called). Trying this route first is especially important, because it could be your son's problem is related to swallowing, and not his tongue at all! This can be treated very well with special therapy, from one of the therapists I mentioned above. Try this route, and if the therapist really thinks that the tongue tie is the problem, they'll recommend the tongue tie procedure.

Of course, it's also possible your son is like my daughter, and just needs extra time to get used to new textures, so you could just give it another couple of weeks and he may not have any more problems at all!

Mommy3.5

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 8:34 am

Yup. I didnt notice anything wrong until I started feeding my kid solids. beause of tthe toune tie he could not eat properly, hed gag and vomit. At firs we thought it was reflux, then the ped found the tounge tie. Within a week, we had it fixed and the difference was night and day.

It was done by Dr. Goldsmith, in his office. it took 3 seconds and a scapel. I held him. he had a bottle riht after to stop bleeding. he barely cried. it was a good thing.

My younger son had a worse tounge tie, and could not nurse, that was fixeed at 3 weeks old. it was done by a differednt doctor with a laser. it was a lot worse, and more tramatic for me. he doesnt remember it at ll Smile

I have not forgotten, and its been 5,5 years.

My advice, fix it. its worth it, and if you do it now it wont need any anethesia or anything, just 3 seconds and a bit of blood. and the results are well worth it. Its not even a surgery, there is no reason not to do it if it is cusing feeding issues, and is likely to cause other issues down the line.

amother

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 12:13 pm

amother wrote:

it could be your son's problem is related to swallowing, and not his tongue at all!

I agree that you should check with a professional whether or not it's his tongue that is causing the problem. If it is the tongue, get it fixed! If not, it's important to get the appropriate problem treated instead.

But some babies just have more trouble than others adjusting to new foods so maybe wait a week or two.