Short Frenulum | Imamother

queen

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 11:03 am

Do any of you have experience with this?

those that are not familiar with this- don't get nervous Very Happy

It's basically the piece of skin that attaches the bottom of tongue to your mouth. Everyone has one, just some have a shorter frenulum than others. (hereditary)

Doctor said unless it causes problems, to leave. Wondering whether it makes more sense to clip while younger- and wont remember the pain etc. and what the typical problems may involve.

chen

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 11:59 am

as my mil says to sil when she obsesses abt things that may never happen: don't borrow trouble. why subject a child to surgery unless he's having problems with swallowing, speech or some other function?

btw, even if your child won't remember the pain after the fact, he's still feeling the pain at the time. (Though wouldn't they use some sort of painkiller?)

redhot

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 12:06 pm

queen- I agree with the doctor. A short frenulum has barely any negative side effects. I would not rush to clip it. What would be your reason for wanting to clip it ?? Does he have any functional difficulties resulting from that?

cindy324

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 12:08 pm

My second baby had that! When she was a week old we had it clipped (took about 1 second, literally, bled one drop, and that's it) It's not major surgery, and you should prob. leave it alone if's not causing problems with breastfeeding. My daughter was not able to stick her tongue out far enough to be able to nurse properly, so she would be hungry round the clock because she wasn't able to nurse the full amount. So after my ped said in the hospital to leave it be if no probs, I saw that we did have probs so we had it clipped at a different ped's office. Right after the doc told me to try to nurse her and see if she's latching on better, and wow what a difference!

Also, a lot of docs say that the problem corrects itself most of the time when the baby first starts walking and falls down and it rips on it's own.

Also, some say that a tight frenulum may cause minor speech problems later on, but nothing that can't be corrected with some speech therapy

So don't worry it's no biggy.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 12:51 pm

It's really not that big of a deal. It can definitely interfere with nursing, but clipping it is a minor procedure, and everything is fine and dandy.

It used to be pediatricians didn't believe in tight frenulums causing nursing problems, or if it did, it was better to bottle feed than to clip it, but B"H they are starting to change their way of thinking.

It sounds scary, but it isn't. Smile

queen

Fri, Jun 23 2006, 1:45 pm

thank you ladies for reassuring me... and chen, thanks for your mil's advice Very Happy

.

Before leaving hospital (after birth) lactation consultant told me baby was latching on great regardless of short frenulum. She seems to be making all the right sounds and cooes now.... so we are not looking to do anything about it. I rather did want to hear from others and what you did/if any effects came about later from leaving it. She can stick her tongue out, so I guess it's not THAT short, yet Lactat'n consultant did point it out to me.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Jun 26 2006, 10:09 am

queen wrote:

thank you ladies for reassuring me... and chen, thanks for your mil's advice Very Happy

I spoke to my m-i-l who is a lactation consultant and she said besides nursing, there are many problems that could come later between speech and other oral skills (eating, etc.) and if it's clipped later, the child has to relearn those skills in addition to being put under general anesthesia to have it clipped. She strongly advises doing it now to prevent such tzaros later.

(B"H yur baby is nursing fine. Takes the pressure off!)

Mishie

Mon, Jun 26 2006, 10:38 am

My 6.5 yr. old son had this when he was born.
My Mom is also a Lactation Consultant, and noticed it right away.
I can't even remember, but it's possible he had a little bit of a hard time latching on at first, but he became a real pro at nursing once he got the hang of it. I ended up nursing him until he was 15 months.

And, out of all my kids, he was and still is my Best Eater Ever!!!

BTW, he does have a lisp, but almost all my kids do. (It comes from Hubby's side... LOL)
My oldest grew out of his without any speech therapy, so I'm hoping my 6.5 yr. old will too.

P.S. His tongue was in the shape of a HEART. Do all short frenulums look like that??

8)

queen

Mon, Jun 26 2006, 11:36 am

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

thanks H'Yaazor for asking your mil on our behalf. We have our 9 month apt. next month, so I will put it down on the list to ask Dr. Thanks again

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Jun 26 2006, 12:36 pm

queen wrote:

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

thanks H'Yaazor for asking your mil on our behalf. We have our 9 month apt. next month, so I will put it down on the list to ask Dr. Thanks again

Oh, I didn't realize how old your baby is already!
If not a newborn, it's a different story, but it still might be worth it to doing it earlier rather than later if there's a good chance it will need to be done.

willow

Mon, Jun 26 2006, 3:55 pm

queen my daughter had this when she was born. The lactation consultants blamed my tremendous nursing pain on it and told me to get it clipped immediatley. We went to have it clipped. The blood and the pain was for a second, the dr told me to nurse her and I nursed her and she was fine.
I do not know if this really was the cause of all my pain but in any case I did some research afterwards and it seems that it may not have been necessary. It seems that a lot of children are born with it and a lot of nursing consultants in the last couple of years are telling parents to clip it where they never made it such a problem before.
I guess we will never know. But one thing is for sure it did not hurt to do it when she was so little that it was a prick of pain and she will never remember it.
Since you have not experienced any nursing problems because of it my post probably does not help embarrassed

I guess that somewhere in my tired fog I am just telling you to ask a few doctors and get a through opionion.
Sorry for this spiel but if it helps I am glad. Smile