From what I've read, it takes little more than a snip and a couple possible stitches to fix it, but it still scared Jeremy and I to death. Suddenly our seemingly perfect son was not so perfect anymore and quite frankly, that was hard for us to grasp. Jeremy is going to call today and talk to both Henry's pediatrician and hopefully a pediatric dentist so we can get an idea of what is our best bet at this time. I've read that a lot of dentists will suggest just leaving it be for awhile on the chance that they will fall or something and break it lose themselves. So I don't know what our next steps will be.
It also seems like the only downsides to having a lip tie is that there will be a gap between front teeth (which Henry clearly has) and the possibility of an increase in cavities and such with these two teeth because food particles can easily get stuck in the extra space there.
The part that angers me and concerns me the most is that usually a professional discovers this lip tie within the first few weeks of life because there are issues with breast feeding. I never could breast feed Henry and we talked to numerous lactation consultants, nurses and doctors. He's been to well check-ups and had his mouth looked at numerous times and no one ever caught it. I look back and think of the tears and the frustration and the months and months of spending an hour pumping and then an hour feeding just so Henry could have my milk, the rushed trips home from work to pump during my lunch in which I usually didn't get to eat, and the overwhelming feeling of failure because I just couldn't get my baby to take to my breast.
It's easy to get angry because they missed it and most of that frustration and trouble could have been saved with a simple snip. Not to mention, the earlier it would have been found, the less painful and easier it would have been to be taken care of.
Have any of your kids ever had a lip tie? Did you have it cut or did you just leave it be?
I am so sorry that they didn't find it earlier for you. I had a friend who's child was lip tied as well (she was bottle feed) and they did not find it out until late. Once they had the procedure done everything was perfect and you would have never known that they had to do anything.
ReplyDeleteLaura@MiceInTheKitchen
It's not noticeable now, thankfully. I just wish that I had known that there was a true reason that I couldn't breast feed earlier on instead of beating myself up over it all that time!
DeleteI sometimes think we are like connected in real life. So Drew was tongue tied and yes, we had it 'released' (the clipping procedure term) when he was like maybe a week old? It was SUPER quick and he only cried for like a minute. Some people are completely against clipping, but it was the right decision for us. The second part of this is that Drew went to his 4th dentist appt (he got teeth SUPER early so he's been going every 6 months since 6 months old) yesterday. Well guess who noticed that he's also lip tied. The pediatric dentist said she was not concerned, that they often just correct themselves. But then of course I go home and start googling everything that came come with being lip tied. Ugh. I might talk to the pediatrician about this, but am leaning towards not doing anything now that he's over 2 years old. I have read the lip is MUCH more painful than the tongue and just can't see myself doing that to Drew right now. Keep me updated though as to what you find out and what your ped says!!!!
ReplyDeleteSister soul mates maybe? I read that it could be quite painful too and I really don't want to have to put Henry through that either. His looks pretty thick and I don't see how it could correct itself really, although I know there's still that chance. We are more curious as to whether or not having the lip tie would make it hard for him to have braces and such if he needed them in the future. We just need to take him in to the dentist because we really have no idea what to do or think about it all right now!
DeleteTotally BBB (bloggie best buds)!! Also, if it eases your mind at all, the dentist wasn't worried at all Monday when we went! She did mention to not be alarmed if he falls and bumps himself in that area and it bleeds more than other kids. Often, they can just fall and it will cut the tie back a bit themselves. I'm kinda crossing my fingers that maybe he'll fall once, bump that area, and nature will take care of the tie! Is that bad of me? I just figure it would hurt WAY less than surgery! :)
DeleteI'm secretly hoping the same thing myself. I think we're just going to wait and have it looked at at his next dentist appointment and not make a big deal about it right now. We've done a bit of research and the information that you've given us has been helpful and it's not really a huge concern to us right now. Thanks for all the comforting words!
DeletePoor Henry. It really stinks the professionals didn't pick up on this sooner.
ReplyDeleteI'm anxious to hear what you decide to do.
And, no matter what, your baby is still perfect!!
He is still absolutely perfect to me! I think things would have been better if someone had picked up on this sooner, but there's nothing we can do about it now so we'll just move on and hope that we can be led into the best decision for him at this point.
DeletePoor guy! :(
ReplyDeletethis was so interesting for me to read. roman was born "tongue-tied" which definately a problem getting started with breastfeeding. they found it at the hospital and clipped it when he was a couple days old. we still had a lot of trouble establishing breastfeeding and i too had to deal with the pumping/feeding craziness but not to the extreme that you did. eventually roman was able to nurse completely. i actually wonder if he had a lip tie as well after reading what you have said about it! he always had a space between his front teeth, and when i looked at his mouth now it is definately not attached but the skin is a little thicker between his front teeth and it almost looks like he may have started out with it attached! it is so infuriating that this was overlooked with henry in the beginning at the hospital! things like that just annoy me. ok that was a really long comment and i don't even know what my point is - but thanks for sharing and i wish you guys luck with deciding what to do!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, it used to be something they looked for in all newborn babies, but as bottles became more mainstream, doctors quit looking for it and now most of them wouldn't even know what to look for. How stupid is that? So because they can shove a bottle in a baby's mouth and feed them, the importance of breastfeeding is just thrown to the side essentially. Can you tell I'm a bit annoyed and bitter as well? Thanks for everything, Gillian!
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