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A WARNING has been issued to new parents about the practice of tongue snipping in newborn babies.

Parents are outraged after Dr Thomas Lyons, of Eagleby Medical Centre,  said the tongue tie procedure, frenotomy, was painful to babies and “ also unnecessary and costly to parents.”

The news comes after Jimmy Rees, aka Jimmy Giggles, withdrew from ‘Dancing With The Stars’ to spend time with his family after his baby son’s recent health scare following a tongue tie procedure.

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“All the research that doctors have done show that very few babies have benefited from it.”

Dr Lyons said parents were getting it done at day two or three of life when they did not even know if there was a problem.

“I’m recommending they don’t listen to their lactation consultant – that they get a second opinion from their GP who will monitor the baby’s weight,” he said.

Lismore paediatrician Dr Chris Ingall said tongue tie “was the new black” and he was concerned by the increasing number of babies being treated for it.

“It’s an operation performed on something that heals itself over time,” Dr Ingall said. “Mothers are being told their children will not be able to speak properly and that their jaws won’t grow properly, so there is a fear campaign operating out there and it is being driven by dentists and lactation consultants and osteopaths referring to each other. They’ve turned nothing into something.”

Dr Deborah Bailey said: “I’ve been a paediatric surgeon for 30 years and I would have done maybe half a dozen a year in older children, now babies are being done at about 30 a day.”

Dr Thomas Lyons claimed lactation consultants and midwives were “creating an industry”.

“I’m shocked that it is now a common practice,” he said.

In 2010-11 there were 739 babies treated for tongue tie in NSW but by 2014-15 this figure had leapt to 2178.

Worldwide tongue tie surgery rates are rising. In one Australian study, tongue tie surgery rates rose by 3,710%. Canada recorded an 89% increase, the USA a 300% increase.

Dr Lyons said if the baby was not gaining weight, looked sick and was malnourished they can easily be feed from the bottle with no problems to growth at all, but breast feeding may not be possible.

“What I’m saying is that there is no rush, that parents should wait a couple weeks and get a second opinion,” he said.

“They’re recommending the tongue snip without discussing the alternatives that their baby may grow up well on just the bottle.”

Mum of three Laura Mazza has previously shared her battle to get support with a tongue tie diagnosis. Read her story here.

And another Mum shared her experience of tongue tie after her newborn’s dramatic weight loss – read more here.

Symptoms of tongue-tie

The symptoms of tongue-tie can include that:

•the tongue can’t poke out past the lips
•the tongue tip can’t touch the roof of the mouth
•the tongue can’t be moved sideways to the corners of the mouth
•the tongue tip may look flat or square, instead of pointy when extended
•the tongue tip may look notched or heart-shaped
•A baby with tongue-tie may have difficulties breastfeeding or bottle-feeding
•The front teeth in the lower jaw may have a gap between them.

Causes of tongue-tie
There are two main causes of tongue-tie. Either the frenum is too short and tight, or it failed to move back down the tongue during development and is still attached to the tongue tip. In the second case, a heart-shaped tongue tip is one of the obvious symptoms. It is not clear whether or not tongue-tie is inherited.

Tongue-tie in toddlers seems to be less common than in babies, which suggests that a short frenum can normalise itself as the child grows. In persistent cases of tongue-tie, the child may have certain speech problems.

Difficulties can include creating sounds that need the tongue or tongue tip to:

•touch the roof of the mouth, to pronounce sounds such as ‘t, d, n, l, s, z’
•arch off the floor of the mouth, to pronounce sounds such as ‘r’.

The Australian Breastfeeding Assoc says some babies with tongue-tie are able to attach to the breast and suck well. However, many have breastfeeding problems, such as nipple damage, poor milk transfer and low weight gains in the baby, and recurrent blocked ducts or mastitis due to ineffective milk removal.

A baby needs to be able to cup the breast with his tongue to be able to remove milk from the breast well. If the tongue is anchored to the floor of the mouth, the baby cannot do this as well. The baby may not be able to open his mouth wide enough to take in a full mouthful of breast tissue. This can result in ‘nipple-feeding’ because the nipple is not drawn far enough back in the baby’s mouth and constantly rubs against the baby’s hard palate as he feeds. As a result, the mother is likely to suffer nipple trauma.

There are many signs that a baby’s tongue-tie may be causing problems with breastfeeding, but you don’t have to have all of them:
•nipple pain and damage
•the nipple looks flattened after breastfeeding
•you can see a compression/stripe mark on the nipple at the end of a breastfeed
•the baby keeps losing suction while feeding and sucks in air
•the baby makes a clicking sound when feeding
•the baby fails to gain weight well
•the tip of his tongue may be notched or heart-shaped when he cries
•he may readily gag

It is important to note that all of the above signs can be related to other breastfeeding problems and are not necessarily related to tongue-tie. If you experience any of the signs above, you may wish to consult an expert.

Share your comments below.

 

Image via Getty

  • I sure think we shouldn’t take any procedure at such a young age too lightly and that it needs properly investigated by a professional if it is beneficial for the baby.

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  • He makes sense – wait to see if it’s an actual problem for your baby first.

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  • Bests me how anyone can think cutting a tiny baby anywhere would not cause them pain and significant discomfort

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  • Ive never heard of anyone that has had this done on their child and I hope i never do. Im stunned that this is happening 🙁

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  • I would be seeking advice before agreeing to this procedure.

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  • Please seek advice on tongue tie from a speech pathologist who is experienced with paediatric feeding. They are actually one of the best experts to seek advice from and they actually liaise with the paediatrician, GP, midwives and any lactation consultants.

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  • Oh my goodness, this sounds just awful.

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  • We took the advice of the midwife and medical team whilst in hospital when my son was having trouble feeding. In the end, we didn’t proceed with the procedure as things sorted themselves out. We expect the experts to be giving us the best advice.

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  • I don’t think the doctor was saying ‘tough luck’ he is saying that parents are being scared into doing it too soon and not closely monitoring their baby’s development. People are rushing to have the procedure done when their baby may not even have a tongue tie, he is not talking about ones that have one.

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  • Sounds horrible. My friends child had that done but not immediately, they monitored him and he could not feed properly and was losing weight, he couldn’t even feed properly from a bottle so I guess in this instance it was needed.

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  • I rarely swear but… ARE YOU F******* kidding me?! Mothers need better support in the decision to breastfeed, not a Dr telling them “tough luck”, don’t do the procedure to improve babies feeding and potential speech development later down the track.

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  • I am amazed that these consultants do this.

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  • Hmmmm. .This is sometimes necessary. Up to the doctor.

    If this is referred to as a duplicate comment I WILL EAT MY HAT. iT SEEMS EVERYTIME I make a comment it says oh you have already said that. I AM GETTING a bit tired of this happening. Also I STILL HAVE not got the birthday points for my son;s birthday it was on February the 19th. It says that I HAVE GOT THEM. I tried sending an email to mums@mouthsofmums.com.au and it says it was undeliverable. So hopefully the message will be read here.

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  • It’s scary to read articles like this possibly suggesting not to listen to medical professionals… what do we do

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  • Like circumcision it should be at the parents’ discretion, not the doctors’. If the baby is having trouble feeding then the mother should be allowed to do what she feels necessary to help. Women have enough problems with breastfeeding without this doctor telling them it’s alright to bottle feed and to not look at options.

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  • It is ridiculous and what torture.

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  • I am a Lactation Consultant and see many tongue tied babies. It often causes poor milk transfer causing poor weight gain or weight loss in infants, nipple damage and causes moms milk supply to go down. And tongue tie can cause many issues with speech and dental problems as a child gets older. Most pediatricians in my area have very little knowledge about breastfeeding or tongue tie and do not know how to assess for it properly so they give out incorrect advice like the doctor in this article. There are very few nerves under the tongue so there is minimal to no pain for a baby….nothing close to a circumcision! And the procedure is very quick and the baby can breastfeed immediately after. It is ideal for a tie to be released as soon as possible in the hospital by an experienced doctor who can fully release the posterior attachment. See Dr Ghaheri’s website, a tongue tie expert. I have seen the consequences in many babies who did not have tongue released in hospital….weight loss and drop in moms milk supply, cracked and infected nipples in other moms. Releasing a tie is helping a baby by giving them freedom of tongue movement which will benefit them for the rest of their life.

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  • The fact that the procedure is not done by medical staff should be a warning in itself. Get a doctor’s opinion

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  • My brother was slightly tongue tied. His problem was trying to talk. Nobody could understand his early words even after a few months. Mum took him to the Dr. He told her to hold him tight and he managed to stretch the spot in question just by pulling and stretching it. He cried for a few minutes but talking wise never looked back. Now you can’t keep him quiet.

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  • My boy was born tongue tied I was trying to breast feed and had alot of trouble laching on didn’t know he was tongue tied till the lactating nurse looked into his mouth and said he was. She made a appointment and I didn’t question it I thought it was the best thing to do. Once the procedure was done my boy lached on much better and I was able to breastfeed much better.

    Reply

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