COMMON PAEDIATRIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES

There is reasonable evidence that tongue tie can be associated with some breast feeding  problems in young babies, and that these problems can often be alleviated by division of the tongue tie. In babies up to a few weeks old this can be divided with minimal distress as a simple awake procedure using sucrose (sugar solution)  pain relief. It is best if a mother struggling with breast feeding is being advised by a lactation consultant, who will be able to identify if a tongue tie is contributing to the problems and provide ongoing support.

There are many other symptoms and complaints that parents consider may be caused by a tongue tie or lip tie.  These might include feeding problems in bottle fed babies,  concerns regarding speech development, difficulty processing food when weaning, swallowing air leading to colic, difficulty brushing teeth and interference with normal dental development. Many of these problems can be multi-factorial and whilst there is anecdotal evidence that division of tongue tie can help some children it is not of sufficient quality to make strong recommendations.

I can assess and advise regarding the value of  surgery in these circumstances. Often review by a speech therapist can be a helpful first step in identifying a surgically correctable cause is present and it is likely the child will need ongoing speech therapy after a successful operation to divide a tongue tie.

Division of lip tie and division of tongue tie after the first few weeks of life will require a general anaesthetic.