Hi everyone

Can anyone help with info for a mother here in Auckland, and had her third
baby 5 1/2 months ago. He was born 3.8kg and is now 9.1kg! She has
overactive letdown, which is probably fortunate as the baby has had latching
issue right from the start, and she has been scrupulous with postioning
which has enabled her to keep going with manageable discomfort (She usually
has some nipple distortion after a feed despite careful technique).

She eventually saw a GP today who is an LC and was told that the baby has a
short tongue and that she should see a paed surgeon immediately with a view
to resecting the tongue. She is very unkeen to take such a radical step
before she has fully researched the issue, and has learned both the
consequences of doing nothing and agreeing to the surgery.

She reports that the baby's tongue comes out to the edge of the lower lip
and then curls under, and at the same time is flat, narrow and tall. He can
also extrude it some 5mm past the bottom of the lower lip.
If he opens his mouth and pulls his tongue back (towards his throat) the
tongue becomes heart shaped - this is the only time it does so.

He has just started some solids in the past ten days (exclusively bf till
then). His mother observes that he is not doing anything that she can see
with his tongue when he takes a bolus of food off a spoon into his mouth,
but is extremely keen to have it.

He feeds 2 - 3 hourly by day and about 4 hours at night.

She is doing her own research with an ENT surgeon she knows and is going to
contact the Speech and Language therapists connected with the local oro-
facial unit who are involved with repairs of cleftlip and palate babies to
see what they can contribute information wise.

The sort of questions she has are in the realm of: if she does nothing
except continue what she is doing ie bf, will it affect the baby's
dentition, speech, digestive function (if he cannot masticate food properly
as he grows) or anything else.

Your input would be greatly appreciated! I note, on searching the archives
that there are a number of posts on the topic of short tongues, but where
there is early bf difficulty. Because this mother is a lot further down the
track, her questions are to do with the long term effects of the various
options, rather, as you can see, pure bf management.

Grateful thanks in anticipation

Liz Weatherly
"On a quest to be the best..."
 [log in to unmask]
 Tel 64- 9- 4738666

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