Is my baby tongue tied (or lip tied)? A topic that is not widely discussed but that is becoming more common. Breastfeeding is a journey. For some it’s smooth and for some it’s bumpy and windy. Our journey has been the latter. Today I’m sharing what I’ve learned and wish I had known sooner about Tongue Tied and Lip Tied Babies. It’s one of our last resort options to figure out what’s going on with Girly Q. We have tried every outlet we can think of to help out sweet little baby feel more at ease and hopefully nurse better and we still haven’t quite found the answer.
After trying reclined nursing to help with overactive let down, block feeding for oversupply, elimination diets for food sensitivities, chiropractic and Cranialsacral/Maxillofacial therapy, a friend suggested we look into Tongue/Lip Ties. I had read a lot about them before and just assumed it was too rare for me to worry about but now I’m looking back over everything and realizing maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to skip over it. But life is a journey and we can’t always figure everything out right away, we are learning as we go. We can’t let guilt take over because there is absolutely nothing we can do about yesterday but there is lots we can do about today.
Back to tongue and upper lip ties. After spending lots of time Googling images I finally got up the nerve to look in Carmen’s mouth in hopes of not seeing any ties. All I had to do was flip up her upper lip and there it was, an upper lip tie. I then asked a doctor if they thought it was a big deal and without even looking in the baby’s mouth he said he wouldn’t worry about it, so I let it go. Well here I am 3 weeks later, reevaluating. Unfortunately, doctors are wrong sometimes, especially when they are giving advice on a topic they haven’t studied on and don’t know much about. As I have looked into it more and more I’m realizing that tongue and lip ties are often overlooked or misdiagnosed.
Another reason I didn’t originally consider lip ties is that Carmen is a healthy and very chunky baby. I always assumed that tongue and lip ties would be associated with failure to thrive babies exclusively. I was wrong. It can be either and it’s more common than most think for breastfeeding mom with lip tied babies to have oversupply and overactive letdown. It’s God’s ways of ensuring baby still gets enough to eat even though the latch and suck are far from perfect.
Here are some warning signs that we have seen that can be linked to lip tie: 
- Her upper lip is tucked in while nursing not flanged out
- Poor latch
- Upper lip blister caused by poor latch
- Colic
- Gassy Baby
- Pain/discomfort while nursing
- Baby has poor sleep and is hard to settle
- Oversupply and overactive letdown that have not settled over time or with block feeding
- Plugged Ducts
There are other signs as well but these are the one that apply to us. Not all lip ties require a snip or laser. It depends on how far down on the gum the frenulum (a piece of tissue attaching the lip to the gum) attaches. We will be seeing a specialist that can tell us whether or not it needs to be dealt with.
Also, many lip tied babies will also be tongue tied, the two are often found together. I have had a hard time checking Girly Q, she hates when I poke around in her mouth and especially under her tongue but from what we have seen we think that she may have one. We also had a doctor tell us that she has a lazy tongue but not specifically diagnosing anything and now I’m thinking there may be a correlation. **If you read our follow up post you’ll see she did have tongue tie confirmed as well.**
Another small piece of information to consider: Tongue and lip tied are not only problems specific to infants feeding, they can cause problems later on such as trouble introducing solids, delayed speech development, gaps between teeth, difficulties cleaning teeth and more.
We will have a follow up blog post after we talk with a specialist and learn more. **You can find the follow up post here: Tongue Tied Baby – What you Should Know.**
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Hey it’s makayla I love ur blog especially the very first picture that was so cute this is so cool.
So glad you stopped by!
Did you do a follow up post to this yet? Both of my babies have tongue-tie, one worse than the other. We saw a lactation consultant several times and at one appointment we found out my baby with the worse tongue-tie was actually not able to get any breast milk from me during a feeding, not even 1 ml !!! They are having me use a nipple shield and that has been working well but I don’t think I will ever be able to wean him off of it. I have never heard of upper lip ties but I will be checking my babies when they wake up!
We haven’t had a chance to follow up yet. The specialist is 4 hours away and we are waiting to hear back from her. If you join our email newsletter on the sidebar you’ll be notified of new posts so you won’t miss the follow up. That’s awesome that you’re still breastfeeding, keep up the hard work! We’ll have a post on breastfeeding that will be published next week to encourage and help breastfeeding mamas. (Also if you are looking for a community of support check out our blog’s Facebook page, lots of discussions going on there.)
Just happened upon the post via Pinterest. Just wanted to share my experience. My daughter is now 11 years old and has the lip tie just has your daughter’s picture illustrates. I did have have any issues with solid foods with my daughter though breast feeding was a challenge and I ended doing supplemental feeding then finally formula only. As she started getting her teeth her two from teeth, due to lip tie, did grow in funny and once she got her adult teeth there was quite the gap. Now to share with you ladies after seeing several doctors, dentists and orthodontists this is what I have learned.
1. Your child could fall at some point hitting her lip just right and tearing the tie. It will bleed a lot. Don’t panic. Apply pressure take to doctor it’s not as bad as it will look. (I personally was super grateful to get that advice I would have panicked had I not gotten it, though my daughter never tore hers).
2. Depending on the severity (my daughter has a pretty thick one) Do not have it fixed until after she is gets braces and has her teeth straightened. Scar tissue can impede the with braces should you have it done early. I interviewed 5 orthodontist before choosing one to put braces on my daughter and that was the one thing they all said.
3. It’s not end all – in fact I happened to love my daughters gap however she didn’t and she had a cross bite and some crowding due to the lip so braces were a must. After she gets her braces off we will evaluate whether laser surgery or minor surgery (a snip with a stitch or two) will be the best way to go. It’s really not caused huge issues. Though I will say when she was 5 and 6 she said it was sensitive to brush there but nothing too bad and she has seem to out grow that. Good luck ladies and hope his helps for future reference. 🙂
I actually had a severe lip tie growing up and had it snipped right before starting braces. There shouldn’t be any scar tissue if it’s fixed correctly, and I completely disagree that it should be fixed after orthodontic correction is finished. If it’s a severe tie, the orthodontic correction should be done on teeth that are stable. A lip tie can still cause migration.
I had mine snipped as well, a good time before braces. I had mine snipped after my adult teeth came in, and the gap closed in by itself. It wasn’t until a few years later that I got braces, and they weren’t to correct that issue at all.
That’s awesome! I had no idea a gap could close itself. Thanks for sharing!
Also. Just to let you know. Never ever had any kind of speech issues. She was not late and pronunciation was always fine. Only thing it has really interfered with is perhaps breast feeding and the way her teeth grew in.
I’m interested in this topic, my little one could not latch and we gave up on breast feeding early on. Not a 15mo, she has a gap between her top front teeth. Her doctor mentioned the frenulum was a bit long but dismissed it. I asked the dentist on the first visit last month and he mentioned oral surgery was in her future. My little one has a checkup on Monday – you better believe I’ll be bringing this up again! Thank you for the topic found this on Pinterest.
My son is 4.5 and has upper lip tie (which is probably why breast feeding him hurt so much). I have checked with his dentist and they said that if it’s not causing any issues (other than the gap) that they don’t do anything until he gets a little older because, like mentioned above, they can fall or catch their lip (taking off a shirt or jacket) and tear it on their own. My newborn also has a lip tie and no issues latching, however we are having reflux and fussy issues with gas.
My third child was born tongue tied. He came home from the hospital and we thought he was eating but he wasn’t going to the bathroom. Took him back to the Dr. and he had lost weight. They had me start feeding him formula. Having had two older children that breastfed just fine it seemed liked something wasn’t right. That’s when I figured out he was tongue tied. After reading about it I took him back to the DR and they confirmed it. One way to tell is when he would cry or try to stretch his tongue the tip of the tongue would form a little heart shape. An ENT specialist cut the skin under the tongue after doing a short evaluation. They will cut it for you if it is impeding eating. I also wanted it done to prevent future issues with speech, etc. The procedure was quick and only seemed to bother the baby a little bit. After a day or two he was breastfeeding fine. Which I had begun to feel wasn’t going to be possible with him. He has been fine ever since. At almost three he has had a harder time articulating his words but not much out of the normal range for kids his age.
Interesting. I was lip-tied until getting surgery for it at age 7. Two of my four children also have/had lip ties (my eight-year-old has had the surgery). None of my babies have had trouble nursing, but those two really struggled with solid food for quite a while. It makes me wonder if it’s just a coincidence. My second son was NOT lip-tied, and he was the one that was colicky, so who knows? None of them have had speech issues either; in fact, my boys are exceptionally verbal (which shouldn’t be surprising considering their parents are editors and writers by trade). My experience would contradict Jackie’s regarding waiting for the surgery. Both my son and I had it before losing our baby teeth. I never needed braces, though I have a tiny gap still, and my son will need braces (probably), but not for a gap. It seems to me that earlier is better. For me, there is scar tissue on my lip and gums but not between the teeth. Maybe mine wasn’t as thick as your daughter’s?
My brother was tongue tied. It isn’t easy to miss Alida but we didn’t know till he was 5yrs old. The tip of the tongue will be attached under and they can’t stick their tongues out. You will especially notice it when you are starting solids. It requires only a simple laser surgery.. lasts five minutes and no bleeding at all. Good post.
My daughter was tongue tied and a preemie so all tho i pumped breat milk i did not breast feed.. we never found out she was tongue tied till she was almost 6yrs old, she had had problems with speech as a baby she did not babble and tho she tried sayn daddy it came out as gaga and few other she said differently. She had kinda made her own language sounds and we used lots of signing to communicate. I had a program called soonerstart come to our home and work with her for a long time then when she started school she had a speech teacher working with her she asked my daughter one day to put her tongue in her check and push out, my daughter couldnt do it, in all the dental visits it was never checked so her speech teacher explained it to me and said go get her checked, thanks to that teacher problem was fixed,we had her tongue clipped. My daughters 11yrs old now she still sees a speech therapist and still struggles due to having her own kinda sounds for so long but its getting better.
You had mentioned seeing a specialist for this condition. What specialist would that be? Pediatric ENT? Pretty sure my LO has both lip and tongue tie. Thanks!
Dr. Amy Grawey came highly recommended to us, she is at Little Flower Medicine, and is both an MD and an IBCLC (Lactation Consultant). We loved her natural mindset and the fact that she uses a diode laser instead of scissors! We drove 4 hours to see her and would drive again if needed. If she’s not near you, she may have someone to recommend in your area.
“At Little Flower Family Medicine, Drs. Grawey and Kohler perform frenectomies using the diode laser to ensure a fast and efficient cut. The use of the laser has been shown to reduce pain, bleeding, and the need for repeat procedures.” See more here.
Those most renowned in the US for fixing lip and tongue ties, particularly with lasers, are pediatric dentists. And to my knowledge, dental insurance, not medical insurance, covers the procedure.
Also. Just to let you know. Never ever had any kind of speech issues. She was not late and pronunciation was always fine. Only thing it has really interfered with is perhaps breast feeding and the way her teeth grew in.
Thank you for sharing. Difficulty to latch is a tell-tale sign of a tongue tie or upper lip tie, in my experience. Obviously you have to take into account all other factors, and my two cents is to not discount the value of taking your infant to a dentist who specializes in lingual frenectomies to properly identify if a tongue tie or upper lip tie is present.