Baby Lip Tie UPDATE

I posted earlier this week that I had just discovered that my 7 month old son may have an upper lip tie. This occurs when the upper frenulum is too long and connects lower on the gum than it is supposed to. In my son's case it connects right between his front teeth, which are just beginning to emerge.

I am concerned about the upper lip tie as it can lead to:

• breastfeeding latch issues
• tooth decay
• gap between the front teeth
• speech delay

I was finally able to get him in to see a pediatrician at a walk-in clinic.

The pediatrician confirmed that it is an upper lip tie like I suspected. Who knew, sometimes Google is correct. Doctors often tell mothers to not search the Internet for symptoms but on occasion it really does help. Especially, since my kids do not have a pediatrician or family doctor that they see regularly.

So as of now, we are on a waiting list for a consultation with a pediatric surgeon. The surgeon will determine if the frenulum should be cut or not. It could take months here in Canada before we get an appointment.

I am not really worried since he can breastfeed and eat solids easily. The other possible problems: tooth decay, gap teeth and speech delay do not really apply at only 7 months old.

Since it took me 7 months to notice the issue...

I decided to check out my 2 year old's mouth.

He has the same problem! He has an upper lip tie too!

I cannot believe I never saw it before. I brush his teeth every day but never lifted his lip before.

Here is a picture of my oldest son when he was 12 months old. He had a big gap at first.

Here he is with his little brother now, at 28 months old. The frenulum does connect between his two front teeth but there is not big gap there now. All of his other teeth must have pushed them together like normal.

My oldest did have breastfeeding latch issues. I used a nipple shield the entire time I nursed him (14 months) because he could not latch without it. I thought at the time it was the shape of my nipples that prevented him from latching but now I think that it was probably caused by the lip tie.

He also has a speech delay. He is 28 months old and not speaking very much. He says some words and says them clearly but he is definitely not talking at the same level as his peers. I am planning on getting him to a specialist if he does not start saying more words soon.

So it turns out that both of my boys have lip ties. My baby's seems to be worse and I will get it checked out by the pediatric surgeon as soon as we can get an appointment.

I will also talk to my family doctor about my toddler's lip tie and see if that should be fixed as well. His teeth have no sign of tooth decay so the only thing to be concerned about at the moment is the speech delay.

The speech issue is supposed to be a DELAY not an impediment so he should start talking on his own eventually without difficulty. Since he is already delayed, I assume he should be talking fairly soon. *Fingers crossed*

I will post another update as soon as we see the pediatric surgeon.

Have you ever encountered this before? Was surgery performed or was it left alone?