I started down this rabbit hole over the summer of 2016. My youngest was 2. Had been in speech therapy starting at 22 months (give or take). He was literally non-verbal. By age 2, he maybe had 5-10 words and you couldn't understand any of them. He was horribly tied. 6 months of speech therapy had not improved his understandability. He was revised at 2 years 4 months and immediately starting talking and frankly, hasn't shut up since. He just turned 3 and is almost completely caught up with his speech. Unfortunately, he does have some minor posterior reattachment and we will have to have him revised again - stretches were very very hard at this age.
After his experience, I started researching ties in my older son who's 6 (and even in myself). My oldest saw two preferred providers - one said he wasn't tied. The other said he was tied, but no reason to revise it as there were no speech issues. That was August 2016. In December 2016, his tonsils blew up. He hadn't been sick, so we didn't know they were swollen. They were swollen for 4 months. Took him to a different preferred provider and sure enough, he was tied and he offered to perform the procedure using Versed. Current date 4/17 - he's 3 weeks out from his revision and his tonsils are almost completely normal. (He had ear tubes and adenoid removed at age 3 - way beyond normal age for those - and I wish I'd started with his tongue. But I didn't know what I didn't know).
Me - I am 43. I am 4 weeks out from revision. I have had immense success. I was horribly symptomatic, but didn't have speech issues. My TMJ is almost completely gone. No popping, clicking in my jaw. I still clench a little at night - but that's stress for me also. Headaches gone. Forward head tilt gone. My shoulders were always drawn forward - I compare it to the posture of constantly carrying a child - my shoulders are now back and I have perfect posture. So don't think you are too old!! It's beneficial for adults also!
~ Kim Berbel
Monday, April 17, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
There is light at the end of the tunnel!
I wanted to post our positive story of revision for those of you who are going through it right now!
When my son was born I right away noticed that his chin was recessed. Several people who came in during our hospital stay told me it was normal and not to worry. My son also had a very shallow latch. It didn't hurt me, and I had nursed my oldest until she was 2, so I figured I'd be able to trouble shoot his latch on my own. Because of that, when LC nurse came into our room I chatted with her but told her we were doing great and didn't need any nursing support.
My son was crazy gassy as a baby. He spit up all the time, and as he nursed I could literally feel bubbles in his tummy. As a result he was really fussy and a terrible sleeper. I was using a lot of gas drops and they weren't helping, so I knew something else was wrong. I had heard of tongue ties in my local LLL page so I called the preferred provider in our area for an assessment. Sure enough at 5 weeks we found a PTT and ULT. His latch was so bad that he was gulping air while he nursed. He was in the 95% for weight though which confused me, because I thought he would be having trouble gaining weight. The provider told me that because I had a fast flow he had figured out how to get enough milk even with his inefficient latch.
Right after his ties were lasered he nursed better, still very narrow, but better. His reflux symptoms completely went away. I hated doing the stretches, but I was diligent in doing them as the dentist had told us to. There were a lot of ups and downs the first 8 weeks after revision and there were days I regretted doing it too.
I also had to go see another LC because his latch was still shallow compared to what they say a latch should look like. I spent a hour with a LC who watched him nurse. I had no pain, and his latch was good, just a little more shallow than the "textbook" latch. She told me as long as he wasn't in pain and I wasn't in pain that I didn't need to worry about getting his latch to look like what everyone else was saying it should look like. Today he is 15 months old, still 95% for weight and is still nursing!
So this was a long story, but I remember how stressful our revision was and I just want everyone who is going through this now to know there is light at the end of the tunnel!
- Emily Jaramillo
When my son was born I right away noticed that his chin was recessed. Several people who came in during our hospital stay told me it was normal and not to worry. My son also had a very shallow latch. It didn't hurt me, and I had nursed my oldest until she was 2, so I figured I'd be able to trouble shoot his latch on my own. Because of that, when LC nurse came into our room I chatted with her but told her we were doing great and didn't need any nursing support.
My son was crazy gassy as a baby. He spit up all the time, and as he nursed I could literally feel bubbles in his tummy. As a result he was really fussy and a terrible sleeper. I was using a lot of gas drops and they weren't helping, so I knew something else was wrong. I had heard of tongue ties in my local LLL page so I called the preferred provider in our area for an assessment. Sure enough at 5 weeks we found a PTT and ULT. His latch was so bad that he was gulping air while he nursed. He was in the 95% for weight though which confused me, because I thought he would be having trouble gaining weight. The provider told me that because I had a fast flow he had figured out how to get enough milk even with his inefficient latch.
Right after his ties were lasered he nursed better, still very narrow, but better. His reflux symptoms completely went away. I hated doing the stretches, but I was diligent in doing them as the dentist had told us to. There were a lot of ups and downs the first 8 weeks after revision and there were days I regretted doing it too.
I also had to go see another LC because his latch was still shallow compared to what they say a latch should look like. I spent a hour with a LC who watched him nurse. I had no pain, and his latch was good, just a little more shallow than the "textbook" latch. She told me as long as he wasn't in pain and I wasn't in pain that I didn't need to worry about getting his latch to look like what everyone else was saying it should look like. Today he is 15 months old, still 95% for weight and is still nursing!
So this was a long story, but I remember how stressful our revision was and I just want everyone who is going through this now to know there is light at the end of the tunnel!
- Emily Jaramillo
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