Frenulotomy!

A few months ago we were told that our son had a problem with his tongue. The tissue under the tongue that holds it down is to prominent. We were told not to worry, and that we would just watch to see if it caused any problems. My husband and I thought he was a very silly baby because he always has his tongue sticking out, and has done so almost since birth. Now that he is older he constantly makes raspberry noises as well.

Since he has been able to sit up, with assistance, we have been trying to spoon feed him and are having tons of problems. He spits almost all the food out. I know that he needs to learn to eat with a spoon, but it seems like he is trying and just can't. His tongue just pushes the food out. It seems only every once in a while would he actually really be able to take a bite.

Looking back to when he was a newborn I had attempted to breast feed him, but with little success. For one thing it was really painful. I just thought I was doing something wrong. He was also really noisy, and that scared me. We later found out that he was so noisy due to a throat condition he had called Laryngomalacia. Also, breast feeding takes up a lot of time, and my daughter was to young to understand why this baby was getting all Mommy's attention. So to my disappointment I quit breast feeding.

Now my son is set up to have surgery this coming Thursday. He is having a Frenulotomy. Which is the surgical detachment of a frenum. The skin under your tongue that holds your tongue down. His comes all the way out to the end of his tongue. If this is not done he will continue to have eating problems, develop speech problems, and when he has teeth the skin can and probably will get stuck between his teeth.

The procedure seems relatively simple. He will be put under anesthesia, but only by a gas mask. All they will do is cut back the tissue as close as they can get to being right underneath his tongue. He may not even bleed. Apparently this procedure has been done since the 18th century when midwives would just use a sharp nail at birth to separate the tissue. None the less as a parent I am still nervous for my son, and praying that all is well.