My Toddler is Tongue-Tied

My little man, Sammy, has had several issues over the last couple of years.  When he was a baby, he couldn't latch on to breastfeed - my doctor said it was from my inverted nipples and to basically give up.  I wanted what was best for my baby, so I pumped his breast milk for the first four months of his life.  It was painful, time consuming, and I hated it.  Eventually I gave up, and switched him solely to formula.  I was proud of the little amount I was able to provide for him, after all breast is best, but still feel guilty to this day for giving up.

Then when he started solids, he would choke constantly.  I thought he just wasn't ready for foods yet, and so we held off on baby food until he was a little over 7 months.  Feeding him was always a struggle.  There was one horrifying night when he was a year old - we had went to a great barbecue place for dinner and Sammy was snacking on applesauce.  He decided he wanted a piece of my garlic bread so I gave him some.  He'd had bread before and loved it so I didn't think anything of it.  Until he choked.  I tried scooping it from his mouth, but that didn't work.  Tried pounding him on the back to get him to cough it up - no luck.  That's when he stopped breathing and I started panicking.  I'm pretty sure I was yelling, "He's not breathing!" in the middle of the restaurant while onlookers just kind of stared... I thought I was going to lose my baby.


Thank God for the lady who jumped up to help - she was a nurse and I'm pretty sure part angel - she performed the Heimlich maneuver on him and he screamed - finally able to breathe again.

It was when he was two and a half that I thought something might be wrong.  Sammy wasn't talking.  Well,
he would say a word here and there - mama, dada, ball, up, bye... but that was about the extent of his vocabulary.  According to all of the milestone sites out there, he should have had a vocabulary of at least 150 words.  I brought him to the doctor, who referred us to Child Developmental Services.  From there, we've built his vocabulary tremendously - Putting him in daycare was a big part of it, being around other kids his age has helped him work on communicating a lot more.  Now his vocabulary is right up there with his age bracket.

But something still wasn't right.  A lot of his words come out jumbled up and unrecognizable to anyone except me.  I feel like I have to translate most of what he says to people who don't spend much time with him. "Cup" sounds like "putt," "noodle" is so cute but definitely nothing like it should be... Only about 30% of his language is understandable.  I took him to have his hearing checked, but even that wasn't the problem - his hearing is perfect.

Then one day a couple of months ago, we were sitting down at a Waffle King, waiting on our food.  We were all making silly faces at each other (you do what you have to do to keep your kids from getting restless in public) and Matt stuck his tongue out at Sammy.  Sammy tried to stick his out to copy Daddy and that's when I noticed.  His tongue didn't look normal.  Instead of coming out past his lips like it should, it curved into a heart shape and stayed inside his mouth.  Sammy is tongue-tied.

Of course, I feel like a horrible momma for not noticing it until now.  I've been playing the "what if" and "if only" games, thinking that if I'd noticed the problem sooner, he wouldn't have had to struggle so much up until now.  

And now we play the waiting game.  He has an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat specialist to see what exactly our options are, and to make a decision on the next steps.  We are considering getting the surgery (frenulotomy) to correct the tongue-tie.  I hate the idea of my baby having to have surgery, but hopefully we'll make an informed choice that will be the best for him.

Have you ever gone through a similar experience with your little one(s)?