tongue tied

[stephanie]

does anyone know if the tongue is stitched down after a palate repair? my little boy is having his closed in a few months

[Melanie]

Hi Steph!
My daughter, Savanna, is having her soft cleft palate repaired in 9 days!!!! We're so excited!! I was just at the surgeons office this week and from what we were told all they do is immobilize their little arms so they cant put their hands in their mouths to do damage. I have read other peoples stories where they said their kids were back at the bottle a day or 2 after surgery. Stitching the tongue down is called a 'button' and they do that, as far as I know, for Pierre' Robin Syndrome, which my child has, to keep the tongue out of the airway but I hear it doesnt work. I'll let you know exactly what happens in 1-2 wks.


Good Luck!
Melanie - mom of Savanna

[Kathy]

Hi. My daughter had her palate closed just before her first birthday. They didn't tie her tongue down. We just had to keep her hands away from her mouth. She never really bothered with it. We were home with her the next day. She wanted nothing to do with a bottle so we put her on a cup. She started eating solid foods right away and was able to even eat her first birthday cake. Good Luck.

[jgorman@nethappens.net]

Hi, For both operations that we have had - bilateral lip and palate the Doctors have put a stitch in the tongue and left a long lead on it so that they could quickly pull the tongue out of the airway if there was an emergency during the operations. Both times they cut it out just after the intensivist cleared him from respiratory danger the morning after the surgery.

[thurmeak]

They didn't tie my tongue at first but then that night my parents were about to leave (because the nurses were practically forcing them to) but they decided to check on me one more time and they found me choking!!! Then they did emergency surgery and tied it then. That was almost 15 years ago though!! I am glad to be alive!!!