Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

DS is 6 months old -- he is getting his frenulum snipped next week because he is slightly tongue tied. The Ped ENT that does it only does it while baby is under anesthesia which they administer through a mask. The problem is that he can't eat from midnight the night before. He will most likely be the first one at 7am. He doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to eat but I've never seen him get up and not cry to be fed within 20 minutes of waking. And when I say cry and mean hysterically. My question is what the heck am I supposed to do? I guess there is no real answer but I have been stressing out about being so nervous to begin with about the surgery and then having him SCREAM the whole way there because he wants his bottle. I plan to have him sleep in his clothes so literally he can wake up, have a diaper change and go. But I think it will be really rough. Does anyone know if he can have water or something? Do you think I should wake him close to midnight to eat? I'm not even sure if that will help the situation.TIA

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

to your little one. I was frantic over this too when one of my little guys went in for surgery at 6 months. We woke him up at 11 (he went to bed at 7) and fed him, but he barely took any of it. Then we put him back down.

The next morning, he looked for his bottle, but we just dressed him and left the house. He was pretty okay, and like you he was one of the first people there. He seem very pre-occupied with the fact that he was in a new place with new poeple and we really didn't have too many issues with him being hungry until right near the end. The doctor came late so he didn't go in until almost 9AM.

You'll do fine. My little guy was home by 3PM that day.

Feel free to FM me with any of your questions.

ETA - I believe you can give them a small amount of water, but I am not positive on that. We didn't do that because we figured that would turn his mind onto him not eating.

Message edited 1/16/2008 12:44:52 PM.

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

thank you!!! I just sent you FM. I appreciate the response.

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

My ped had me do it at two months so I didn't have to worry about any of that.

Sorry - I don't have any advice. Will you be in the room when they do it? We were - and we actually had to hold the gauze in his mouth. It wasn't fun - but I think it was def. worse on us then it was on him in the long run. About two hours later he was smiling and back to himself.

Good luck!

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

Oh my..DS is having surgery on Feb 21st for his hypospadia..I didnt even think about him not eating!!! he gets up 2x a night for the boob...this is going to be a long night!!!

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

diana -- I wanted them to do it earlier, especially based on experiences that I read here -- I think I may have read your post when you had your DS do it. And I was surprised when my doc told me he was getting a local because I thought they just snipped it and that was that. I'm pretty sure we're in for a fun morning (being sarcastic).. DH and I made an agreement this morning that no matter how stressful it gets that we won't snap at each other because that is what normally happens which makes everything much worse. Anyway, we will be in the room I think up until he is out. So we can help them with the mask. Then after that it is 5 minutes or so. Not sure how long after that he wakes up.

GTS - honestly, I didn't think about it either until we scheduled the surgery last week. And now it is all i think about. I just keep telling myself that it will probably be the worst couple of hours that we'll ever have had with him so far but it will eventually be over with and everything will be fine. Good luck!

Message edited 1/16/2008 1:12:43 PM.

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

My son had it done at two weeks, i'm surprised you were told to wait. My lactation consultant told me it was making it harder for him to latch on. It only bothered him for a few seconds, and he only needed a topical numbing thing. I'm sorry for what you have to go through. Good luck!!!

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

I was honestly worried about it from the time I found out what they had to do - until it was done. It's so stressful.

My poor DH had to hold the gauze in his mouth while he was flipping out and screaming - it was the worst thing he said he has ever done in his life - so it may be better to have him put out - he won't feel anything - will wake up and do just great!!!

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

DS is 9 1/2 months and I haven't had his done yet. The ped. said it's only a problem if it interferes with eating or speaking and so far, it hasn't interferred with his eating.

I thought it was only a local anesthetic? Do they always "knock them out"?

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

to answer some questions - with regard to waiting, they thought his would correct itself. We did have trouble BF'ing. I wound up having to pump for 2 months because he couldn't latch. At the time I didn't know that was the reason so I didn't push too hard. By that time he was doing great with the bottle so I decided not to try BF'ing again and just to pump.

In terms of doing it now, the doc. wants to "get it over with" before he starts to develop his speech because it may have an effect.

And then in terms of the anestesia, I think I used the term local by mistake. Although I didn't specifically make the doctor clarify, he did say that the baby will be "put to sleep". Sounds so horrible like he is a pet but to be honest after hearing diana's story maybe that is better.

Jellybean, I'm not sure at what age they start to see interferences with speech. Does your son definately need to have it done?

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?

my son had this done at 7 weeeks. The ENT did it in his doctor's office. They said anything over 8 weeks, they would have to put him under for it b/c they are too strong and wiggly. However, my son had to get tubes at 12 months. Some things I learned about him being put under - do not go back with him. As much as you want to, don't do it....that was a big mistake on my part. and I was even warned about it. They put the mask on him and then wiggled around, and then his eyes rolled back.........it was horrible. Waking up for the anestsia, was not too fun either. They wake up mean.......they cry and thrash a little bit - and don't want to be comforted. Bring a bottle for him for when he wakes up. As far as getting out of the house in the morning, mine did okay. We just got him up, kept him in his pjs, put him in the car, and went to the place. We had to be there at 6:00 for a 7am surgery time. By 9:00 that morning, my ds was his old self.....he just took a longer nap that afternoon.
Best of luck to you - I'm convinced, it is way harder on us, then it is on them.

Good luck.

Re: Tongue Surgery - Any Suggestions?