Independent Private Midwife

I have been working with tongue tied babies and their families since 2004 in a breastfeeding role where I would support and provide assistance to Pamela Lacey (IBCLC). Pam sadly passed away in Nov 2010 and In January 2011, I trained at Southampton General Hospital to divide tongue ties under Mr. Mervyn Griffiths (Pediatric Surgeon) and Carolyn Wescott (IBCLC and RM), Pam had arranged my training.

I am qualified, insured and registered with CQC (through my membership of Private Midwives 'Prism') to assess and release tongue ties in infants up to 9 months of age. For an older baby, toddlers and children please speak to your GP for a referral to Speech and Language Teams (SALT) and Peadiatric Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) teams. For LIP TIE enquiries, please see the bottom of this page for more information.

Over the years I have supported many families and offer information and support for those families struggling, both breast and bottle fed babies either at home visits or in the clinic setting.

More recently, I worked for West Middlesex Hospital in Hounslow, where (previous to my role) 11.8% of babies were having the frenulotomy (tongue tie release) The research estimates that roughly 10% of babies will be born with a frenulum, however of this 10% roughly 56% will not need the release and 44% may be helped by frenulotomy. By overhauling the frenultomy service, where every family was given skilled IBCLC breastfeeding help prior to division, by the time my temporary contract came to an end, the frenulotomy rate at West Middx was 3.8%.
A dramatic reduction.
On the basis of this work, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital asked me to assist and supervise them in the creation of a new NHS Frenulotomy service and I have recently been asked to train new tongue tie practitioners within this service.
I continue to offer home visits and clinic appointments in a private capacity for families.

Tongue tie or Ankyloglossia, is a common breastfeeding and bottle feeding problem, roughly affecting feeding in around 44% of babies who have one.

The piece of skin under the tongue (the frenulum) is formed during the development of the fetus at around 5 weeks gestation. the tongue is sealed to the floor of the mouth, and as the baby develops, the tongue and the floor separate leaving a natural variation of a piece of skin that can be left behind. In most cases, this piece of skin causes no issues, however in 4.4% of all babies it can have the following symptoms:

* Sore nipples that do not heal despite professional and skilled breastfeeding assistance on positionning and attachment,

* Greater than 10% weight loss in the first five days following birth,

* Mastitis, in particular recurrent Mastitis,

* Gassy, fussy babies, babies where reflux meds seem to make no difference

* Babies that start a feed well, yet slip off the nipple,

* Babies that constantly fall asleep at the breast,

* Babies that will attach, but not suck...

(sometimes accused as being Lazy Babies)

* Babies that will not latch at all,

(or will only latch with the use of a nipple shield),

* Babies who feed in excess of 12 times in 24hrs, take a log time to feed (over an hour) or whom fall asleep within the first few minutes of a feed.

* Babies who dribble and leak or even squirt milk out of the corners of their mouth during a feed.

If you are experiencing any of these symtoms, it is suggested that your baby can be checked by a trained practitoner to rule it out, or to treat as necesary if that is what you desire. I am fully qualified and insured to both assess and divide tongue-ties in babies up to six months old, and am a member of the Association of Tongue-Tie Practitioners.

The procedure is classed as a Domicillary Procedure (one that is safe to be done within the home setting) and I offer appointments at my clinic, or at your own home.

Risks for the procedure:

1:1000 babies will bleed a tiny bit more than the other 999. The heel prick test on day 5 takes four circles of blood from baby's heel. The majority of babies will bleed ONE or TWO of the blood spot circles during the tie release. The ONE baby in 1000 will bleed THREE or FOUR of those circles. Therefore worst case scenario is that the baby bleeds the same as from the heel on day 5.

1:10,000 babies may develop an infection. This manifests as a temperature a couple of days following the procedure, and in the cases of infection, the baby was artificially fed so the hypothesis was that the teat on the bottle wasnt as clean as it could have been while the baby was healing. Therefore all mothers are advised to ensure sterilisation techniques for all bottles and dummies following the procedure.

Frenulotomy Service includes Consultation, Full assessment of Your Baby's tongue mobility, Division of the tongue tie and Post procedure feeding plan, Including telephone support :

£180

The research link takes you to an excellent site from an American Lactation Consultant: Catherine Watson-Genna, her toolbar on the left hand side has links to all the current research and evidence and is a valuable resource.

HOME VISITS:

(both tongue tie related and Breastfeeding support related)

Currently I am unable to offer home visits to those living more than a 45 min drive from my home in SL4. There are too many enquiries and not enough hours in a day. If you do live more than a 45 min drive, please consider coming to one of my clinics as I’ll be happy to see you there.

I respectfully ask you to complete an Assessment form detailing the history of your feeding to date, This is to reduce the time spent in each home/clinic appointment to minimise contact for everyone.

The cost of the home visit is £75

A home visit, plus a tongue tie release will cost £180

If you live further than 10miles from my home in SL4 6LY then there is also a 50ppm charge as I often have enquiries from many miles away.

BOOKING
To book either a clinic or a home visit appointment £75 is payable in advance to confirm your booking. (Please note this is non refundable in the event of your cancellation of appointment)

(Sundays are also my family day, however I do occasionally see families in an "urgent" capacity on a Sunday- including bank holidays inc Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve/Easter Weekend for tongue tie release, but then consultation fee increases to £90 and Tongue Tie release fees £230)

Also to add that for twin tongue tie procedures the total fee is £300 if both babies have the release on the same day.

Payment is by bank transfer, as I work outside of the NHS.

What to expect in the tongue tie appointment

The Video below includes a detailed description of what to expect during your appointment with me. There is NO FOOTAGE of the tongue tie procedure in this video. An explanation of the assessment, the procedure and after care is provided here.

CLINIC APPOINTMENTS

Appointments available:

Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays:

10:00-16:00

14 Kings ride

Camberley

GU15 4HX

Wednesdays between 13:00-17:00:

The Children's Shop

4 Market Place Mews

Henley on Thames

RG9 2AH

Lactation Consultation £75, Tongue tie release £180 (£75 in advance of booking, followed by £105 after the division, the division is performed at the same appointment if needed)

For Tongue tie releases Only:

Thursdays between 12:00-14:00

The Austin Leigh Baldwin Institute

Eton High St.

Eton

SL4 6AQ

Tongue tie release £180 (£75 in advance of booking, followed by £105 after the division, the division is done at the same appointment if needed if needed-Tongue tie division total is £180)

This Eton Clinic is also a free drop in support group for breastfeeding issues with other qualified breastfeeding Counsellors assisting with breastfeeding families.

For Tongue tie assessments and releases at the Eton clinic you do need to book an appointment with me as historically people have booked and then not turned up.

‘Having breast fed my first baby I had experienced how difficult and stressful it could be to ‘get back on track’ with weight gain after a late diagnosis tongue tie. When my second child was born we weren’t able to get an appointment for a release in the first 7 days so we decided to go private. Sarah was great - she came to our house as arranged the day after we got home from hospital. She went through the facts making everything clear and answered all our questions. The release went really smoothly and my baby was feeding better in minutes. We haven’t looked back - we were delighted to make birth weight by day 10 and have a really solid weight gain at our first weigh in with the health visitor. Getting the tongue tie release early on has made the first few weeks of my baby’s life an altogether more joyful experience for the whole family and we’d recommend her highly.'

Nicky and Baby Claudia

Lip Ties

In my nearly 20years experience and based on current evidence and research-lip Ties have no impact on how the baby latches. I am not qualified to divide lip ties and do not believe that they have any impact on feeding at all-
See also http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2015/01/upper-lip-tie-fall-guy.html?m=1

https://sarahoakleylactation.co.uk/lip-tie/

When one is looking at the physiology of the latch it is how the tongue functions and the placement of the chin that is the foundation of a good latch. The lip tie just affects how much of a
flange (or Pringle lips!) the baby can do-it has no impact on the latch. If the lips are too flanged then actually this indicates a shallow latch, but it is the function of the tongue which is the root of some feeding issues.

Tongue Tie (Ankyloglossia)

Once you have booked your appointment:

To book your appointment:

What to expect in the tongue tie appointment

Lip Ties