Performing aftercare post tongue tie revision on small children can be a heartbreaking experience, especially on babies. Often the baby cries through all the exercises and all you can think off is finishing up as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, some babies have a natural tendency to bite down hard. This slows down the exercises, makes it harder to perform them and hurts really bad! So, what to do?
One option is to insert something into the baby’s mouth, to prevent the biting.
For a video-guide on how to correctly perform aftercare, click here.
Should you insert something to prevent biting?
There is no doubt that using something to keep your baby’s mouth open while performing aftercare, can be a great help to make sure the exercises are done as fast as possible, according to instructions and hurt free.
The primary concern when inserting something into your baby’s mouth, is whether it can hurt your baby or if your baby will feel discomfort. Inserting something to keep your baby’s mouth open should not be neither harmful nor overly uncomfortable and this will depend heavily on what you use. As such, it is very important to use something that is hard enough to prevent biting, but soft enough so it doesn’t hurt the teeth or gums. It is also important to use something that does not contain harmful substances like latex. It needs to be able to clean properly and must be small enough to maneuver and perform exercises around (but not pose a choking hazard!).
Taking these points into consideration, it is perfectly possible to find something around the house that works to keep the baby’s mouth open while performing the exercises. If you have something that works then great, use that. If not, a bite block could be the way to go for you.
Should you get a bite block?
A bite block from a well reputed supplier like this one on Amazon, meets the above requirements and is safe to use on your baby. Its shape ensures that it also leaves room to navigate the mouth during the stressful exercises, something that can be much harder than what most people expect. A bite block isn’t as easy to use as you might expect though, it takes some practice, and probably a few tries, before you will fully master the block, while at the same time fixating your baby and performing the exercises.
Drawing from personal as well as professional experience, bite blocks are a great help if your baby bites down during aftercare. This is especially true, considering the low costs of bite blocks, which are often less than $10 including shipping. For the specific bite block linked above (and here), for $6.99 you get a high-quality safe product, in three different sizes. This is great, as it reduces the risk that you order a product that is either too big and clunky to use, or so small that it poses a choking hazard.
If your baby or small child has not yet been treated and you are wondering if you should invest in a bite block before knowing if you will actually need it, I would highly recommend investing the $6.99 up front, so you don’t have to wait for shipping during the aftercare period, inhibiting your ability to perform the exercises, thus increasing chances for reattachment.
This article is not in any way supported by either Amazon.com or the bite block supplier, and as such there is no monetary relationship between either Amazon-com or the bite block supplier and tongu-tie-support.com