Baby Acorn Clinic
Tongue Tie Assessment & Division
Swindon, Wiltshire
I am a Registered Midwife, Lactation Consultant and an Independent Tongue Tie Practitioner. I have worked as an NHS Midwife since 1983, including as a community midwife, and as a breastfeeding specialist midwife. I trained in tongue tie assessment and division at Frome Tongue Tie NHS Clinic. I qualified as an IBCLC in 2004 with 5 yearly revalidation by study or exam.
I have always loved being a midwife and supporting families while they get to know their new baby. I believe that every baby (regardless of feeding method) should be able to feed easily and in a relaxed way.
When I'm not working I love growing vegetables, singing in my choir and spending time with my family (especially my children and young grandchildren).
I have over 30 years of experience as a Registered NHS Midwife. I have been a Team Leader within the community midwifery setting, Clinical Lead in a Birth Centre, and a Feeding Specialist at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. I was a Lactation Consultant for 15 years and am in the process of recertifying.
Cathy and I trained together in 2013 in tongue tie assesment and division at Frome NHS tongue tie clinic. As a Tongue Tie Practitioner and a Midwife I enjoy using my skills to support and help families on their feeding journey.
In my leisure time I enjoy walking my dog, swimming and yoga. I also enjoy time with my family and grandchildren.
88% of families seen within a week
Baby Acorn Clinic offers clinic appointments in Swindon. The Clinic is at Nexus Business Centre, 6 Darby Close, Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, Swindon SN2 2PN.
During the appointment we can explore with you whether there are any other factors which are affecting the feeding or whether your baby has a tongue tie. If it is appropriate, we can perform the Frenulotomy at the same visit if you wish. We will support you with the feed afterwards.
To be able to see more familes we would encorouage you to visit the Swindon clinic, however home visits in the surrounding areas can be arranged, with more limited avaiability.
We do not see babies older than 12 months and we do not divide lip ties.
For more information see this link about lip ties ATP Position Statements
Before your appointment, it is important you complete a pre-appointment information form. This is to reduce the face-to-face time for all of us, and so we can consider any relevant medical concerns before you travel.
Please contact us to arrange a phone or video chat beforehand, if anything is unclear.
Angela Carter 07592 277580
Cathy Gale 07570 793715
If neither Cathy nor Angela is free to answer your phone call, please do leave a message and we will return your call.
Baby Acorn phones are answered Mon-Sat 0900-1800 depending on work commitments. For urgent advice please contact your GP, on-call midwife or NHS 111.
At the clinic a full tongue-tie assessment will be carried out using the Hazelbaker score of your baby's tongue appearance and function. If required, and after discussion and consent, the tongue tie is divided and the baby comes straight to you for a feed.
For details of the clinic visit please read the Tongue Tie Parent Information Leaflet.
The room is thoroughly cleaned and aired between families.
Follow up: Tongue tie division package includes a follow up phone call/text or email in the next few days to check how you and your baby are getting on. We offer further support for two weeks if needed by email/text/videocall. Most families do not need further follow-up, but please get in contact with your practitioner if feeding has not improved rapidly. This follow-up support is included in the consultation fee.
4 weeks following the process you will be offered a short questionnaire. Completing this may help improve care for other mums with similar feeding experiences. Your feedback matters.
Don't forget you can also visit the wonderful free NHS breastfeeding support groups for ongoing support over at Breastmates and Mum2Mum where available.
This is when the frenulum (the strip of skin connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is short, inelastic or thickened.
The frenulum can be joined from the tip of the tongue to anywhere along the underside of the tongue. It can make the tongue look 'flattened' or 'heart' shaped and can restrict the movement of the tongue.
The above are some examples of symptoms a tongue-tie can present with, but they are not exclusive. Equally the symptoms described above may also have other causes. Some babies who appear to have a tongue-tie, have no problem feeding or growing.
For some babies this is not a problem and it needs to be assessed on an individual baby as to whether it is affecting the feeding.
There is a quick and simple procedure that can be performed called frenulotomy / tongue tie division/ tongue tie release, which helps in the majority of cases.
If a tongue tie division is offered at your baby’s appointment, here is some useful information for you to consider beforehand.
You are required to read the Tongue Tie Parent Information Leaflet before your baby’s appointment, it covers the tongue tie procedure and any possible risks.
Tongue tie division package includes a follow up phone call/text or email in the next few days to check how you and your baby are getting on and offer further support if needed by email/text/videocall. Most families do not need further follow-up, but please get in contact with your practitioner if feeding has not improved rapidly. This virtual follow-up support for a 2 week period is included in the consultation fee.
All grades of tongue tie can be divided, if appropriate, including the less obvious ones.
YES. Sometimes bottle fed babies can find feeding difficult with a tongue tie, although they don’t need to use the tongue quite as much as breastfed baby. We have seen many babies feeding much better on a bottle straight away after tongue tie division. Typical signs a bottle fed baby is struggling with restricted tongue movements are:
There is no formal evidence yet that bottle fed babies feed better after frenulotomy but this is because no one has collected the data. The majority of tongue tie practitioners around the UK divide tongue tie on bottle fed babies and audit their practice, and will tell us that babies usually improve after frenulotomy.
This is much debated, and research can support either a yes or no answer. No one wants to divide a baby’s tongue tie ”just in case” there may be speech problems later. NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) guidance allows us to divide tongue ties for feeding difficulties only. If your child does need tongue tie division at a later stage for speech problems with an ENT surgeon, it can still be done on an older child but involves a quick general anaesthetic and possibly an overnight hospital stay.
"Full assessment and recognition of tongue tie is not part of the standard medical or midwifery training, or the NIPE (Newborn Infant Physical Examination) training. Tongue tie checks are not routine at birth."
Some parents assume this will always be checked for at birth NIPE but this will depend on your maternity provider policies. Some providers feel that checking all babies, if they are not having feeding difficulties, will lead to unnecessary concern. Examining the tongue appearance and function in detail is not part of the standards NIPE training at present. You are required to read the Tongue Tie Parent Information Leaflet before your baby’s appointment, it covers the tongue tie procedure and any possible risks.
If you think your baby has a tongue-tie, please contact us to book a private assessment with us, or ask your midwife, health visitor, breastfeeding advisor or GP to assess and refer to you your local NHS provider.
Clinic appointment: £190 for assessment and division of a tongue tie - reduced to £100 if no division is needed
Home visit: (Within 35 miles of SN2 2PN) £290 for assessment and division of a tongue tie - reduced to £190 if no division is needed
Booking is available on line via this website so you can choose a time to suit your family. If you have any questions, or want to discuss anything before you book an appointment, please feel free to phone, text, WhatsApp or email for a chat first.
Baby Acorn Ltd accepts payment via bank transfer or cash. Details given at your appointment.
You are required to read the Tongue Tie Parent Information Leaflet before your baby’s appointment, it covers the tongue tie procedure and any possible risks
After services have been provided and as the balance of payment is requested at the time of the consultation, refunds are not permitted.
Simply cancel via Cliniko - please ensure you give more than 24 hours notice of cancellation to allow other parents to take up your appointment slot.
If you need to cancel your appointment for non medical reasons then a £20 cancellation fee will be charged, (medical reasons would include hospital admission or Covid positive, for example).
Baby Acorn Ltd reserves the right to cancel any appointments, in case of emergency circumstances. In the unlikely event that this should occur, an alternative appointment will always be made as soon as possible and at your convenience.
In order to fulfil our services to you Baby Acorn Ltd will need to collect some information about you. We take your privacy and our obligations under data protection legislation very seriously. We are also obligated under law as a healthcare provider to maintain certain records for significant periods of time as regulated by the professional bodies in the footer below.
