Why not release right away?
A quick note: This article is based on my personal experience, conversations with healthcare professionals, and current research available at the time of writing. It is intended for educational purposes and should not replace individualized medical advice from your healthcare team.
Why not release right away?
For my first baby, we had a rough start and things were a bit crazy with her being born a bit early along with the spit up issue. At our first weighted feed with a lactation/pediatrician office and I could tell the pediatrician was concerned about me. I hadn’t been sleeping, was at the beginning of what would be grow to be postpartum depression.
The pediatrician runs through her evaluation and said our baby had a “tongue tie” super casually and kept talking. Honestly my brain was a bit fried still so I didn’t ask any further questions and went through what was all so new to me, just another attempt to feed my baby and keep the milk down.
Luckily, by the second appointment the pediatrician talked to me about having me talk to my doctor about the symptoms she was seeing (depression). I started to seek treatment for myself and it helped me to be in a better place to deal with everything that was happening with my daughter.
We did get discharged from the lactation/pediatrician office within the first month we had started. Our daughter was doing everything she medically needed to do and I was on top of feeding her constantly. I was practically feeding two babies- half the milk for the burp clothes and other half for her.
And this would be where most moms would have thrown the towel in…but I had 1 kid at the time and was still on medical leave….
Fast forward through a speech therapist saying she was “bored” and “overeating”, a ENT who used a tongue chart made by a midwife and said to me “what would I even cut?”, and our usual normal pediatrician who was like I am not sure but medically she was doing well - gaining weight.
My favorite visit of all of them was a Pediatric Dentist visit. The dentist told me that with her own kid was released and didn’t do stretches that lead to a tight reattachment. But oh then it got better…
This pediatric dentist kinda changed tone and moved her body a little different and said something like “I don’t want to take advantage of young mothers who are struggling with breastfeeding”. I was so confused with the vibe AND WALKED AWAY! I didn’t feel good about the provider nor the situation as this was the first time surgical intervention was proposed.
After the appointment, I got in the car and googled those exact words - low and behold times wrote an article about tongue ties…
PS this is my favorite response to the article-
Price
Through our myofacial/speech therapist (also a IBCLC), she let us know about an ENT who deals heavily with tongue ties. Through insurance, it was covered under the out of pocket so we didn’t pay anything.
When we have gone through a pediatric dentist it has been $750 per site (tongue, lip tie). So $1,500 for both. I have a friend who went to another place and paid much less but across the board it is expensive.
With both our daughters, they were tight in the back so much so that we did 2 releases for both. During the duration, we of course consulted multiple professionals because one release is a lot, 2 is too much is what it felt like at the time.
In the end, with continuing therapies post procedure we have seen our first baby’s teeth come in beautifully and she has the mobility she needs in her mouth and body. The second sleeps like an angel but we haven’t seen teeth yet.
Crazy Loop back on first diagnosis
While I was on my way to my daughter’s first release, I got a call from the pediatrician who had made the first tongue tie diagnosis. She had taken a look at our first baby’s chart and saw we had the release scheduled for the well renounced ENT. She was relieved we were seeking help and…She apologized!?! She thought I wasn’t ready for the next steps given what was happening with myself at the time (PPD). She asked me if it was right to withhold having me fully understand what was happening which I guess I answered I would have liked to know, but you didn’t know me nor how coming back from PPD would be. She asked me:
Should I have brought up a release?
In that moment I did say yes, it would have been nice, but in hindsight, I would have answered maybe. For my first one, starting a 6 week stretch regime does sound a bit intense, but the projectile spit up and sounds of pain that I couldn’t sleep through was worse. For the second, she fed a lot better compared to my first and actually could sleep, so holding off for her wouldn’t have been the worse idea.
With that being said, not every tongue tie journey ends in a release. Some families aren’t comfortable with the risks of surgery and that’s okay. Therapy, chiropractic, and other various professionals are able to assistance along the way through adulthood, as this is what I have been exploring as a tied adult.
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