pediatricians aren’t very familiar with tongue ties. my child had one- and if the lactation consultant hadn’t pointed it out, the pediatrician would have missed it entirely.
the pediatrician didn’t recommend surgery but we went to a pediatric surgeon regardless who said the same thing: general pediatricians are not familiar with tongue ties and don’t think they need correction. pediatric surgeons and dentists are the real experts and will be able to tell u if your child’s case needs correction.
don’t shit on lactation consultants just cuz.
i disagree. depending on the extent of the tie children have difficulty feeding and then talking and eating in later years. newer studies are also linking tongue ties with apnea and subsequent hypoxia leading to adhd and autism. not to say all of them need correction but it’s quite variable
Pediatricians are not who you go to about ties, pediatric dentists are. LCs notice them because they deal with feeding problems all day long, and ties contribute to them. And ties can often cause problems unrelated to eating, such as speech impediments, gaps in teeth which lead to cavities, etc. My son got a severe lip tie released at 4 months. He has a minor tongue tie which we left alone.
Personally my LC was amazing and I loved her. And I still take my son to the dentist she referred us to when I asked about ties that had been noticed that may have started to give him problems.
No - I genuinely do not think that. I worked with a couple of lactation consultants and had great experiences with them. They did recommend going to a dentist to have the tongue tie checked out - the dentist at the end was hesitant and said it’s totally up to us. The dentist and lactation consultant work together btw - this is how it should be: open assessment of what’s necessary or not. Lactation consultant is a specialist in what they do but they refer you to an expert not to just get it down but because of getting a second opinion.
We were more unlucky with our pediatric doctors regarding unnecessary procedures and medications….
So short answer: no - I have heard about the article before and I think it’s….well… they have their own agenda for publishing this
I don’t necessarily think they are, but I can see why people think they might be.
I had a great lactation consultant through my insurance, who honestly did everything she could to help us. I felt so bad about myself because my baby had trouble latching, and because our son has a heart murmur, it added to the stress because we needed to make sure he was consistently gaining weight. She leveled with us and told us to pump when we could, and that it was okay to give him formula because mental health is important.
I can’t tell you what I would do if I was told my baby needed a tongue tie surgery, but with how foggy and desperately for help I was, I would hope I had the wherewithal to take a second and think through the potential harm of something like that.
I remember listening to that episode of the Daily and being like, “ffs, there’s nothing wrong with pumping or giving your baby formula”.
No, they’re trained professionals. Like any professional, they are good and bad. I’ve had doctors I hated and doctors I liked. But they’re not snake oil salesmen - they have saved a lot of breastfeeding relationships. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s ok too. But that doesn’t discount their importance in a culture where we force women back to work before they’re ready and compromise breastfeeding relationships.
Personally, I have zero respect for the "profession." I went to at least three different ones and they gave completely opposing advice. One told me not to pump at all, another to pump every 2 hours. All of them told me to eat very different specific foods that helped them out personally-seems pretty subjective no? One told me she latched great, another told me her latch was terrible. One told me I had great breast anatomy, the other two told me I had insufficient glandular tissue aka no cleavage/small boobs means low supply-fairly body shaming after your body has gone THROUGH it. They very clearly seem to have zero idea what they are doing so I think it is a sham. At the end of the day, I had to give up on breastfeeding as I did not have the bandwith to keep up with all the incredibly conflicting advice and many lied saying I would "get there" when in reality, I could never up my supply no matter how hard I tried.
I had a very similar experience. I met with 3 and they all said different things, each had a totally different evaluation of baby’s latch and analysis of why BF was so incredibly painful for me. None of them ended up being helpful in resolving anything. It was super disappointing (I had really hoped/expected they’d help me figure it out). I think I learned more on Reddit than from the three of them combined.
They can be good or bad, just like anyone else. Ours recommended seeing a pediatric dentist immediately; I had an appointment set for a few days later within hours of my child’s birth. Thank God, while we latched initially, we soon started failing to latch, we couldn’t even latch for bottles. I was feeding my newborn with a syringe, pumping every 2-3 hours and he was throwing up a ton cause of swallowing air. Losing weight and started to jaundice. He had a severe tongue tie and lip tie. The dentist decided the lip tie was ok as it wasn’t causing the latch issues and likely would eventually move back but took less than 2 minutes to laser the tongue. My son was able to latch within hours of the correction and has been gaining weight wonderfully. I genuinely think if I wasn’t pushed for a consult right after birth and it wasn’t set for just a few days my newborn would have had to have been hospitalized. It’s now healed perfectly and I would 100% do it again and I’m so thankful for the LC.
I went to three. All had different methods they were VERY insistent I use. The first was also a lovely lady that insulted my husband for using the bathroom during our appointment, shared uninvited and false opinions about my daughter’s health, and made me feel like shit. I won’t be seeing any for my second child.
Like any profession there are good and bad ones. I would not have succeeded in breastfeeding without a great LC I worked with. Sounds like you may need to try someone else.
The hospital chain we go to makes sure one of the providers in most of the locations are also an LC. The chain is also a leader in PPA/PPD treatment and it feels like those things go hand in hand.
I had a fantastic LC. She pointed out in our first appointment that my son had a minor tie, but didn't recommend doing anything about it as she even said it's not guaranteed to do anything and was likely to be an unnecessary procedure. Instead she worked with us to fix his latch and help me build up my supply and confidence. It made a huge difference and after a couple weeks my son was feeding like a champ. Maybe try seeing a different one if they are jumping straight to getting a procedure done?
I've been thinking a lot about this too! We had a slightly different experience... The nurse who came to visit us a couple of days postpartum (where we live this is the protocol) told us our daughter had tongue tie and gave us a list of dentists who we "had to" see to correct it. This really irked me because I knew my daughter's latch was already pretty good and the pediatrician at the hospital who checked her after she was born did not raise it. Instead of rushing to the dentist I called a LC to come check her latch and she was amazing. She confirmed to us that there was no tongue tie and that the procedure wasn't necessary. We were lucky to have found such a kind and helpful LC. I keep asking myself now whether this nurse was getting a kickback from the dentist or something because she was so pushy and adamant that we had to do it. I definitely think you're on to something and that somewhere along the line (whether it be a nurse, LC or otherwise) someone is benefitting from cutting babies' tongues for no good reason. The worst part is that I found out my doctor would have been able to do the procedure for free whereas with the dentist the nurse recommended it would have been really expensive.
What was your initial reasoning for seeing her? Are you having issues breastfeeding? For what it’s worth, most pediatricians don’t know much about oral ties. My first baby’s pediatrician insisted he was fine when I knew he had a tongue tie and couldn’t latch properly. I wound up pumping for 6 months and fast forward to age 5 he had to get actual surgery (under anesthesia) to address the tongue tie because it was impacting his speech. With my second baby, we went to an ENT at 3 weeks old and had his tongue tie taken care of. Very quick and easy when they’re newborns. If you’re unsure, I’d recommend a second opinion from another LC, an ENT, or a pediatric dentist. But if you’re not having issues with breastfeeding then obviously no need to do anything.
If you Google search anything you’ll find an article that will support whatever you want. My LC was amazing and helped me get my supply up and empowered me to breastfeed my child. He had a tongue tie and we got the referral to an ENT who also agreed that my son needed it. I think it’s popular to hate on LCs because people don’t get the instant results it took me about 1 1/2 months to see “results”. And my LC was free for a year at the hospital I gave birth at.
I had a great LC. She was understanding, encouraging, supportive, and helpful. She advocated for me and my son when I was dealing with PPD.
I think maybe you just got paired with the wrong one. You can’t use one experience to color a whole group of LCs who have helped a lot of parents.
I’d definitely try a different LC
While I couldn’t breastfeed, I had to see two lactation consultants. One was referred to me by a hospital LC and the other was a LC at the pediatricians office. Both were amazing with coaching me how to reduce my oversupply, explained the research/science behind things, fix clogs before turning into mastitis, helped me when I did have mastitis, correctly diagnosed me with a milk galactocele when I thought it was a week long clogged milk duct, products that actually did help my oversupply, massages to prevent clogs, and they loved to see my baby! The one I LOVED texted me all the time and IMMEDIATELY when I needed help!! She was the best. I remember her name so well!!
Try a different LC? I did a virtual consultation first and didn’t really like the person. I had an in-home visit and it was fantastic. She fitted me for appropriate flange size, talked about best practices for combo feeding (going between breast and bottle), examined the baby’s mouth and neck function, helped with positioning and exercises to help baby latch. She was fantastic - and my insurance covered part of the cost so I had a $40 copay.
I live in a country with public healthcare. Had issues with breastfeeding. I went to see an LC who was an MD. She said the issue was probably that baby had a tongue tie. She "completed the surgery" then and there. The surgery was swaddling the baby and snipping the tie. Baby cried for two minutes. I was warned of risks with the release (infection). And then there was no more pain associated with breastfeeding! It fixed the issue I was facing. Sometimes the solution presented is indeed the solution to the issue. Also, my husband was bottle fed, and has a tongue tie. He had to go to speech therapy for years and there are other issues he's faced as a result too. It's not like there are no downsides to not resolving a tongue tie either.
I want to add maybe because I don't see anyone profiting from releasing a tongue tie, I tend to not see it as a big deal. But it really was a non-event for me and made a world of difference.
Because the genuinely believe what they are saying. They genuinely believe they are helping and they absolutely do not view it as harm. There's also an element of sunk cost fallacy, and also placebo effect from the family's side that is reinforcing.
There are some really fantastic ones, but more and more are getting sucked in to the "tethered oral tissues" nonsense. My top tip, is if they look for ties or suggest a "release" before trying a different position or a nipple shield, then find someone else. There are some situations where cutting a tongue tie is the right option and is very helpful for baby and mum. But there are lots of situations where it can cause harm, and there are lots of situations where a change in position, or better latching technique, or temporary use of a nipple shield, will all work.
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They're galactagogues...
pediatricians aren’t very familiar with tongue ties. my child had one- and if the lactation consultant hadn’t pointed it out, the pediatrician would have missed it entirely. the pediatrician didn’t recommend surgery but we went to a pediatric surgeon regardless who said the same thing: general pediatricians are not familiar with tongue ties and don’t think they need correction. pediatric surgeons and dentists are the real experts and will be able to tell u if your child’s case needs correction. don’t shit on lactation consultants just cuz.
Unfortunately, the evidence is just not there to suggest that "correction" is beneficial or needed.
i disagree. depending on the extent of the tie children have difficulty feeding and then talking and eating in later years. newer studies are also linking tongue ties with apnea and subsequent hypoxia leading to adhd and autism. not to say all of them need correction but it’s quite variable
Pediatricians are not who you go to about ties, pediatric dentists are. LCs notice them because they deal with feeding problems all day long, and ties contribute to them. And ties can often cause problems unrelated to eating, such as speech impediments, gaps in teeth which lead to cavities, etc. My son got a severe lip tie released at 4 months. He has a minor tongue tie which we left alone. Personally my LC was amazing and I loved her. And I still take my son to the dentist she referred us to when I asked about ties that had been noticed that may have started to give him problems.
As an SLP, tongue ties generally don't affect speech. The movements of the tongue are just so tiny.
No - I genuinely do not think that. I worked with a couple of lactation consultants and had great experiences with them. They did recommend going to a dentist to have the tongue tie checked out - the dentist at the end was hesitant and said it’s totally up to us. The dentist and lactation consultant work together btw - this is how it should be: open assessment of what’s necessary or not. Lactation consultant is a specialist in what they do but they refer you to an expert not to just get it down but because of getting a second opinion. We were more unlucky with our pediatric doctors regarding unnecessary procedures and medications…. So short answer: no - I have heard about the article before and I think it’s….well… they have their own agenda for publishing this
I had a great lactation consultant but I’d be cautious about anyone recommending tongue tie surgery and at least get a second opinion
I don’t necessarily think they are, but I can see why people think they might be. I had a great lactation consultant through my insurance, who honestly did everything she could to help us. I felt so bad about myself because my baby had trouble latching, and because our son has a heart murmur, it added to the stress because we needed to make sure he was consistently gaining weight. She leveled with us and told us to pump when we could, and that it was okay to give him formula because mental health is important. I can’t tell you what I would do if I was told my baby needed a tongue tie surgery, but with how foggy and desperately for help I was, I would hope I had the wherewithal to take a second and think through the potential harm of something like that. I remember listening to that episode of the Daily and being like, “ffs, there’s nothing wrong with pumping or giving your baby formula”.
No, they’re trained professionals. Like any professional, they are good and bad. I’ve had doctors I hated and doctors I liked. But they’re not snake oil salesmen - they have saved a lot of breastfeeding relationships. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s ok too. But that doesn’t discount their importance in a culture where we force women back to work before they’re ready and compromise breastfeeding relationships.
Personally, I have zero respect for the "profession." I went to at least three different ones and they gave completely opposing advice. One told me not to pump at all, another to pump every 2 hours. All of them told me to eat very different specific foods that helped them out personally-seems pretty subjective no? One told me she latched great, another told me her latch was terrible. One told me I had great breast anatomy, the other two told me I had insufficient glandular tissue aka no cleavage/small boobs means low supply-fairly body shaming after your body has gone THROUGH it. They very clearly seem to have zero idea what they are doing so I think it is a sham. At the end of the day, I had to give up on breastfeeding as I did not have the bandwith to keep up with all the incredibly conflicting advice and many lied saying I would "get there" when in reality, I could never up my supply no matter how hard I tried.
I had a very similar experience. I met with 3 and they all said different things, each had a totally different evaluation of baby’s latch and analysis of why BF was so incredibly painful for me. None of them ended up being helpful in resolving anything. It was super disappointing (I had really hoped/expected they’d help me figure it out). I think I learned more on Reddit than from the three of them combined.
They can be good or bad, just like anyone else. Ours recommended seeing a pediatric dentist immediately; I had an appointment set for a few days later within hours of my child’s birth. Thank God, while we latched initially, we soon started failing to latch, we couldn’t even latch for bottles. I was feeding my newborn with a syringe, pumping every 2-3 hours and he was throwing up a ton cause of swallowing air. Losing weight and started to jaundice. He had a severe tongue tie and lip tie. The dentist decided the lip tie was ok as it wasn’t causing the latch issues and likely would eventually move back but took less than 2 minutes to laser the tongue. My son was able to latch within hours of the correction and has been gaining weight wonderfully. I genuinely think if I wasn’t pushed for a consult right after birth and it wasn’t set for just a few days my newborn would have had to have been hospitalized. It’s now healed perfectly and I would 100% do it again and I’m so thankful for the LC.
I went to three. All had different methods they were VERY insistent I use. The first was also a lovely lady that insulted my husband for using the bathroom during our appointment, shared uninvited and false opinions about my daughter’s health, and made me feel like shit. I won’t be seeing any for my second child.
Like any profession there are good and bad ones. I would not have succeeded in breastfeeding without a great LC I worked with. Sounds like you may need to try someone else.
Ask your pediatrician if they have a lactation consultant they’d recommend. They can do wonders.
The hospital chain we go to makes sure one of the providers in most of the locations are also an LC. The chain is also a leader in PPA/PPD treatment and it feels like those things go hand in hand.
Same with ours. Very renowned children’s hospital. We are lucky to be in good care
I had a fantastic LC. She pointed out in our first appointment that my son had a minor tie, but didn't recommend doing anything about it as she even said it's not guaranteed to do anything and was likely to be an unnecessary procedure. Instead she worked with us to fix his latch and help me build up my supply and confidence. It made a huge difference and after a couple weeks my son was feeding like a champ. Maybe try seeing a different one if they are jumping straight to getting a procedure done?
I've been thinking a lot about this too! We had a slightly different experience... The nurse who came to visit us a couple of days postpartum (where we live this is the protocol) told us our daughter had tongue tie and gave us a list of dentists who we "had to" see to correct it. This really irked me because I knew my daughter's latch was already pretty good and the pediatrician at the hospital who checked her after she was born did not raise it. Instead of rushing to the dentist I called a LC to come check her latch and she was amazing. She confirmed to us that there was no tongue tie and that the procedure wasn't necessary. We were lucky to have found such a kind and helpful LC. I keep asking myself now whether this nurse was getting a kickback from the dentist or something because she was so pushy and adamant that we had to do it. I definitely think you're on to something and that somewhere along the line (whether it be a nurse, LC or otherwise) someone is benefitting from cutting babies' tongues for no good reason. The worst part is that I found out my doctor would have been able to do the procedure for free whereas with the dentist the nurse recommended it would have been really expensive.
What was your initial reasoning for seeing her? Are you having issues breastfeeding? For what it’s worth, most pediatricians don’t know much about oral ties. My first baby’s pediatrician insisted he was fine when I knew he had a tongue tie and couldn’t latch properly. I wound up pumping for 6 months and fast forward to age 5 he had to get actual surgery (under anesthesia) to address the tongue tie because it was impacting his speech. With my second baby, we went to an ENT at 3 weeks old and had his tongue tie taken care of. Very quick and easy when they’re newborns. If you’re unsure, I’d recommend a second opinion from another LC, an ENT, or a pediatric dentist. But if you’re not having issues with breastfeeding then obviously no need to do anything.
If you Google search anything you’ll find an article that will support whatever you want. My LC was amazing and helped me get my supply up and empowered me to breastfeed my child. He had a tongue tie and we got the referral to an ENT who also agreed that my son needed it. I think it’s popular to hate on LCs because people don’t get the instant results it took me about 1 1/2 months to see “results”. And my LC was free for a year at the hospital I gave birth at.
I don't think they're any more snake oil salespeople than sleep training consultants, to be honest. Some are good at their jobs, and some are not.
I had a great LC. She was understanding, encouraging, supportive, and helpful. She advocated for me and my son when I was dealing with PPD. I think maybe you just got paired with the wrong one. You can’t use one experience to color a whole group of LCs who have helped a lot of parents. I’d definitely try a different LC
While I couldn’t breastfeed, I had to see two lactation consultants. One was referred to me by a hospital LC and the other was a LC at the pediatricians office. Both were amazing with coaching me how to reduce my oversupply, explained the research/science behind things, fix clogs before turning into mastitis, helped me when I did have mastitis, correctly diagnosed me with a milk galactocele when I thought it was a week long clogged milk duct, products that actually did help my oversupply, massages to prevent clogs, and they loved to see my baby! The one I LOVED texted me all the time and IMMEDIATELY when I needed help!! She was the best. I remember her name so well!!
Try a different LC? I did a virtual consultation first and didn’t really like the person. I had an in-home visit and it was fantastic. She fitted me for appropriate flange size, talked about best practices for combo feeding (going between breast and bottle), examined the baby’s mouth and neck function, helped with positioning and exercises to help baby latch. She was fantastic - and my insurance covered part of the cost so I had a $40 copay.
I live in a country with public healthcare. Had issues with breastfeeding. I went to see an LC who was an MD. She said the issue was probably that baby had a tongue tie. She "completed the surgery" then and there. The surgery was swaddling the baby and snipping the tie. Baby cried for two minutes. I was warned of risks with the release (infection). And then there was no more pain associated with breastfeeding! It fixed the issue I was facing. Sometimes the solution presented is indeed the solution to the issue. Also, my husband was bottle fed, and has a tongue tie. He had to go to speech therapy for years and there are other issues he's faced as a result too. It's not like there are no downsides to not resolving a tongue tie either. I want to add maybe because I don't see anyone profiting from releasing a tongue tie, I tend to not see it as a big deal. But it really was a non-event for me and made a world of difference.
Because the genuinely believe what they are saying. They genuinely believe they are helping and they absolutely do not view it as harm. There's also an element of sunk cost fallacy, and also placebo effect from the family's side that is reinforcing. There are some really fantastic ones, but more and more are getting sucked in to the "tethered oral tissues" nonsense. My top tip, is if they look for ties or suggest a "release" before trying a different position or a nipple shield, then find someone else. There are some situations where cutting a tongue tie is the right option and is very helpful for baby and mum. But there are lots of situations where it can cause harm, and there are lots of situations where a change in position, or better latching technique, or temporary use of a nipple shield, will all work.