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Inside the Booming Business of Cutting Babies’ Tongues (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Dentists and lactation consultants around the country are pushing “tongue-tie releases” on new mothers struggling to breastfeed.

Tess Merrell had breastfed three babies and never expected trouble with her fourth. But after a month of struggling with her newborn, she hired Melanie Henstrom for help.

Ms. Henstrom, a lactation consultant, identified a culprit: The infant’s tongue was tethered to the bottom of her mouth. It was a common problem, she said, and could be fixed with a quick procedure at a dentist’s office.

“It was touted as this miracle cure,” said Ms. Merrell, a high school soccer coach in Boise, Idaho.

Ms. Henstrom recommended a dentist, who in December 2017 cut under the baby’s tongue with a laser. Within days, the infant, Eleanor, was refusing to eat and had become dangerously dehydrated, medical records show. She spent her first Christmas on a feeding tube.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well said. To add to this, mother's are still going through a hurricane of hormones and exhaustion when both they and the baby are just starting to learn how to latch. I remember my wife crying saying she was a bad mother, and the baby hates her, and that she is so stupid to think she could do this. It was heartbreaking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I remember my wife crying saying she was a bad mother, and the baby hates her, and that she is so stupid to think she could do this. It was heartbreaking.

Same here. My wife's milk never came in. She had 3 different lactation nurses tell her "don't worry, it'll happen, just keep trying". Not once did anyone talk to her about the fact that it doesn't happen for some women. Not once did they provide support for the increasing likelihood that it wouldn't happen. It was just "keep trying, the milk will come".

I don't discount the benefits of breastfeeding, but I think our medical community needs to take a step back a little and think about this article and the other side effects of all that pressure they're putting on mothers.