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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] 20 points 11 months ago (2 children)

My two kids have both been born with this issue and having their tongue release helped immensely. We also wanted to get it over with, since leaving it may cause speech difficulties as they get older.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

Yeah.

There's a lot of folks ignorantly commenting here who haven't held a baby who is struggling to get enough calories - both from a boob and from formula - equating tongue tie release with circumcision.

Is it over proscribed? In that is a medical practice that earns money, I'm 100% sure it is.

Is breastfeeding oversold as a one-size-fits-all panacea? Absolutely.

But anyone who has held a baby who was going through a terrifying struggle to maintain a healthy weight - both on and off boob - knows that tongue tie release is not optional for some babies.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

One of my 3 had it.

In all honestly I think I needed it too but never happened.