I’ve noticed a lot of posts lately about getting “lip ties” released. “My baby is having a lip tie release tomorrow. What should I expect?” “My child had their lip tie released 3 weeks but I’m not seeing improvement.” Can a lip tie impact latch? Yes! Is it the main cause of feeding difficulties in over (literally) 99.9% of cases? No! A ”tie” is a frenulum (connecting tissue) which restricts movement and function. The upper lip should remain relatively neutral when feeding at breast and may flange a bit more with bottle feeding depending on the bottle nipple shape you are using. The tongue, however, moves a ton! The tip extends out of the mouth and both the tip and middle of the tongue cups around the nipple and areola while the mid-tongue lifts and falls to create vacuum and pull out milk. The tongue is made up of several muscles which can all be impacted by a tight frenulum under the tongue which connects to the floor of the mouth. This is called ankyloglossia or “tongue tie” in common language. When there is an upper lip tie, there is almost always a tongue tie, too. For perspective, a local and renowned ENT frenotomy provider, Dr. Ghaheri, has stated in the over 13,000 patients he’s treated for ties, 2 or 3 have had lip ties without tongue ties. If your provider is suggesting that your child needs a lip tie released only, the chance that is truly the only problem is much, much lower than the chance that your provider is not experienced enough to identify the tongue tie. Is it possible? Sure. I’m not your provider and have not examined your child but it could be worth another opinion. Your local tongue tie or breastfeeding group may be able to recommend an IBCLC who can help.
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