Check For Ties At Birth

Today was a heavy day. I don’t want to sound like a downer, but we need to talk seriously about how the “they’ll be fine” mindset is failing our kids.

Like Dr. Richard Baxter says: Is just surviving enough when thriving is possible?

Real Stories From One Day in My Office

Patient A – Age 8 Born with a tongue-tie all the way to the tip. Speech was severely affected, and his teeth are very crowded. At 5 months, he was put under general anesthesia to have the tie released. Today, the tie is still there. I honestly don’t know what was done. His parents were told it was “fixed,” so they assumed this was just as good as it gets. Now, he’s in speech therapy and was told he may never speak clearly.

Patients B & C – Sisters, Age 7 and 8 months Both girls have tongue ties.

• Baby spits out all food and can only use one specific bottle.

• Older sister has signs of sleep-disordered breathing, speech issues, and eats very slowly. Mom has brought up concerns to her pediatrician for years – and kept hearing, “It’s fine.”

Patient D – 17 months old Diagnosed at birth with a clear tongue tie (great!). But then told nothing could be done until age 2–3 unless sedated (not great). Now in physical therapy for delayed walking and balance. Another case where early misinformation is leading to long-term problems.

Patient E – 3 weeks old Struggles to latch and loses as much milk onto her face as she actually swallows. Mom desperately wants to breastfeed. And let’s be real - baby probably doesn’t enjoy getting a milk bath every feed. But since baby is gaining weight, they were told, “Everything is fine.”

Patients F, G, H – 1, 2, and 3 weeks old All three causing so much nipple pain that mom cries every time they latch. Advice given? “Just give them a bottle.”

And that’s just one day. I’m even losing patience with my own story.

What I Wish More People Knew

📈 You don’t grow out of a tongue tie. You learn to compensate. But those compensations often come at a cost.

👩‍🔧 Releasing the tie isn’t enough. If you don’t also restore function, the problem remains. That’s why I’m so grateful for the functional team: SLPs, OMTs, IBCLCs, OTs, and PTs – you’re the real magic-makers.

👅 Tongue function matters beyond breastfeeding. Feeding, swallowing, jaw growth, speech, sleep - it’s all connected.

🤱 Painful feeding, constant gas, leaking milk, nonstop nursing? These are not “normal.” These are signs something is off. It’s not your fault, mama. You were doing your best in a system that didn’t support you.

🦷 Good tongue posture helps grow healthy jaws. Small jaws = crowded teeth = often tied to poor tongue function.

👃 A healthy airway must be open. When the tongue doesn’t rest fully on the palate, it narrows the throat. This affects breathing, especially when lying down. Airway is life. And we’re not giving it enough attention.

We Can Do Better

This post barely scratches the surface. But I couldn’t let a day like this pass without saying something.

If eight families found their way to me today – how many others are still wondering what they’re missing?

Tell your story.

And did you know? In Brazil, it’s the law to check for tongue tie at birth.

We’ll get there too. We just have to be louder.