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.
We had to get my son’s tongue done. My wife’s father literally can’t stick his tongue out, and it looked like it skipped a generation because my son’s tongue barely moved.
We are awful though. At least according to my kids when they refuse to eat dinner, even though they ate the same goddamn meal 10 days ago and loved it.
I’ve committed the same atrocity. To hear them talk, my kids may never recover.
Literally the end of the world.