MORE ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S TONGUE-TIE OR LIP-TIE RELEASE
What this covers: the questions parents ask us in the days and weeks after a release. If you are looking for the red flag list, it is on the sheet we texted you.
Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222
WHY WE RECOMMENDED THIS FOR YOUR CHILD
We recommended this because of what we saw in your child’s mouth and what you told us about feeding. If you want to go back over those reasons, ask us. That is a fair question and we will answer it straight.
IF SOMEONE OFFERS TO DO THIS FOR ANOTHER CHILD IN YOUR FAMILY
We want to be honest with you about this, because you will hear a lot of different things.
The case for releasing a tongue-tie is stronger than the case for releasing an upper lip-tie.
Every baby is born with a band of tissue between the upper lip and the gum. For most babies it never causes a problem. Releasing it does not stop a gap between the top front teeth, and its link to feeding trouble is not clear.
So if this is ever offered for a different child, ask hard questions first, and get a feeding assessment before anyone operates. That is what we would want for our own families.
WHAT THE NEXT FEW DAYS LOOK LIKE
- Discomfort is usually worst in the first 24 to 48 hours, then settles over about 3 to 5 days. This is what we typically see. Your child may be faster or slower.
- The white or yellow patch will look bigger and yellower before it looks better. That is expected. Most of it is gone in about 2 weeks.
- Sleep may be broken for a few nights. It usually gets better fast.
- You do not need to wake your baby through the night for this procedure. Feed on your usual pattern, or on whatever your pediatrician asked you to do.
- You do not need to clean the site. Do not scrub it. Do not put ointment, antiseptic, or numbing gel on it.
Call us if feeding is getting worse instead of better after about 5 days, if your child seems to be in pain that medicine is not touching, or if you are worried. You do not need a reason that sounds good enough.
COMFORT WITHOUT MEDICINE
These are often enough on their own:
- Skin to skin contact
- Feeding, or offering the breast or bottle for comfort
- Swaddling a young baby
- A pacifier
- Gentle rocking and a quiet, dim room
- For a young baby, a few drops of sugar water on a pacifier can settle them through a short rough patch. Use it now and then, not as a daily habit. It is unlikely to help after about the first birthday.
- For babies over 6 months, a clean, cold, wet washcloth to chew on, or a chilled (not frozen) teether
For pain medicine, use the pain medicine card we sent you. If you do not have it, call us. The age rules are on your instruction sheet. Nothing on this page changes them.
BLEEDING IN A BABY’S MOUTH
A small amount of oozing in the first few hours is normal. It can look alarming because blood spreads in saliva and always looks like more than it is.
What to do: firm, steady pressure with clean gauze or a clean finger for 5 minutes, without lifting to check.
Call us if bleeding does not stop after two rounds of 5 minutes of steady pressure, if your child is spitting up blood clots, or if your child swallows enough blood to vomit.
FUSSINESS AND FEEDING CHANGES
Expect your child to be fussier than usual for a few days.
Some babies feed better within a day. Some feed worse for a few days before improving. A step backward in feeding is common and it does not mean the release failed.
Watch wet diapers rather than watching the clock. Once your baby is more than 5 days old, count at least 6 wet diapers in 24 hours. In the first 5 days of life, count about one wet diaper for each day of life. Fewer wet diapers than that, or fewer than your baby normally has, is a reason to call us.
You did not cause this. A tongue-tie is something a baby is born with. Nothing you did while you were pregnant, and nothing you did or did not do while feeding, made it happen. If feeding has been hard, that is not a sign you were doing it wrong.
FEEDING SUPPORT, AND WHY WE ASK YOU TO COME BACK
A release changes what the tongue can do. It does not teach your baby a new way to feed. That part takes practice and coaching, and it is the part that most often decides whether feeding actually improves.
This is why a lactation consultant or feeding specialist is part of the plan and not an extra. A lactation consultant is a trained feeding coach for parents and babies, and they help with bottle feeding too.
A release does not always fix feeding pain or feeding problems. Sometimes something else is also going on. Follow-up is how we find that out.
If your own nipples are sore or damaged, bring that up at the visit. It is treatable and it is part of the same problem.
IF THE TISSUE PARTLY REJOINS
Sometimes the released tissue partly heals back together.
If your child is feeding well and seems comfortable, this usually needs nothing at all.
If feeding gets worse again, tell us. That is what the follow-up visit is for.
ABOUT MOUTH STRETCHES
We do not ask you to do mouth stretches after a release. That is our protocol, and it applies to every child we release.
You will find people online, and sometimes people in person, who say stretches are essential to keep the wound from rejoining. That is not what we ask of our families. If someone advises them, bring it to us before you start rather than after.
Two things are worth knowing. Fighting your baby at the breast or bottle every few hours is worse than a bit of rejoining. And a baby who has learned to expect hands in their mouth every few hours can start refusing to be held near the mouth at all, which is a harder problem to undo than the one the stretches were for.
BODYWORK, CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY, AND CHIROPRACTIC
You may be told your baby needs body treatments, sometimes called bodywork or craniosacral therapy, before or after a release.
We do not ask you to do this and we do not think you need it.
If you want to try it anyway, please tell us first, and please avoid anyone offering forceful neck manipulation on a baby.
HOW AN OLDER CHILD IS DIFFERENT
- Numbing. An older child usually gets numbing medicine. Their lip, tongue, or cheek will feel fat and strange for a few hours. Watch them closely so they do not bite, chew, or scratch the numb area. Numbness lasting past 12 hours is a reason to call us.
- Eating. Soft, cool foods for the first day or two. Skip anything sharp, crunchy, spicy, or very hot.
- Drinking. Keep fluids going. If an older child has not peed in 8 hours, call us. For a baby, count wet diapers instead.
- Brushing. Keep brushing the other teeth normally. Stay off the healing site itself until it is comfortable.
- Speech. A tongue-tie usually does not cause speech problems, and a release usually is not a speech treatment. If your child has a speech concern, a speech-language pathologist is the right person to see.
- Talking about it. Older children often notice the white patch and get worried. Showing them the sheet we texted you helps.
WE USED A LASER TODAY
A laser is the tool we used to release the tissue.
There are no stitches, so nothing has to come out later. There was little or no bleeding while we worked, and light oozing afterward is still normal. The white or yellow patch is what a laser site looks like while it heals.
If you want to know more about the tool we used, or why we chose it, ask us. That is a fair question and we will answer it straight.
THE THINGS WE WILL NOT PROMISE YOU
We will not promise that feeding becomes easy, that the tissue never rejoins, or that your child will never need anything else. Nobody can promise those things honestly.
What we will do is look with you at how feeding is going, tell you straight what we see, and say so if we think something else is going on.
Reviewed August 2026