How to know if your child has tongue tie — and what you can do to treat it

Learn more about the symptoms and options.
Tongue-tie is something that may not be visible in a child. If your baby has tongue-tie, it might make it difficult for them to nurse at your breast. It can also make feeding painful for you. Approximately 8% of babies have at least mild tongue-tie.
Tongue tie can be completely normal but if it is very restrictive, can potentially cause difficulty and pain with breastfeeding (not speech, sleep apnea, eating, etc).
What is tongue-tie?
It happens when the tissue in the mouth that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too short. It may reduce the ability of the tongue to move.
What are the symptoms?
It doesn’t cause an issue in all children. It is something that some children outgrow, and the tissue stretches as they get bigger, or they get used to it.
For children that are breastfed, it may cause a problem with latching and sucking. Usually, bottle-fed babies don’t have trouble feeding as it uses different mouth movements.
How is it diagnosed?
If you have concerns, bring them up with your child’s doctor. They will consider many factors like breastfeeding, painful feeding and weight gain. After doing a physical exam and gathering information from you, they may recommend treatment or advise you to monitor the situation for a bit.
How is it treated?
For some, a “wait and see” option works. The tissue will sometimes stretch on its own. This is common if there isn’t trouble feeding. You may also want to talk with a lactation consultant for input.
Sometimes a frenotomy is recommended by your pediatrician or lactation consultant. This procedure is done in the office using scissors or laser. There are no stitches involved for newborns.