Laser Tongue-Tie Release: A Gentle Solution to Many Baby Struggles
Breastfeeding is a natural and effective way for mothers to nourish and bond with their babies. It provides essential nutrition and immune protection, while also promoting proper sucking habits. Both breastfed and bottle-fed infants need to develop proper tongue control during swallowing. Effective sucking supports the healthy growth and development of the airway and oral structures.
Nursing should be a bonding experience, not a painful one
A good latch is essential for your baby to feed comfortably and effectively. If your little one struggles with a weak latch, frequent feedings, or symptoms like reflux or fatigue during nursing, a tongue-tie or lip-tie could be the culprit. These oral restrictions can impede proper latching. A tight upper lip may press against the nose, hindering the baby’s ability to create a good seal and breathe comfortably. Similarly, a tongue-tie can prevent the tongue from extending adequately to guide the nipple onto the back of the tongue, leading to difficulties in milk expression. These latching challenges can result in frustration and discomfort for both mother and baby.
A Quick and Gentle Solution
Using our state-of-the-art Light Scalpel CO2 laser, Dr. Santos can safely and precisely release tongue or lip ties in seconds. This minimally invasive procedure involves little to no discomfort, quick recovery, and allows many babies to latch immediately after treatment.
Breastfeeding Journey
My journey to Dr. Santos. It actually began about two months ago. I gave birth to Havela. She was six pounds seven ounces and latched on right away. She was healthy. Everything was great. Being a first -time breast feeder, she nursed very easily. I had a lactation consultant come in and said the latch was good. But two days later, as I left the hospital and went home, that night I sat in my room and I cried knowing that I had to nurse again. And It was so painful. My friends had told me that it would be painful, but I didn’t realize that it would be as painful as it was. That night, a neighbor is a lactation consultant. I called her and she came over and helped me, gave me a nipple shield, and said that my daughter’s tongue, the way that her tongue moved, that I needed to use a nipple shield. That’s why I had the pain. After that, she was on the shield, but I knew something else was wrong. I knew that something had to be wrong with the whole process. So I went to her two -week -old doctor appointment and Havela still was not at birth weight after two weeks. She wasn’t getting enough through the breastfeeding. I saw my chiropractor. As she examined Havela, she saw that Havela had a lip tie and a tongue tie. I had never heard of such a thing. I didn’t understand it. So I did some research. She had given me a name of a dentist to call that would do a laser surgery. It would be simple laser surgery. When I called the dentist, I didn’t feel comfortable with the whole process. I started searching and I thought, you know, know, what is this lip tie, tongue tie thing? Is it just a fad? Or what is, is it real? And so I just wasn’t at peace with doing the surgery, but I knew something was wrong. And so I had done a Google search of dentists in Sarasota that did this type of surgery. And that’s when I found Dr. Santos and she had a video of a testimonial of another woman,and the testimonial was very similar to mine. And so I called Dr. Santos and they got me in that week, which I was blown away by. She got me in and showed me, physically showed me the lip tie and the tongue tie and explained why this was causing pain, and why Havela was having like I ended up having to feed her with a bottle to get her up to birth weight, and she would leak milk out of the side of her mouth. She would burp and spit up. She had such bad gas. I mean, the pain that she would be in after feeding was awful. So I knew that something was wrong. And so when Dr. Santos showed me the tongue tie and the lip tie, and actually the lip tie, it wasn’t a normal lip tie where you would have a tie at the tip of your tongue. This was underneath and she had to actually show me where it was, and that was very assuring that I was doing the right thing. We scheduled the surgery for the next week and I brought Havela, and just before she was about to feed, they took her in and they did the laser surgery, they did the top and the bottom, and then I fed her immediately after with the bottle, because at this point I was not able to breastfeed any more. She won’t even go on the shield. So I can’t even breast feed, she’s gassy, and spitting up, and its not a good situation. So immediately after the surgery I fed her with the bottle and she stopped crying and she was okay. And that night she was kind of calm for a few hours after, and that night you have to do different exercises and make sure the ties don’t reattach. It was a pretty big commitment, 4 weeks of doing extra tongue exercises to get her tongue to move again, to come out of the mouth, to move side to side. And you also have to rub underneath the tongue, rub her lip so that it does not scar and reattach. It was hard. The first time I did it I wanted to cry because she was crying. But by the next night she was fine. The lactation consultation came over on Thursday, and was able to have her latch, and it didn’t hurt. After that it became more and more, breast feeding got easier, the times that I did feed her with the bottle when I had help overnight because she still feeds every 2 – 3 hours, the bottle, she did not leak out of the side of her mouth. It was literally night and day. The commitment is huge, there is discomfort, but when you get through it, it will change your life, it will change the baby’s life. And so, Dr Santos is highly recommended.
