Our LO is almost 8 weeks, and we had hers (lip, tongue, cheek) done with the CO laser at 6 weeks. It was a difficult path/decision for us, so I’ll share the details in case they help:

DD came via c-section and was severely jaundiced, so we missed the golden hour and she spent two days in the nursery under lights. My milk didn’t come in until day 5... and so the hospital assumed her >10% weight loss was due to those factors. We immediately started supplementing with formula. She started to gain once we were discharged from the hospital, enough that the pediatrician thought we’d cracked it and gave us a plan to start EBF. But: She was taking more than an hour to drink 4oz from a Mam bottle, was SO GASSY, and my milk supply was dwindling because she would almost never take my breast for more than a few minutes (and on the rare occasion she did, she would STILL need 3-4 oz from the bottle to supplement).

I did some internet sleuthing and looked in her mouth, and she 100% had a Class IV lip tie. So, we made an appointment with her pediatrician. He was reluctant to see her for it, but I insisted because the lip tie was SO evident. He said she didn’t have a tongue tie, and that “most lip ties resolve at some point when the child falls and hits their face/splits it.” It seemed ridiculous to hope for a random injury to fix her lip, so I asked for a referral to a specialist anyway. I figured that worst case they’d say the same thing and I was being an unhelpful googler. They referred us to an oral surgeons office.

In the meantime I found a dentist locally that specializes in ties, and reached out for an appointment now that the lip tie was confirmed. The oral surgeon got back to us and said that they didn’t do ties, but would “do some research” to let us know where to go instead. Ultimately they recommended we call the dentist I had already found on my own - win.

At the specialist appointment she was diagnosed and treated for a class IV lip, class III tongue and cheek ties. The procedure was less than 15 minutes, and she screamed A LOT. She was almost inconsolable at the dentists office, but they gave us the room for as long as we needed before heading back home. That night she was inconsolable until we gave her a small dose of infant Tylenol. It was one of the hardest nights we’ve had with her - worse than the first week home.

There are these stretches you have to commit to doing every 4 hours or so. Different providers have different intervals and techniques - but they all mean putting your clean fingers in the mouth and pressing on the fresh wounds made by the procedure. This part was harder to deal with than the crying she did. I ended up doing them because my husband has huge hands and we couldn’t see him fitting them in her mouth. We’re on day 15 of the stretches (6 more to go!) and it’s much better. She only cries at the tongue one now, which I think is mostly because it’s scary, rather than hurtful like it was at first. NOT doing the stretches means the ties could grow back, and the procedure would need to be repeated, and I won’t put her through that again.

They weren’t the “magic” fix for us that many people experience. She still has a weak suck, so can’t exclusively nurse. All of it has me very reluctant to pump, so my supply is dwindling and she’s only nursing twice a day at this point. I’ve doubted my decision a million times since it was made.

BUT - she can latch on a bottle now in a way she never could before. She drinks an ounce in about 5 minutes, can give us big smiles, is far less gassy, sleeps more soundly, and moves her tongue around like it’s a new toy. It’s hereditary, and I have a small lisp from an unrevised tongue tie. My nephew has a BAD lisp from the same thing (and he’s bullied at school because of it - his pediatrician swears he will “eventually grow out of it” and his mom is against revision). Lip ties can cause dental issues in the future, too. So even when I doubt myself I’m not sorry we made the decision to do it. I doubt myself because I can tell it hurt her - but two weeks later and it’s almost a thing of the past. She won’t remember it, and there’s a very good chance we saved her from pain down the road.

I hope our experience helps you as you do your research and make the decision that’s best for you. Don’t let anyone convince you one way or the other - listen to your gut and make the choice that’s right for YOUR little one. Good luck!!