Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related

2349 readers

121 users here now

Health: physical and mental, individual and public.

Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.

See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.

Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.

Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.

Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.

Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

WhoRoger@lemmy.world

RoyalEngineering@lemmy.world

Awa@lemmy.world

Inside the Booming Business of Cutting Babies’ Tongues (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] AmberPrince@kbin.social 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well said. To add to this, mother's are still going through a hurricane of hormones and exhaustion when both they and the baby are just starting to learn how to latch. I remember my wife crying saying she was a bad mother, and the baby hates her, and that she is so stupid to think she could do this. It was heartbreaking.

[–] ringwraithfish@startrek.website 4 points 11 months ago

I remember my wife crying saying she was a bad mother, and the baby hates her, and that she is so stupid to think she could do this. It was heartbreaking.

Same here. My wife's milk never came in. She had 3 different lactation nurses tell her "don't worry, it'll happen, just keep trying". Not once did anyone talk to her about the fact that it doesn't happen for some women. Not once did they provide support for the increasing likelihood that it wouldn't happen. It was just "keep trying, the milk will come".

I don't discount the benefits of breastfeeding, but I think our medical community needs to take a step back a little and think about this article and the other side effects of all that pressure they're putting on mothers.