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In a new report, the American Academy of Pediatrics said that breastfeeding problems were rarely caused by infant tongue-ties.
In recent years, more and more women struggling to breastfeed have taken their babies to a dentist to sever the tissue under the tongue.
But little evidence supports the use of these “tongue-tie releases” for most babies, according to a report published on Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents 67,000 doctors. The tongue procedures, which often cost several hundred dollars, should be done only to the small fraction of infants with severely tethered tongues, the report said.
“Our patients are paying out-of-pocket, outrageous amounts for something they don’t need,” said Dr. Jennifer Thomas, a pediatrician in Wisconsin who oversees the academy’s breastfeeding group and was the lead author of the report.
Dr. Thomas said she and her colleagues began working on the report nearly nine years ago when they noticed a significant uptick in parents asking them to check their infants for tongue-ties. One study estimated an 800 percent rise in the number of tongue-tie procedures between 1997 and 2012.
A New York Times investigation last year found that some dentists and lactation consultants aggressively promoted the surgery, despite a risk of side effects. Serious complications are rare. But doctors told The Times that they had seen the cuts cause such pain that babies had refused to eat, becoming dehydrated and malnourished. A few said that newly floppy tongues blocked infants’ airways.