When I took Sawyer to Dr. Fawn Rosenberg in Lexington, I was more than a little nervous. The small waiting room was crowded with people of various ages, all waiting for the renowned dentists to check on their tongue/lip tie releases.
“I’ll take your insurance- dental and health please,” the friendly, bright-eyed receptionist smiled.
I gulped, pulling the cards out of my bag. (I had done my homework- my dental plan might cover the surgery, but our health insurance wouldn’t touch it. And these visits to the doctor were not going to be cheap.)
“We’ll work it out,” the receptionist smiled, knowingly.
Then, Dr. Rosenberg pulled us back into one of the exam rooms, cooing at Sawyer. Then, she went on to explain the life-long effects of tongue & lip tie, and showed me some examples in her pamphlet, noting that Sawyer’s were more severe than those in the pictures.
“How come they didn’t spot this at the hospital or the pediatrician?” I asked, angrily.
“Well, I’m a dentist! I’m an expert at mouths in a way that others aren’t. They often don’t worry too much about it if they do see it, if the baby is gaining weight, because they don’t understand the full picture,” Dr. Rosenberg explained.
Then, she prepared me for Sawyer’s surgery, explaining that she uses lasers instead of cauterization or cutting, helping to minimize the chances of infection. and politely asked if I’d like to wait outside while the procedure was done.
I jumped at the chance to leave- I was anxiously bracing myself for having to endure the procedure.
When I returned 5 minutes later, Sawyer was a bit puffy-lipped, but wasn’t really fussing. He nursed well, and then the dentist showed me how to stretch hip lip & tongue to prevent the site from re-healing in its original form, and scheduled us for a check-up a week later.
Sawyer’s mouth is getting better, but doing the stretches every 5 hours breaks my heart. Still, I’m glad that we made this choice- he is eating more effectively and has even given us a couple of 5 hour stretches. (He was barely making it to 2 hours before the surgery, so this is huge!) He’s one happy baby.
Cul-de-Sac Confessions 
Hi, my 9-week old has a tongue tie and we are interested in getting it treated at Dr. Rosenberg’s studio. As you can imagine I am trying to do as much research as I can so that I feel confident this is the right decision. Could you let me know when your son was treated, and how was he doing later on? Thank you so much! -Wenwen
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Sawyer was treated at about the same age. Dr Rosenberg was fantastic; the procedure and recovery were exactly as she described. There were no complications- he went from sleeping 2 hours at a time due to gas to sleeping until I woke him at 5 hours to work on the wound. Her office was wonderful! Let me know if you have any specific questions that you’d like me to answer- about anything at all!
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Thank you so much for your prompt reply! I am glad that it worked well for your son! My son William’s tongue tie wasn’t severe (though it is anterior and easy to spot), and I have been debating whether to have it treated. Breastfeeding has been ok except for the clicking sounds which I suspect introduce a lot of gases that make him unhappy. He can sleep 3 to 4 hours at night though but often wakes up to fart which looks horrible…
What concerns me most is the pain associated with the procedure and the aftercare. (I’ve seen stories where breastfeeding actually became worse after the revision.) Did you give Sawyer infant Tylenol and how many times? Did you do the CranioSacral therapy after the procedure? How long did it take to recover from the wound?
Thank you again for sharing your experience! It means a lot to me.
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The after care was emotional for a couple of weeks. It seemed “uncomfortable” more than painful. His gas and breastfeeding improved immediately! I also thought about long term health, and how as a tiny nugget it would be easier to keep it clean and care for it than when he’s bigger. We used Tylenol for two nights. Dr Rosenberg was spot on with all of her notes about recovery, discomfort and such.
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Thank you so much for your reply again! I really appreciate it. Best of luck with your LO 🙂
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Hi, Sorry to bother you again. May I ask you more questions regarding tongue tie? Did the laser procedure leave any scar on the tongue? I heard that some babies became worse for a while at breastfeeding and then improved because they had the “bad” muscle memories. It seemed like that was not the case for Sawyer. I am just still very scared and hesitant to proceed, worrying that it may make things worse.
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I don’t see any scars- they healed very quickly. Sawyer needed a lot of help re-working his muscles, since we corrected his mouth after two months of practicing another way. Jeannette at Babies in Common is a truly amazing lactation consultant. She helped me to make the decision about what to do, and was able to support breast feeding before and after the surgery. It sounds like you might want someone who has been through this with a lot of babies and mamas to help guide you and support you. Jeannette is an expert! http://www.babiesincommon.com/
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Here is a list of Jeannette’s Blog articles about lip & tongue tie to get you started! http://www.babiesincommon.com/search?q=tongue+tie
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Thank you so much for the referral and link! It makes a lot of sense to work with a great LC.
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