This has been an interesting thread.  While I'm glad that more UK babies
can be clipped if necessary, and that this doctor is presumably keeping
track of growth and development to compare with (who?  does he have a
control group?), I am concerned by almost any intervention that becomes
routine.  I am quite sure that all tongue tied babies don't need this
intervention, although I would always hope it would be available as
necessary.

My *vast* experience with tongue tied babies (two cases) has shown me
how individual situations play out.  The first mother, who breastfed
uneventfully for over three years, did not even realize that her son was
tongue tied until he was past one.  He is very clearly tongue-tied, but
had no problem nursing and is very clearly articulate (no speech
difficulties either).  The second baby was born last December 22.  I saw
her on Christmas Eve and watched her mother weep from the pain while she
nursed.  The tongue-tie was immediately apparent and I gave her some
info she could take to a doctor.  She was very hesitant to disturb
anyone on Christmas Eve, but I was so sure her daughter would need a
frenotomy to nurse well that I encouraged her to call someone, anyone!
She waited a few more days to see someone and voila, the pain began to
recede and within two weeks, sans frenotomy, her baby was nursing
beautifully.

I would never suggest that frenotomies are never called for, however it
is clear to me that they are not universally necessary.

Leslie White
Deep River Ontario. . . .where it is a beautiful, sunny winter day,
-10'C

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