Infant Tongue Tie Post-Op Exercises

• Goal: help the surgical area heal with the most mobility possible.
• Should be done with your baby laying down facing away from you.
• Start the day after the procedure and 3-4 times per day for 3 weeks.
• Use gloves (preferred) or clean hands with nails trimmed.
• Lip/Cheek - Put your fingers all the way in the fold of the lips and pull the lip or cheek up and out as high as possible. You should see the white diamond(s) open. Push right on the surgical area(s), in and up, gently, but firmly. The area may bleed slightly.
• Tongue - With one index finger, push down right behind the gum pad in the floor of the mouth, and push into and lift the tongue up and back to put tension on the wound for a few seconds. Repeat 3 times. You can use your non-dominant thumb to push down on the gum pad and hold the mouth open. The area may bleed slightly.
• The video above gives a good example of the stretches. Note: The video does say to do the stretches 6 times per day, but 3-4 is adequate.

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• If you notice the surgical area becoming tight, then stretch/push a little more to open it back up.
• Follow-up in 7-10 days with our office. If you can’t follow up in person, please do a “deeper stretch” and push twice as hard one time at day 7 to ensure the tissue isn’t growing back together. You will notice some bleeding if it reopens, which means it was growing back a little bit, and now it’s reopened. If bleeding persists, hold pressure with gauze or a paper towel for 5 minutes.
• Play in your child’s mouth a few times a day with clean fingers to avoid causing an oral aversion. Tickle the lips, the gums, or allow your child to suck your finger.
• The released area will form a wet scab after the first day. It will appear white and soft. It may change color to yellow or green. This is not infection but is just a scab in the mouth. The scab will get smaller each day. Even though the scab is not as visible, you must continue stretching.
• Your child’s lip will swell up slightly for a few days, and the released areas will be sore for a few days, at one week look much better, and at 2-3 weeks look much better and almost normal.

Pain:

Give Children’s Tylenol (160mg / 5mL) starting when you get home and for the next 2-3 days every 6 hours as needed. For babies who weigh 6-11 lbs give 40mg or 1.25mL. Babies 12-17 lbs can have 80mg or 2.5mL.

If your child is at least 6 months old and 12-17lbs, you can give Infant’s Motrin (ibuprofen 50 mg/1.25 mL) at 1.25mL (50mg) every 6 hours as needed.

Follow-up with a lactation consultant or feeding therapist is critical.

Sometimes there’s an immediate difference in feeding, and sometimes it takes a few days to weeks.

If you have any questions, please contact us: (319) 472-3282