You might have a tongue tie, likely a small one. Basically, your tongue is attached to the base of your mouth by a bit of flesh. It's totally fine. Sometimes though, the ties are quite bad, which can interfere with breastfeeding. (There are also upper-lip ties.) Doctors have grown savvy to this, supposedly, and check newborns for ties. But, there are multiple kinds of ties...
![]()
See IV, over there? Hard to find, I guess, since eleven professionals, including four lactation consultants and three doctors (pediatrician, family care doctor, and ear/nose/throat specialist) couldn't spot it on my son despite his issues with weight gain. (He was in the bottom 8 percent of growth) We finally went to this consultant (link to Yelp reviews, many of which have a similar story) who spotted the ties immediately, and sent us to a pediatric dentist with a laser to burn the ties off. Nine-hundred twenty bucks later (babies don't normally have dental insurance—no fucking teeth!) he's fine and eating well and gaining ~1oz a day.
But anyway, if you have a scrawny newborn, especially one who falls asleep on the breast, look for a Type IV tongue-tie.
See IV, over there? Hard to find, I guess, since eleven professionals, including four lactation consultants and three doctors (pediatrician, family care doctor, and ear/nose/throat specialist) couldn't spot it on my son despite his issues with weight gain. (He was in the bottom 8 percent of growth) We finally went to this consultant (link to Yelp reviews, many of which have a similar story) who spotted the ties immediately, and sent us to a pediatric dentist with a laser to burn the ties off. Nine-hundred twenty bucks later (babies don't normally have dental insurance—no fucking teeth!) he's fine and eating well and gaining ~1oz a day.
But anyway, if you have a scrawny newborn, especially one who falls asleep on the breast, look for a Type IV tongue-tie.