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Unregulated correction of tongue tie in first days of life raises concerns amongst paediatric surgeons

Early division of a tongue-tie to improve breast feeding has been increasingly available as an option for a relatively small cohort of infants where the tongue-tie prohibits latching onto the nipple leading to difficulties in establishing breast feeding. Over the past decade, paediatric surgeons in alliance with lactation counsellors and midwives have set up dedicated hospital clinics where this is diagnosed and if necessary divided (without specific anaesthesia), but usually after a few weeks of life.