You have already tried the football hold, the cross cradle, the laid-back position. A lactation consultant has watched you nurse, more than once. Maybe you switched nipple shields, changed the angle, iced sore skin between feeds, and kept going because everyone told you it would get better. If a tongue tie or lip tie was found and released, you were probably told feeding would turn a corner within a few days. Weeks later, your baby still clicks. Still gulps air. Still falls asleep at the breast or bottle before actually finishing.
None of that means you missed something or did anything wrong. It means there has been a piece of the picture that rarely gets explained clearly: a tongue tie is a tissue problem, but the struggle around it is often a whole-body one. From the very first attempt to feed, a baby's jaw, neck, and nervous system start compensating for the restriction, and that compensation does not always resolve just because the tissue does.
At Van Every Family Chiropractic Center in Royal Oak, our doctors work with families before and after a frenectomy to address exactly that compensation, so the new range of motion actually gets used.
What Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Look Like at Feeding Time
Tongue tie, or ankyloglossia, happens when the band of tissue under the tongue is too short or too tight to let the tongue move freely. Lip tie is the same idea at the upper lip. An estimated 4 to 11 percent of newborns have some form of it, and it rarely announces itself with one clean symptom. A shallow latch that will not stay put. A clicking or smacking sound as the seal keeps breaking. Milk leaking from the corners of the mouth. Feeds that stretch on far longer than they should, and a baby who still seems hungry, or exhausted, right after. For a nursing mother, ongoing nipple pain despite a technically correct latch is often the clearest sign that the restriction, not the technique, is the problem.
Why the Compensation Builds Around the Tie
A tongue that cannot lift, groove, or move the way feeding requires forces the rest of the body to work harder to make up the difference. The jaw recruits muscles it should not need. The neck tightens to help stabilize that extra jaw effort. This is not incidental: the hypoglossal nerve, which drives tongue movement, and the vagus nerve, which coordinates swallowing and jaw function, both travel through the upper cervical spine on their way to the mouth and throat. When tension collects in that same region, whether from the tie itself, from birth (a long labor, a vacuum or forceps delivery, a C-section), or both, those nerve signals do not travel as cleanly. Research looking at otherwise healthy newborns has found signs of cranial and upper cervical tension in nearly all of the infants examined, which is a reminder that even routine deliveries put stress on the exact area that governs feeding coordination.
Why a Frenectomy Alone Sometimes Falls Short
Releasing the tie takes a frenectomy, performed by a lactation-trained dentist or an ENT, and it is often necessary. But the procedure addresses the tissue, not the compensation pattern that built up around it. The jaw guarding, the cervical tension, the way your baby has learned to hold their head and tongue to get through a feed, none of that automatically lets go the moment the tissue is freed. In fact, research on infants referred for tongue tie revision has found cranial nerve tension in most of them, tension connected to the same upper cervical region rather than to the tie alone. That helps explain a pattern many families run into: some initial improvement after the release, followed by symptoms drifting back over the following weeks as the old pattern reasserts itself. The release frees the tissue. The nervous system still has to learn it is safe to use.
What Care Looks Like at Van Every
We start by listening to the whole feeding history, what has been tried, whether a release has happened or is being considered, and what birth itself looked like. From there we use INSiGHT scanning, thermal imaging, heart rate variability, and surface EMG when age appropriate, to get an objective look at where tension is concentrated in your baby's nervous system rather than guessing from symptoms alone. We walk you through what the scans show and how it connects to what you have been seeing at home.
Adjustments themselves use Koren Specific Technique (KST) and Talsky Tonal Chiropractic (TTC), light, nervous system-focused contacts with pressure lighter than you would use to check a ripe tomato. There is no cracking, twisting, or force involved. Many babies nurse or sleep straight through a session. When care happens before a frenectomy, the goal is to reduce compensatory tension so your baby's body is more ready to use the new range of motion the moment the tie is released. When it happens after, often within 24 to 48 hours of the procedure when a family's timing allows, the goal shifts to helping the body integrate that change before old patterns have a chance to settle back in. Throughout, our doctors stay in touch with your lactation consultant and the provider handling the release so everyone's timing lines up.
What Parents Often Notice
Every baby is different, but a few patterns come up often. A deeper, more comfortable latch and less nipple pain tend to be among the first things families report, along with fewer clicking sounds and less gas or fussiness after a feed. Many babies who once tolerated only one side become willing to feed comfortably on both. Weight gain often catches up as milk transfer improves. Parents also frequently mention something harder to measure: a baby who simply seems more settled, who fusses less between feeds and sleeps a little easier.
A Few Things to Track at Home
Alongside care, there are simple habits that help you and your team see the fuller picture:
- Note which side your baby feeds better on, and mention any consistent side preference to your lactation consultant and our doctors.
- Keep a loose log of feed length and how settled your baby seems afterward, so improvement (or a stall) is easier to spot.
- Rotate feeding and holding positions rather than always favoring the side that feels easiest, so tension does not build asymmetrically.
- Give your baby supervised tummy time when they tolerate it, which supports the same neck and shoulder muscles involved in feeding.
- Keep your release provider and lactation consultant looped in on anything that changes, so timing and care stay coordinated.
Next Steps
If feeding has been a fight before or after a release, you do not have to keep guessing at why. You can read more about how our doctors approach tongue tie and lip tie care in Royal Oak, or download our free guide on the nervous system side of tongue tie for a closer look at what is happening beneath the surface. When you are ready, you can book online directly, or learn more about the gentle methods we use on our techniques page. You can also reach our office at (248) 616-0900 with any questions before your first visit.
