The surgical procedure which consists of cutting the frenulum of the tongue in babies is increasingly practiced, supposedly to facilitate breastfeeding. The Academy of Medicine believes that it must remain exceptional.
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The Academy of Medicine warns against a sharply increasing practice in France and in other countries of the world, such as Australia: lingual frenotomy in newborns. The Academy regrets that cutting the frenum of the tongue of newborns has become a kind of fashion in clinics. Moreover, on social networks, all young mothers go there in their opinion, notes Professor André Chays. “Forums where things go all over the place, everyone says anything and everything”annoys the ENT surgeon.
Lingual frenotomy is a surgical procedure that consists of cutting the frenulum in newborns, this small membrane under the tongue that connects it to the floor of the mouth. Frenotomy is supposed to promote breastfeeding by making it easier to suckle and eliminating sore nipples for nursing mothers. But this must remain an exceptional gesture, when doctors find a real brake problem, such as ankyloglossia, insists Professor Chays. “It is not obvious, far from it, that when faced with a mother who has a breastfeeding problem because the child has trouble sucking or because the pain in the nipples is hard to bear, to think that cutting the brake will fix it. The frenotomy would then be performed for nothing.”
Professor Chays recalls that it is a surgical procedure which can lead to complications, even if they are rare. The Academy of Medicine calls for more studies to determine the specific cases where cutting the frenulum of babies’ tongue is really necessary. She regrets that the frenotomy is proposed, sometimes “at excessive prices, to treat nipple pain and early cessation of breast-feeding. Or worse, that it is practiced as a preventive measure.