Post Frenulectomy Care

POST LINGUAL FRENULECTOMY CARE
1. After the procedure, infants usually do not experience discomfort or bleeding. In babies under 4 weeks, no pain medication is necessary. However, if your infant is older than 4 weeks and seems uncomfortable you can apply a tiny amount of teething gel (like Oragel) to the surgical site, which immediately numbs the site. If the baby is still uncomfortable it is likely due to gas and not pain. For babies over 6 weeks, a few drops of Tylenol may be also be given for pain.
2. Because your infant swallows some blood during the procedure, occasionally you will notice darker stool or spit up when you get home. This is not of concern, but may cause abdominal discomfort or gas.
3. Facial massage over the next week using your fingers will often help relax and aid your infant in learning a new sucking method.
  
  a. Gently massage cheeks to relax the muscles
  
  b. Gently and slowly massage around the lips in a circular motion until the infant appears to want to suck on your finger
4. After the frenulectomy, if you are still having pain or breastfeeding difficulties, please follow the latching guidelines that were emailed to you or consult your lactation consultant to help you.
5. You will notice white or yellow tissue developing in the area of the incision under the tongue. This is normal and not an infection. It is important to stretch this tissue so it does not grow into a scar and cause reattachment. It will disappear after 1-2 weeks of stretching.
Tongue Stretching exercises

Stretching is an important part of your infant’s successful healing and helps to prevent reattachment, which can occur about 1% of the time. There are many ways to do stretching exercises. Here are our recommendations, but feel free to work with your lactation consultant in finding a method that works best for you and your baby. Begin performing exercises the evening after the procedure. Do them for several seconds before or after each feeding for up to one week, 3-8 times a day.
- Method one: Place the index finger of your left hand on the underside of your baby’s tongue and your right thumb on your baby’s chin. Hold the chin in place while pulling up the tongue to open the diamond shaped area where the incision was made. You need to use sufficient force to totally reopen the surgical site to prevent the reattachment. Some bleeding may occur, and this is not concerning.
- Method two: Sweep the area underneath the tongue with the index finger, stretching/removing the white tissue if it is present to prevent scar tissue from forming.
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Post Frenulectomy Care

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