THE BABY BLOG Your baby questions answered by our expert team
21st August 2026 –
Tongue Tie in Babies: Signs, Symptoms & Treatment
Could your baby have a tongue tie?
Maybe feeding is painful. Perhaps your baby keeps slipping off the breast or bottle, makes clicking noises while feeding, or seems to feed forever but is still unsettled afterwards.
If you’ve found yourself Googling “Does my baby have a tongue tie?”, you’re definitely not alone.
Tongue tie in babies is common, but it can also be confusing. Not every tongue tie causes problems and not every feeding problem is caused by a tongue tie.
So, let’s explain what a tongue tie actually is, what signs you might notice and what can be done if it is affecting your baby’s feeding.
What is a tongue tie?
A tongue tie, also called ankyloglossia, happens when the piece of tissue underneath your baby’s tongue restricts how freely their tongue can move.
That piece of tissue is called the lingual frenulum – and everyone has one!
Simply being able to see or feel a frenulum doesn’t mean your baby has a problematic tongue tie. What really matters is whether it is restricting the tongue and affecting what your baby needs to do with it.
When we’re assessing babies, we’re interested in function, not just appearance.
Some tongue ties are very easy to see, while others may be much less obvious. This is why looking at a photograph of the inside of your baby’s mouth isn’t enough to properly assess a tongue tie.
What are the signs of tongue tie in babies?
Every baby is different, and tongue tie symptoms can vary.
For some babies, a tongue tie causes no difficulties at all. For others, restricted tongue movement may make feeding harder.
Signs of tongue tie when breastfeeding
You might notice:
- Your baby struggles to achieve or maintain a deep latch
- They repeatedly come on and off the breast
- Clicking noises during feeds
- Milk leaking from their mouth
- Very long or very frequent feeds
- Baby becoming frustrated or unsettled while feeding
- Your nipple looks flattened, pinched or misshapen after a feed
- Sore, cracked or damaged nipples
- Feeding continues to be painful despite support with positioning and attachment
- Concerns about milk transfer or weight gain
- Difficulties maintaining your milk supply
You don’t need to tick every box for your baby to have a tongue tie.
Equally, having one or several of these symptoms doesn’t automatically mean tongue tie is the cause.
That’s why a proper feeding and tongue function assessment is so important.
Can bottle-fed babies have problems with tongue tie?
Yes.
Tongue tie isn’t just something that affects breastfeeding babies.
Bottle-fed babies also need to use their tongue effectively to feed, and some babies with restricted tongue movement can experience difficulties.
You might notice your baby:
- Clicks while bottle feeding
- Loses their seal around the teat
- Leaks lots of milk from the sides of their mouth
- Takes a long time to finish a bottle
- Becomes tired or frustrated during feeds
- Struggles to coordinate feeding comfortably
Again, these things can happen for lots of reasons, so seeing one of these signs doesn’t necessarily mean your baby has a tongue tie.
A good assessment looks at the whole feeding picture, rather than focusing on one symptom.
How do you know if your baby has a tongue tie?
This is where a professional tongue tie assessment can help.
A tongue tie assessment shouldn’t simply involve someone having a quick look underneath your baby’s tongue.
We want to understand what’s actually happening when your baby feeds.
An assessment may include discussing your pregnancy, birth and feeding journey, looking at your baby’s mouth and tongue movement and assessing how well the tongue is functioning.
Where appropriate, watching your baby breast or bottle feed can provide really useful information too.
Sometimes tongue tie is contributing to the problem.
Sometimes something else is going on.
And sometimes babies simply need a little extra feeding support.
The aim is to work out why feeding is difficult, rather than starting with the assumption that the tongue tie needs treating.
Does every tongue tie need treatment?
No – and this is really important.
A baby can have a visible tongue tie and feed perfectly well.
If their tongue is functioning effectively and they aren’t experiencing problems, treatment may not be necessary.
The decision to treat a tongue tie should be based on your baby’s individual symptoms, feeding and tongue function – not simply what their tongue looks like.
How is a tongue tie treated?
If a tongue tie is restricting your baby’s tongue movement and contributing to feeding difficulties, you may be offered a procedure called a frenulotomy, often referred to as tongue tie division.
The restrictive tissue underneath the tongue is divided to allow the tongue to move more freely.
Before deciding whether to go ahead, your practitioner should explain what the procedure involves, the possible benefits and risks, what to expect afterwards and any alternatives available.
You should also have plenty of opportunity to ask questions.
Will tongue tie division fix my baby’s feeding?
It can help some babies – but it isn’t a magic fix for every feeding difficulty.
Feeding involves much more than the tongue.
Positioning and attachment, milk supply, bottle teat and flow, your baby’s individual feeding skills and many other factors can all play a part.
Some parents notice an improvement quickly following tongue tie division, while other babies need a little more time and feeding support.
That’s why good feeding support before and after tongue tie treatment can be just as important as the procedure itself.
Can tongue tie cause speech problems?
This is another question parents ask us a lot.
Having a tongue tie as a baby doesn’t automatically mean your child will have speech difficulties when they’re older.
The relationship between tongue tie and speech is more complicated than that, and it isn’t possible to predict that a young baby will develop a speech problem simply because they have a tongue tie.
For babies, decisions about treatment should be based primarily on what is happening now – particularly whether restricted tongue movement is affecting feeding.
Worried your baby might have a tongue tie?
If feeding hurts, your baby struggles to stay attached, feeds seem to take forever or something simply doesn’t feel right, it’s okay to ask for help.
And you don’t need to work out whether it’s a tongue tie before you do.
A thorough baby feeding and tongue tie assessment can look at what’s happening, assess how your baby’s tongue is functioning and help you understand the options available.
Sometimes the answer is tongue tie treatment.
Sometimes it’s feeding support.
Sometimes it’s a combination of both.
The important thing is that you and your baby receive support that’s based on your individual feeding journey, rather than treating a tongue tie simply because it’s there.
Looking for a tongue tie assessment?
At Serenity Baby Clinic, we support families with feeding concerns and tongue tie assessment in a calm, supportive environment.
Our focus isn’t simply on finding a tongue tie – it’s on understanding why your baby is struggling and what support may actually help.
If you’re concerned about your baby’s feeding or think they may have a tongue tie, you can book an assessment with our team.
Book a tongue tie assessment at Serenity Baby Clinic:
Serenitybabyclinic.co.uk
Newborn Tension: What Is It and What Signs Might You Notice?
Does your newborn always seem to turn their head to the same side?
Maybe they feel stiff when you pick them up, arch backwards during feeds, dislike tummy time or seem uncomfortable in certain positions.
You might have heard someone describe your baby as having “newborn tension” or “body tension” – but what does that actually mean?
It’s a phrase that’s become increasingly common online and in baby groups, so let’s look at what parents mean when they talk about newborn tension, what signs are worth noticing and, importantly, when your baby should be assessed by a healthcare professional.
What is newborn tension?
“Newborn tension” isn’t a specific medical diagnosis.
It’s an informal term often used to describe babies who appear particularly stiff, tight, uncomfortable or restricted in their movements.
Newborn babies naturally spend lots of time curled up, particularly during the first few weeks after birth. Their movements aren’t expected to look like those of an older baby.
But sometimes parents notice that their baby seems consistently uncomfortable in certain positions or strongly prefers moving in one particular way.
For example, they may always look towards one side, repeatedly arch their body or appear uncomfortable when their head or body is moved in a particular direction.
Rather than simply labelling this as “tension”, it’s important to think about what you’re seeing and why it might be happening.
What are the signs of tension in a newborn baby?
Every baby is different, but parents sometimes describe:
- Always turning their head towards the same side
- Finding it difficult to turn their head equally in both directions
- Appearing stiff when being held
- Frequently arching their back
- Keeping their hands tightly clenched for long periods
- Curving or twisting their body predominantly towards one side
- Becoming upset in particular feeding positions
- Finding tummy time difficult
- Seeming uncomfortable when lying in certain positions
- Developing a preference for feeding from one breast
- Difficulty getting comfortable at the breast or bottle
One sign on its own doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem.
It’s the overall pattern that matters.
Can newborn tension affect feeding?
Sometimes a baby’s positioning and movement can make feeding more difficult.
Imagine trying to eat while your head is uncomfortable turning in one direction. Feeding in certain positions may naturally be more difficult.
When breastfeeding, you might notice your baby feeds much better from one breast than the other, struggles to maintain their position or repeatedly pulls away.
Bottle-fed babies may also appear more comfortable being held or fed on one particular side.
However, feeding difficulties can have lots of different causes.
If your baby is struggling to feed, it’s important that their feeding is properly assessed rather than assuming that body tension is responsible.
Does birth cause tension in babies?
Parents are often told that their baby’s tension is the result of their birth.
You may hear phrases such as “birth trauma”, “stored tension” or “compression from delivery.”
Birth can certainly influence a newborn baby’s early movement and positioning. Babies who have spent a long time in one position before birth or who have experienced particular birth circumstances may initially show positional preferences.
However, it’s important not to assume that every stiff, unsettled or asymmetrical baby simply has “birth tension”.
There can be other reasons for these behaviours, and some need assessment by an appropriate healthcare professional.
What about a baby who always looks to one side?
A strong preference for looking in one direction is something worth mentioning to your health visitor, GP or other healthcare professional.
Sometimes babies simply develop a positional preference, but restricted neck movement can also be associated with conditions such as torticollis.
If a baby spends a lot of time with their head in the same position, it can also contribute to changes in head shape, sometimes called positional plagiocephaly or flat head syndrome.
Early advice about positioning, movement and tummy time can be really helpful.
Is arching always a sign of tension?
No.
Babies arch their backs for lots of reasons.
Some babies arch when they’re stretching, crying, feeding or trying to move. Others may arch when they’re uncomfortable.
Frequent or persistent arching – particularly if it’s accompanied by feeding difficulties, unusual movements, significant distress or concerns about your baby’s development – deserves proper assessment rather than automatically being labelled as tension or reflux.
What can parents do at home?
For many babies, simple everyday movement and positioning can help encourage them to comfortably explore both sides of their body.
Depending on your baby’s age and individual needs, this might include:
- Regular supervised tummy time while your baby is awake
- Changing the direction your baby faces during play
- Encouraging them to look towards both sides using your face, voice or a toy
- Alternating the side you hold or carry your baby on
- Varying feeding positions where appropriate
- Giving your baby plenty of safe floor time to move freely
- Avoiding unnecessarily long periods in car seats, swings and other restrictive equipment when they’re not needed
You shouldn’t force your baby’s head or body into a position that feels uncomfortable or try stretches you’ve found online without appropriate professional advice.
Does newborn tension need treatment?
Not every baby described as having “tension” needs treatment.
What matters is identifying what is actually causing the stiffness, asymmetry or discomfort.
Sometimes parents simply need reassurance and some practical advice about positioning and play.
Some babies may benefit from feeding support.
Others may need assessment by a GP, paediatric physiotherapist or another appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
This is particularly important if your baby’s movement appears restricted rather than simply preferred.
What about baby massage or bodywork?
Gentle baby massage can be a lovely opportunity for touch, interaction and bonding, and many babies find it relaxing.
However, massage shouldn’t be presented as a treatment for an undiagnosed medical problem.
You may also come across practitioners offering treatments that claim to “release tension” following birth.
If you’re considering any treatment for your newborn, particularly hands-on manipulation or bodywork, it’s reasonable to ask what evidence supports it, what qualifications the practitioner has and whether your baby’s symptoms should first be medically assessed.
When should I ask for help?
Speak to your health visitor, GP or another appropriate healthcare professional if you notice that your baby:
- Consistently struggles to turn their head in one direction
- Has a strong and persistent preference for one side
- Seems unusually stiff or unusually floppy
- Has movements that appear very different on one side of their body
- Is struggling to feed
- Is not gaining weight as expected
- Appears to be in pain or significant distress
- Develops noticeable flattening of their head
- Has unusual or repetitive movements that concern you
And if something about your newborn simply doesn’t seem right to you, it’s always reasonable to ask for advice.
Worried that your baby seems tense or uncomfortable?
It’s easy to come across videos online describing almost every unsettled newborn behaviour as a sign of “body tension”.
But newborn babies are still adapting to life outside the womb. They stretch, curl, grunt, wriggle, arch and sometimes have strong preferences about how they like to be held.
The important question isn’t simply:
“Does my baby have tension?”
It’s:
“Is my baby moving comfortably and symmetrically, feeding effectively and developing as we’d expect?”
If the answer is no – or you’re simply unsure – a proper assessment can help work out what’s happening and what support your baby may need.
Because when it comes to newborns, understanding why something is happening is much more useful than simply giving it a label.
10th August 2026
When You Become a NICU Parent: The Impact Nobody Really Prepares You For
Having a baby is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of your life.
But when your baby needs neonatal care or a stay in the NICU, that beginning can look very different from the one you imagined.
Instead of cuddles at home and introducing your baby to family, you might suddenly find yourself sitting beside an incubator, surrounded by monitors, wires and medical language you never expected to understand.
And while everyone is understandably focused on your baby, the NICU journey can have a huge impact on parents too.
You can be grateful and still find it incredibly hard
One of the most difficult things about being a NICU parent can be feeling as though you’re not allowed to struggle.
Your baby is receiving specialist care. You might see families around you whose babies are more poorly than yours. You may feel incredibly grateful to the doctors and nurses looking after your baby.
And yet, you can still hate every minute of being there.
Those feelings can exist together.
Being grateful that your baby is receiving the care they need doesn’t mean you have to pretend that having a baby in neonatal care isn’t frightening, exhausting or overwhelming.
The loss of the newborn experience you expected
During pregnancy, most parents build a picture in their minds of what those first few days will look like.
Holding your baby after birth. Dressing them in the tiny outfit you’ve packed. Going home together. Introducing them to grandparents. Sitting on the sofa wondering how such a tiny person has somehow completely taken over your house.
A NICU admission can suddenly change all of that.
Sometimes you can’t hold your baby straight away. You may need to ask before picking them up. Someone else might change their first nappy or give their first feed.
For some parents, there’s a genuine sense of grief for the beginning they thought they were going to have.
That doesn’t take away from how much you love your baby. It simply means things didn’t happen the way you had imagined.
Feeling like a visitor instead of a parent
This is something many NICU parents describe.
Your baby is yours, but suddenly there are lots of other people involved in caring for them.
You may find yourself asking:
“Can I pick them up?”
“Can I change their nappy?”
“Is it okay if I touch them?”
When monitors are alarming and nurses seem to know exactly what your baby needs, it’s very easy to lose confidence in yourself.
But you are still your baby’s parent.
The clinical team may understand the equipment and medical care, but you’re learning something equally important – your baby.
Their expressions. Their little movements. What settles them. What they like and don’t like.
That relationship matters enormously.
The constant alarms can stay with you
If you’ve spent time on a neonatal unit, you’ll know the sounds.
Beeping monitors. Saturation alarms. Pumps. Doors. Telephones.
Eventually, you may become so familiar with them that you know which alarm is sounding before you’ve even looked at the monitor.
But being constantly alert can take its toll.
Even after going home, some parents describe feeling anxious about their baby’s breathing, repeatedly checking them during the night or finding certain sounds bring them straight back to the neonatal unit.
Leaving NICU doesn’t necessarily mean that your brain immediately stops being on high alert.
Going home without your baby
For parents who are discharged while their baby remains in neonatal care, leaving the hospital can be incredibly difficult.
You’ve just had a baby – but you’re going home without them.
You may walk through the front door and see the empty Moses basket, the pram waiting in the hallway or the tiny clothes you expected your baby to be wearing.
Then, often just a few hours later, you’re getting up and travelling back to the hospital again.
Add expressing milk throughout the day and night, recovering from birth, trying to eat, sleep and somehow function – and it’s easy to understand why NICU parents can feel completely exhausted.
Expressing can become a full-time job
For parents hoping to provide breast milk, expressing while your baby is in neonatal care can bring its own pressures.
Suddenly your days can revolve around pumps, bottles, labels, timings and milk volumes.
You may find yourself celebrating every extra millilitre one day and feeling devastated by the amount you’ve expressed the next.
If you’re expressing for your baby, the amount in the bottle isn’t a measure of how good a parent you are.
And if breastfeeding or expressing doesn’t work out in the way you’d hoped, that doesn’t change your value to your baby either.
Feeding is only one small part of being their parent.
Other people’s comments aren’t always helpful
People usually mean well.
“At least they’re in the best place.”
“They’ll be home before you know it.”
“My friend’s baby was premature and they’re absolutely fine now.”
“Try not to worry.”
They’re trying to reassure you.
But when you’re sitting next to your baby’s incubator, sometimes you don’t need someone to find the positive.
Sometimes you just need someone to acknowledge:
This is really hard.
And then comes going home…
You spend days, weeks or sometimes months desperately waiting for someone to say the words:
“Your baby can go home.”
You imagine you’ll feel nothing but excitement.
And then discharge day arrives…and you might suddenly feel terrified.
Because for the first time, there isn’t a monitor telling you their heart rate.
There isn’t a nurse a few steps away.
There isn’t someone immediately available to answer every question.
That transition can be much bigger emotionally than people expect.
It’s completely possible to desperately want to leave NICU and then miss the security of it once you’re home.
The NICU journey doesn’t always end at discharge
For some families, bringing their baby home is the point where everyone else assumes life has returned to normal.
But parents may still be processing everything that happened.
There may be follow-up appointments, feeding concerns or worries about development.
You might become particularly anxious when your baby is unwell.
Birthdays or anniversaries may bring unexpected emotions.
You may even find yourself thinking about the experience months or years later.
There is no deadline by which you’re supposed to have “moved on”.
Look after the parent too
When a baby is receiving neonatal care, almost every conversation understandably starts with:
“How’s the baby?”
But somebody needs to ask:
“How are you?”
NICU parents need looking after too.
That might mean accepting practical help, talking to other parents who understand neonatal care, speaking to your neonatal team, health visitor or GP, or accessing professional emotional support if you’re struggling.
You don’t have to wait until things become unbearable before asking for help.
If you’re a NICU parent reading this…
You might have had a relatively short stay.
You might have spent months there.
Your baby may have been premature, unwell after birth or needed neonatal care completely unexpectedly.
Every family’s experience is different.
And you don’t have to compare your experience with someone else’s to decide whether it was difficult enough to affect you.
You became a parent in an environment most people will never fully understand.
You learned a whole new language of sats, NG tubes, CPAP, blood gases, incubators and expressing schedules when you were probably still trying to process the fact that you’d just had a baby.
So when your baby eventually comes home, give yourself some time too.
Your baby has been on a journey – but so have you.