You’ve been through it all. The painful nursing sessions. The bleeding nipples. Feeds that stretch past 45 minutes while you watch the clock, exhausted and worried. You finally got the tongue tie revised, fought through weeks of stretches and exercises while your baby cried, and then…the clicking started again. The latch got shallow. The tie looked restricted.
Sound familiar?
Here’s what nobody tells you in those postpartum hospital rooms or during those rushed pediatrician appointments: when your baby with a tongue tie also struggles with reflux, colic, constipation, or can’t sleep lying flat, the tie isn’t the whole problem. It’s a sign your baby’s nervous system is stuck in stress mode.
You’re not imagining it. You’re not being overly worried. Your gut instinct that something deeper is going on? You’re right.
The Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Research shows about 10% of babies have a tongue or lip tie. But the babies who also have digestive issues, sleep disturbances, and can’t calm down? That’s not four separate problems that coincidentally showed up together.
That’s one nervous system showing up in four different ways.
The revision addressed the tissue. But if the nervous system tension remains, your baby’s body recreates the restriction. It’s not surgical failure—it’s not something you did wrong with the stretches—it’s your baby’s body trying to protect something deeper.
Aeris’s Story: When One Intervention Isn’t Enough
Let me share a story that might sound achingly familiar. Our colleague shared this story and it illustrates this common situation perfectly.
Aeris struggled from the moment she was born. She couldn’t stay latched and clicked constantly during feeds. Her mom remembers those first hours in the hospital—all Aeris did was cry. Visitors gave those sympathetic “yikes” and “oh man, that’s tough” looks because she was just not content.
For months, they struggled to nurse. Aeris was constantly gassy and fussy. If she wasn’t being held, she’d arch her back and cry. You could see the physical discomfort radiating through her tiny body. A five-minute car ride would set off the entire family because she’d scream the whole time.
They pursued a tongue tie revision—and they also did something different. They addressed her nervous system both before and after the procedure, keeping her adjustment frequency high because of all the stress on her little body. Her mom could visually see how Aeris’s body relaxed after each adjustment.
The breakthrough? A family trip to California where Aeris was incredible through plane rides, car rides, restaurants, and slept great in a new environment. Today, at three years old, she’s full of energy with no struggles eating, talking, or digesting.
The difference wasn’t just the revision. It was addressing the foundation.
Understanding What’s Really Happening: The Tie Is a Symptom
Here’s the truth that changes everything: neurological tone dictates soft-tissue tone.
When your baby’s nervous system runs in high stress mode—what we call sympathetic dominance—muscles throughout the body stay tense. Including the tiny muscles and fascial tissues around the tongue and jaw.
Think of your nervous system like a car with two pedals:
- The sympathetic side is the gas pedal—mobilizing energy, increasing heart rate, creating muscle tension for protection
- The parasympathetic and vagus nerve side is the brake pedal—activating calm, relaxation, and regulation
When subluxation is present in the upper cervical spine and cranial bones, the gas pedal gets stuck on and the brake pedal doesn’t work properly. Your baby’s entire body stays in fight-or-flight protection mode.
The body creates tissue restrictions as a protective response to this deeper dysfunction. Ties are compensatory protections, not the root cause themselves.
This is why you can have the best surgeon, follow every post-op protocol perfectly, and still see the same struggles return.
Why Some Babies Need Multiple Revisions (And Why That Shouldn’t Be Normal)
You’ve heard the stories, maybe lived them yourself: babies needing 2-4 revision procedures. The tie “comes back” after revision, or feeding issues persist despite perfect surgical technique.
Parents are told this is normal. That some ties are just stubborn. That you need to be more aggressive with stretches.
But here’s what’s actually happening: The tissue was released, but the nervous system tension remained. The body recreated the protective restriction because the underlying subluxation didn’t change.
It’s like doing physical therapy with the parking brake on. You can release the tissue all day long, but if the nervous system stays locked in stress mode, the body keeps pulling everything tight again.
You’re not failing. Your baby isn’t difficult. The approach is missing a critical piece.
The Perfect Storm: Why Your Baby Developed a Tie in the First Place
Not every baby develops tongue or lip ties. So why do some babies have them while others don’t? It comes down to accumulated stress during critical development periods.
Before Birth
Prenatal stress means cortisol and stress hormones cross the placenta, literally altering how your baby’s nervous system develops in utero. This isn’t about blaming yourself for being stressed during pregnancy—modern life is stressful, and you did nothing wrong. But it’s important to understand the connection.
During Birth
Birth interventions—forceps, vacuum extraction, C-section, induction, prolonged labor—apply significant forces to the delicate upper cervical spine and cranial bones. This creates subluxation right where the vagus nerve exits the skull.
The vagus nerve is the master controller of tongue movement, jaw coordination, swallowing reflexes, digestion, heart rate, emotional regulation, and immune function. When cranial bones compress at the skull base during birth, it affects this critical nerve.
This is why your baby with a feeding challenge also has reflux and colic and can’t sleep lying flat. It’s not separate issues—it’s one nervous system stuck in stress mode.
Taking Charge: Address the Foundation First
You’ve been told to wait and see. To give it more time. To try another revision. To accept that some babies are just fussy.
You don’t have to accept that anymore.
Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care finds and gently addresses areas of tension in the cranial, upper cervical, and neurospinal system. By reducing interference, we help your baby’s body relax, reconnect, and function the way it was designed to.
These gentle adjustments activate the vagus nerve and help shift your baby from sympathetic dominance into parasympathetic regulation—from gas pedal stuck on to a balanced nervous system that knows how to rest and digest.
What This Actually Looks Like
Some ties resolve with adjustments alone—facial tension releases, the tongue moves more freely, feeding improves without any surgical revision needed.
When revision is needed, addressing the nervous system first makes it significantly more successful. The body isn’t working against the release. Reattachment is far less likely. Recovery is smoother.
But here’s what really matters to you as a parent: sleep improves. Digestion regulates. Your baby’s temperament calms. These are signs of a nervous system shifting into a balanced, regulated state.
You stop dreading car rides. You can actually enjoy feeding your baby instead of white-knuckling through each session. You see your baby relax in ways you didn’t know were possible.
You Know Your Baby Best
Sometimes our little ones just get stuck in stress mode. The good news? When we ease that nervous system tension, everything can shift—not just feeding, but sleep, comfort, and their ability to thrive.
You’ve already done so much for your baby. You’ve researched, advocated, pushed through painful interventions, followed protocols, and kept showing up even when it felt hopeless.
Now it’s time to try a different approach—one that addresses the root cause instead of chasing symptoms.
Your instinct that something more is going on? Trust it. Your observation that the traditional approach isn’t working for your baby? You’re right. Your desire for real answers instead of being told to wait it out? You deserve that.
Ready for a Different Path Forward?
If you’re tired of interventions that only address part of the problem, Whole Family Chiropractic wants to help! If you’re ready to look at the foundation instead of just the symptoms, give us a call today for a consultation. If you are not local to us in St. Paul, Minneapolis, or the Twin Cities, please check out the PX Docs directory to find a PX Doc near you.
Your baby’s body has an incredible capacity to heal and regulate when given the right support. Your family deserves more than just managing symptoms—you deserve to address what’s actually driving them.