Your baby is crying… again. You have fed, burped, rocked, and bounced. Nothing seems to help. You search online for “colic baby symptoms,” and the descriptions match almost perfectly. You accept the diagnosis, which leads you to purchase gas drops, gripe water, or change formula, and you begin to wait for the symptoms to pass.
But what if colic is not the real problem? At our clinic, the Alabama Tongue-Tie Center, we treat families who spent weeks or months treating what they thought was colic because their baby had an undiagnosed tongue-tie or lip-tie that caused their distress.
The two conditions share a substantial overlap which enables you to understand their distinctions in order to prevent your family from experiencing unnecessary difficulties.
What Is Colic in Babies?
Colic is defined as excessive crying which remains unexplained in healthy infants based on the “rule of threes” which states that infants who cry for more than three hours daily and more than three days weekly throughout a period of three weeks have “colic.” Common colic baby symptoms include:
- Intense, inconsolable crying, often in the evening (the “witching hour” or hours!)
- Clenched fists, arched back, and drawn-up legs
- A flushed face during crying episodes
- Gassiness and a visibly distended belly
- Difficulty settling even after feeding
They don’t have to cry for three hours a day, though. Most parents use the term “colicky baby” or “colic” for a baby who seems upset and fussy often.
Can breastfed babies get colic? Absolutely. Colic symptoms in breastfed babies look the same as in formula-fed infants, and the condition does not discriminate based on feeding method. A lot of parents we see have already tried all the different bottles and formulas, or tried a nipple shield, pumping, gas drops, gripe water, and every Band-Aid imaginable. And while sometimes there is a little bit of relief, the root cause of colic or the fussy baby has not been addressed.
The challenge with a “colic diagnosis” is that it describes a pattern of symptoms rather than a root cause. What causes colic in babies remains poorly understood in many cases. However, we see significant improvement in most colicky babies after treatment at our clinic. It’s not a guarantee, but over 90% of the colicky babies we see find help. That is precisely why it is worth asking whether something else could be contributing to your baby’s discomfort or set up a consultation with our office.
Where Colic and Tongue-Tie Symptoms Overlap
This is where families get stuck. Many signs of tongue-tie or lip-tie in babies present in ways that are easily mistaken for colic.
The baby suffers from severe gas problems which result in excessive crying after he eats. A baby with a tongue-tie and difficulty feeding because he cannot create a proper mouth seal ends up taking in extra air during every feeding session. The swallowed air causes stomach bloating, which results in physical pain and vomited milk, and a type of post-meal distress that resembles colicky behavior.
Parents attempt various remedies, which include gas drops, gripe water, different bottles, and dietary changes that eliminate dairy but their children can still experience symptoms because of a seal issue and air swallowing. A lip-tie prevents normal lip movement, while a tongue-tie creates shallow latching which results in seal problems that enable air intake.
The baby has intense crying episodes which reach their highest point during feeding times. If your baby gets increasingly upset before, during, or after meals, the question worth asking is: Why does my baby get frustrated while feeding? A restricted tongue makes feeding exhausting. The baby works harder, gets less milk, tires out, and grows frustrated. People usually diagnose the condition of “colic” to explain their feelings of frustration.
Arching, pulling away from, or refusing the breast or bottle are common in babies. But just because something is “common” does NOT mean it is “normal.” These behaviors are common tongue-tie symptoms that signal feeding difficulty, not preference or temperament. Your baby is not “lazy,” or just a “fussy baby,” or a “colic baby.” No! Something is wrong, and the baby is trying to tell you that.
Frequent and short feeding sessions without satisfaction is often seen in tongue-tied babies as well. Falling asleep before finishing a feed can be seen too. A baby who feeds constantly but never seems full may not have a supply issue. They may have a transfer issue caused by restricted tongue mobility. The tongue can’t keep up, and the baby gets tired and falls asleep or is hungry shortly after feeding.
Could Your Baby’s Crying Be More Than Colic?
Get a fast expert check for tongue-tie or lip-tie today.
How to Tell the Difference
Colic is a “diagnosis of exclusion,” meaning it is what you are left with after other causes have been ruled out. The problem is that tongue-tie is often not included in that process of elimination! Pediatricians, family doctors, and lactation consultants do not include tongue-tie and lip-tie conditions on their lists of possible reasons for colic when diagnosing infants.
You can use these practical questions to determine whether a tongue-tie may be impacting your colicky baby.
- The baby shows crying and fussing behavior often during feeding times or after.
- The mother may experience breastfeeding pain (but it doesn’t have to be!) because the baby fails to establish a proper latch.
- The baby is gassy, has milk leaking out (messy eater), frequent spitting up, or reflux.
- The baby makes clicking and smacking noises during his feeding sessions.
- The baby may show weight gain problems (but doesn’t have to!) because he feeds frequently or spits up frequently
If you answered yes to several of these, your baby’s symptoms may not be colic at all. They may be colic symptoms in breastfed or bottle-fed babies that are actually rooted in an oral restriction, such as a lip or tongue-tie.
Often, primary care providers take one look at a baby who is gaining weight well and think “they can’t have a tongue-tie, look how well they are gaining” while mom and baby are on the struggle bus with gas, reflux, colic, spitting up, taking forever to feed, milk leaking out of the mouth, and every tongue-tie symptom checked. We want babies not to just survive (make it to their next well check), but instead to thrive, with a happy baby, happy mom (and dad, and siblings, and grandma!).
Finding Real Baby Colic Relief
The process of providing effective baby colic relief requires accurate diagnosis as its essential starting point. Parents can use comfort methods which include gentle movement and skin-to-skin contact and proper sleep position identification to achieve short-term relief of their baby’s colic symptoms. These “Band-Aids” will be ineffective when an unidentified tongue-tie problem exists because it prevents the baby’s mouth from functioning properly. Most colicky babies actually have undiagnosed tongue-ties or lip-ties.
A comprehensive functional assessment, not just a quick look under the tongue for an obvious to-the-tip tongue-tie (often it’s a hidden or “posterior” tongue-tie that causes these symptoms, thought to be colic), is the only reliable way to determine whether a tongue-tie or lip tie is contributing to your baby’s symptoms. At the Alabama Tongue-Tie Center, we evaluate tongue mobility, lip function, check the cheeks for restrictions, check the palate, neck, and body tension, suck pattern, and overall feeding dynamics to uncover what is truly going on. We would love to talk to you about your baby’s feeding. Just give us a call at 205-419-4333 or send us a message, and we can help determine whether a consultation would be a good idea. We serve patients from around the country and even other countries.
Once a tongue-tie or lip-tie is identified, we can treat it the same day using an advanced CO2 laser frenectomy to remove any restrictions caused by the tongue-tie or lip-tie within seconds. Most babies feed immediately after the procedure, and families often see meaningful improvement within the first few days. Most colicky babies experience hunger because they feed inefficiently while swallowing excess air through a poor breast and bottle seal. Correcting oral dysfunction and allowing proper eating helps babies feel better in most cases within the same week.
Is Your Baby’s Crying Really Just Colic?
Get professional guidance for your child today.
Your Baby’s Cry Is Telling You Something
Every day spent managing symptoms and “treading water” without addressing the root cause is a day your baby struggles harder than they should. Undiagnosed tongue-ties do not resolve on their own. Tongue-ties do NOT “stretch out,” and the symptoms can change (often get progressively worse until 6 months old as colic seems to “resolve”). Then a tongue-tie can affect how your baby eats solids, sleeps (mouth breathing, snoring, etc.), and develops (affecting crawling and walking), and they place an enormous strain on parents who are already running on empty. What looks like colic today can become feeding aversion, delayed speech, or long-term airway issues tomorrow.
Our team at the Alabama Tongue-Tie Center has helped thousands of families from around the country and even around the world move from confusion and frustration to clarity and relief. A single comprehensive evaluation can uncover what months of guesswork, multiple doctors’ visits, and therapy visits have missed.
The discomfort which your baby experiences is not a situation which requires you to suffer through it. Call us at 205-419-4333 to schedule a consultation, or send us a message to tell us what you have been experiencing. You will find root-cause solutions that provide real relief for your baby’s condition in a single visit.
FAQs
Q1. My baby is showing signs of colic but I think he has a tongue-tie condition. What should I do?
You should bring your baby to a specialist who routinely treats tongue-tie cases for a complete functional assessment if you notice colicky symptoms. The restrictions caused by tongue-tie lead to feeding difficulties which result in babies consuming excessive air, thus creating symptoms that resemble colic.
Q2. My pediatrician said my baby doesn’t have a tongue-tie, but I’m still concerned. Should I seek a second opinion?
Yes, always seek a second opinion if you’re concerned. Most providers are checking for a to-the-tip obvious tongue-tie. Parents come in who were told their tongue-tie was “mild” when it was actually to the tip! Other parents come in with all the baby tongue-tie symptoms (spitting up, reflux, gas, colic, etc.), and the baby is gaining weight, so the pediatrician says it is “fine.” Babies may have a less visible form of tongue-tie, which, after treatment, often leads to major progress in their seemingly disconnected problems. Dr. Baxter and Dr. Trego use functional assessments to detect hidden signs of tongue tie in babies.
Q3. What happens if a tongue-tie that causes these symptoms isn’t treated?
Untreated tongue-ties lead to ongoing feeding difficulties, poor weight gain, and chronic discomfort that often mimics colic symptoms in breastfed babies. Without intervention, true baby colic relief will be elusive, impacting your baby’s development. Tongue-ties can cause speech delays, trouble with solid foods, delays in crawling and walking (seriously!), affect sleep quality, and even breathing. Early treatment in infancy is the best time to perform the procedure if needed. We can treat as early as a few days old, but even if your baby is older, we still have success in treating 3-month-old babies, 6-month-old babies, and even 12-month-olds who have been struggling for 12 months with nursing or bottle-feeding issues! We treat any age from 1 day old to 18 years old, as tongue-tie issues change and can last a lifetime.
Q4. Is the treatment for tongue-tie painful or risky for my newborn?
Treating tongue tie in babies with a laser frenectomy is a quick, minimally invasive procedure with minimal discomfort. We have performed the procedure over 15,000 times as of 2026, and it is extremely safe if done by a trained and experienced provider with proper aftercare stretches and follow-up. Babies can feed immediately afterward, often providing immediate baby colic relief (within a few days) if their fussiness stemmed from feeding issues. Seeing a pediatric chiropractor can also be super helpful for babies with colic, and so we often recommend seeing a chiropractor for babies before and after the visit to maximize results, as they often work synergistically.
