Many infants (low estimates are 5% of ALL babies) are "tongue-tied." This is quite common, but also commonly goes undiagnosed.
Symptoms that may indicate that your baby is tongue-tied:
1) Failure to achieve a latch
2) a latch which remains painful no matter how good your technique
3) the infant latches and feeds only briefly and falls off often - you may hear a "clicking" sound, especially as your milk volumes increase
Some of these difficulties can be fixed simply by consulting with a lactation consultant familiar with this problem. A change in the way you are positioning the baby at the breast may be all it takes to correct the latch, and make breastfeeding comfortable.
In severe cases a frenotomy may be required. This should be determined by you, the baby's doctor, and a doctor experiences in performing the simple procedure on infants.
In most cases, when the frenotomy is done before the baby is 4-5weeks old, the procedure helps a great deal in making breastfeeding comfortable, and allowing the baby to get sufficient milk and be content after feeds.
Also, please note - if you and your doctor have determined that your baby IS going to have the procedure, it is completely uneccesary for the doctor to put the baby under general anaesthesia! The procedure is generally done using a topical numbing agent like benzocaine, and takes just a few minutes. The baby should be able to breastfeed immediately after the procedure.
American Academy of Pediatrics article on Tongue-Tie