My understanding is that the nerves under the tongue are not fully developed in a newborn and it is a quick, painless experience that requires no anesthesia. As a baby gets older, most peds or ENTs require anesthesia to perform it. Some pediatric dentists also perform the procedure. When this question came up in our LLL meetings, the leaders always suggested consulting a pediatric dentist because they may be more familiar with blocking nerves without the need for a general. For an older child, though, this may be more traumatic than having a general. I've had two friends with children my son's age who were tongue tied. Both waited to have it fixed and both children had speech delays.

My son is 13 months and we've known since he was in the NICU that he is tongue-tied. He is scheduled to have his surgery in a couple months and the Dr. has told me that it's a really, really quick recovery for them and the procedure doesn't take much time at all. He has never had any trouble eating (had trouble breastfeeding but they didn't think it was because of him being tongue tied) but they think it'll hinder his speech in the future. I'll let you know after he's had the procedure how it went and everything.
Lincoln 7/6/09 Born at 31 weeks
Water broke at 24 weeks, Pre E and Class 1 HELLP

Tongue tied is fairly common in full term babies, too. A friend had the surgery done for her little boy. It was an easy and quick procedure. Never easy when it's your baby, of course, but it is done frequently. It helped with his ability to latch as a baby. Hang in there and ask lots of questions.

My dr just told us our son is tongue tied (hes 12 months) and that he might have to have surgery, has anyone had to deal with this?