What Is Tongue-tie?
Tongue-tie or ankyloglossia is a health condition that happens to 1 in every 100 babies wherein there’s a restricted range of motion in the baby’s tongue. The ‘lingual frenulum’ or the band of tissue under the tongue gets unusually short, tight, and thick, limiting the tongue’s movement and tethers the bottom of the tongue’s tip to the floor of the mouth.
When this happens, it prevents babies from having a full range of movement with their tongues, making them unable to properly latch when being breastfed. And since they’re not fed properly, chances are they’ll grow undernourished and will have a hard time reaching the appropriate weight required for their age.
How Can You Treat Tongue-Tie?
In most cases, a lingual frenotomy might be the answer to address your babies’ tongue-tie condition and nursing problems. This is done by making a surgical cut under your baby’s tongue. This sounds scary for moms but is relatively painless and could cause only minimal discomfort to the baby. Yes, minimal discomfort only because that part of the mouth has fewer nerve endings. Ideally, this should be done within the first few weeks of birth.
To better address this health issue, consider consulting a specialist who can best assess the condition of your baby, like Hibbert Tongue Tie Manchester.
Effects of Tongue-Tie
Tongue-tie can both affect the baby and the mother’s health. If left untreated, this might progress into more health concerns as your child grows older.
That said, here are some challenges related to tongue-tie condition.
- Breastfeeding Challenges
It’s a given fact that nothing can replace the goodness of a mother’s milk. It is recommended by the World Health Organization that a mother must breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of a baby’s life. The innumerable benefits of breast milk will always show on the overall health of a child as they grow. According to studies, exclusively breastfed babies are generally healthier, have a stronger immune system, gets fewer hospitalization and doctor’s visit, and have greater immunity to infection.
When a mother is successful in breastfeeding her child, they get to share an emotional bonding experience that can help lessen the social and behavioral problems of the child in their first years of life. But because of tongue-tie, this can be a challenge for both mothers and babies to experience. That said, it can cause emotional turmoil to the mother. As their babies refuse to be nursed, it can make them frustrated and, in some cases, depressed.
Additionally, a new mother might suffer breast engorgement, a condition that happens when a mother’s breast gets so full of milk. With this, the breasts get firm and swollen and relief from pain happens with the release of milk by feeding the baby or manually pumping it out.
Engorged breasts are prone to plugged milk ducts that may cause breast infection. Moms who suffer from this condition are advised to pump their milk for their baby and if there’s an oversupply of milk, they can donate it to other babies who need them.
- Speech difficulties
Over time, children with a tongue-tie condition may develop speech defects or impediments. They may have difficulty creating sounds that need the tip of the tongue to touch the roof of the mouth such as the sound of t, d, n, l, s, z, or arch off the floor of the mouth such as the ‘r’ sound.
- May Experience Choking
Tongue-tie may affect a child’s ability to chew food, which might lead to choking. This poses a serious threat, especially if it happens without any adult supervision.
- Poor Oral Health
When children have tongue-tie, aside from having difficulty eating certain foods, they may also develop oral health conditions such as tooth decay. This is because the tongue cannot sweep the food debris from their teeth.
- Limited Oral Activities
A child with a tongue-tie may not be able to enjoy some of the common children’s activities such as licking an ice cream, blowing bubbles, and whistling. Tongue-tie may prevent them from experiencing fun activities that other kids get to do.
Additionally, when they grow much older and would like to play wind instruments like flute, trumpet, and saxophone, it might be more challenging for them.
Conclusion
Early detection of tongue-tie condition in a baby can significantly help in addressing latching and feeding issues. Choosing the option of a tongue-tie procedure can be beneficial for both the baby and the mother- since the baby gets to be nourished properly, while the mother gets to prevent breast pains and infections.
