Why New Mothers Need to Know About and Identify Tongue Tie in Babies?
Tongue is a condition often overlooked at birth and infancy by parents and caretakers, often leading to bigger problems later on in life. The condition is caused due to the frenulum, or the strip of skin that connects the tongue to the floor of a person’s mouth. Here’s why new mothers need to know about and identify tongue tie in babies:
Tongue Tie Affects Breastfeeding
With a tongue tie, the baby is unable to open its mouth wide enough. This makes it difficult for the baby to latch onto the breast tissue. More often than not, this results in ‘nipple-feeding’ rather than breastfeeding wherein the baby cannot effectively feed. Malnourishment and poor weight gain is common in infants with tongue tie or lip tie. These can lead to more serious issues that threaten the life of the baby.
Tongue Tie Can Affect Speech
The tongue plays an important role in allowing the mouth to form words and speak out. Without the tongue being able to move freely, people would be unable to speak clearly. It is no surprise that people begin to speak in the formative years. It, therefore, becomes essential that the tongue tie be treated right in infancy in order to help them start developing right. Leaving it untreated may lead to the child’s speech being affected wherein speaking clearly and distinctly may be a challenging feat.
Ways For Mothers To Identify Tongue Tie Or Lip Tie In Their Young Ones
Since mothers spend the most time with their infant, it is only evident that they would be able to identify tongue tie in babies early on. Some of the ways to identify are:
- Difficulty for the baby to move the tongue side to side or in lifting it up.
- Difficulty for the baby in sticking its tongue out.
- The infant’s tongue seeming notched or heart-shaped.
- Difficulty for the baby to open its mouth wide in order to latch on to the nipple and breast tissue.
- Difficulty for the baby to stay attached for a long time in order to get proper feed.
- The infant showing signs of hunger all the time.
- Inadequate weight gain of the baby as required.
- Lack of milk supply.
- Cracked or sore nipples.
- Recurring breast inflammation.
With tongue treatment in Melbourne available by the best child-centric hospitals and clinics, you can have the condition treated at the earliest sign.
