The health of babies who are born with a lip or tongue tie can be affected in a myriad of ways, including nutritional issues and speech. These babies often are unable to latch onto the nipple properly leading to fatigue, poor nutrition, inadequate weight gain and more. Mothers are also affected with nipple soreness, infections of the breast and inadequate milk supply. If there is dribbling of milk, the baby often gets gassy and can develop reflux and other feeding issues. These issues need to be treated early or other issues arise later such as speech difficulties.
Tongue Tie (ankyloglossia)
A tongue tie is present at
birth and restricts range of motion. The
tongue is “tied” to the floor of the mouth, and these babies often can’t stick
out their tongues fully.
The way a child eats, swallows and speaks are also often symptoms . However, not every child is affected in
these ways.
Lip Tie (frenulum)
When the piece of tissue behind upper lip is too thick or stiff, the upper lip does not move freely. While not as much is known about lip ties as tongue ties, the treatments are the same. If a baby has both lip and tongue tie, feeding often can be quite difficult causing issues with weight gain. If a baby just has a lip tie and is gaining weight on schedule, then this isn’t an issue. If it is an issue, it is easy to correct.
Treatment for lip and tongue
ties
Treatment is simple, easy and
fast and done in our office. The
entire procedure actually takes less than
15 seconds and anesthesia is not
required. There is very little
discomfort and you will notice improvement in feeding right away.
Please call our offices to
make an appointment for these simple
procedures than can easily correct these issues.
