Welcome to my Breast Feeding Website
A Private Professional Breast Feeding Support Service
covering Kent & parts of East Sussex
All babies are born with a thin piece of membrane or skin which helps to anchor the tongue to the floor of the mouth. This bit of skin is called the frenulum. In most babies they have complete freedom of movement of their tongue and there would never be any issues with difficulty in feeding or, later in life, with any speech impediments.
However, as many as 10% of babies are born with the frenulum being either a bit too short or too thick and unyielding to be able to move the tongue freely enough to latch onto the breast, be able to stay latched on and hence to feed enough to sustain adequate growth. The first signs that this might be an issue to be dealt with is that the mother soon complains of sore nipples. Also, the baby may want to feed constantly as she is not able to get enough milk to satisfy her and allow her to sleep for long. Poor weight gain eventually becomes obvious if the baby has not been assessed before this becomes an issue.
In most cases of mild degree of tongue tie only assistance will be needed to help the mother position the baby and as she grows the tongue-
In as many as 3% of babies experiencing difficulty with breastfeeding the tongue-
All lactation consultants are trained in the assessment of tongue ties and most areas of the country have professionals trained to deal with this situation fairly quickly.
Please refer to the Baby Friendly Initiative website for further information on how to find a tongue-
Tongue Tie