It is so very annoying when some condition suddenly becomes ‘the’ problem. I am of course referring to the current craze of tongue ties! A couple of years ago, nobody knew what a tongue tie was. In the past, complete tongue ties where the tongue was pulled so tightly to the floor of the mouth the baby couldn’t even lift it, were often over looked or parents were simply told that it wouldn’t be a problem and if it was, to bottle feed.
That was incredibly frustrating and life was very difficult when trying help these mums resolve their problems.
Now things have gone to the other extreme and I am realising that it is a hundred times worse.
I have had so many clients take baby to have a tongue tie snipped, even though it hardly exsited and were very dissapointed when their problems didn’t magically dissappear. And now, nearly every potential client I speak to, has a tongue tie.
I am beginning to wonder what I missed! As a precaution, I now offer mums telephone numbers of specialists who can properly assess their baby’s tongue, just to be sure that another health professional doesn’t exclaim that the baby has a tongue tie that needs to be cut and cart mum off to an appointment tutting under her breath that I have missed it.
So mums, you are the vulnerable ones. Look into tongue ties a little before you are told that all your problems will be resolved with one simple snip. Many of us do have a small degree of tongue tie, but as long as your baby is able to push his or her tongue over the lower gum and you feel tugging during the feed, it is unlikely that a tongue tie is causing your breastfeeding problems or that the tie will need to be divided.
HOWEVER
If you are having problems breastfeeding such as sore nipples, accompanied with mastitis, a baby who is not gaining weight but feeding constantly and your baby has a tongue tie, you need to have it assessed properly, as it may well be causing you problems.
Come and see me if you are able to and if I can’t give you a definitive answer, as to whether or not it needs to be divided after we have corrected every aspect of breastfeeding, I will refer you to somebody who can!
I hope this helps.
Geraldine
Tags: breastfeeding problems, low milk supply, sore nipples, tongue tie