A string of tissue underneath the tongue attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth. This piece of tissue, also called the frenulum, ends up being too short in the case of tongue-tie. This is medically known as ankyloglossia, otherwise known to common people like me and you as tongue-tie. Restrictions on the tongue due to this condition could end up causing problems in cases such as these. Babies sometimes are unaffected in mild cases of tongue-tie. However in severe cases the tongue ends up almost being fused to the bottom of the mouth.

It’s difficult for pediatricians to predict how common tongue-tie is amongst babies and there are continuous disagreements in this regard as its identification, especially in milder cases, is hard to identify. While some studies have end with results showing tongue-tie in about four percent of babies, other studies come to conclusions that the percentage of babies with tongue-tie can even go up as high as eleven percent.

It has been said that tongue-tie is an inherited phenomenon yet this claim, too, has yet to be proven.

Identifying a tongue-tie
In some cases tongue-tie can be spotted and identified at the first check-up of a baby at birth by a pediatrician. This is done by the pediatrician by putting his/her finger into the babies mouth and checking the roof of the baby’s mouth and tongue. Again, however, it is not easy to spot a tongue-tie and it may, in most cases, only be spotted at a later stage.

Should your baby develop problems while breastfeeding you could ask your pediatrician to check your baby for tongue-tie. However, it is important to take note that breastfeeding is naturally difficult for newborn babies and mothers and so feeding problems could end up having nothing to do with tongue-tie.

The effects of tongue-tie on feeding
Most babies with tongue-tie have shown no real feeding problems. Understandably, though other babies may have difficulties owing to the limitation of movement on their tongues. Some signs of such difficulties occur when the baby has a trouble latching on to the mother’s nipple, when the baby’s tongue often slips off the mother’s nipple while feeding. As a result and you will notice that the baby does not gain weight as expected. Mother’s are also under duress during such a time hence are left feeling frustrated as their nipples get bruised.

Mothers with initial breastfeeding problems, however, need not fret as it has been observed that most babies and mothers improve over time. Just be observant though, as feeding problems that last longer than six week may be a sign of tongue-tie in your baby.

Tongue-tie’s effect on speech
Although tongue-tie has been blamed for speech problems there remains no real evidence to prove such reports. Such kinds of articulation problems caused by tongue-tie are not too common. However, in cases where they do exist, signs of the effects of tongue-tie on your child’s articulation will be most evident when more than half of your child’s speech isn’t understood by people outside of your family by the time your child turns three. Should this occur you are advised to consult a speech therapist. Pronouncing the sounds of letters such as l, r, t, d, n, th, sh, and z will prove problematic for your child in such cases.

Treatment
Tongue-tie can be solved through a simple operation called a frenulotomy. In this operation the frenulum, which is the string at the base of the tongue is snipped by a surgeon. The use of local anesthesia has proved to be all that is required for babies and doctors are of the opinion that such an operation is best done when your baby is still an infant as they feel that though painful, infants recover quite quickly after the procedure. Waiting instead, until your child is older may cause more pain and make the procedure more complex than it actually is, thus, making it advisable for all parents who would like to seek treatment on this problem for their child to pursue such a treatment early on, before your child turns one year old.

The controversy remains as to the necessity of treatment for children with tongue-tie. That being said, while most children remain fine without treatment and some in fact, improve as they adapt, experts are of the opinion that frenulotomy is a reliably safe treatment especially for young babies and could definitely help in resolving breastfeeding  problems. It has been observed that many babies have shown signs of improvement after undergoing this treatment procedure, often with immediate effect.