TONGUE & UPPER LIP TIES : NOT A FAD!

We now know more about the long term impacts on child health

TONGUE/LIP TIE FACTS 101:
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1. Most tongue ties cannot be seen - a specialised oral & feeding assessment needs to take place in order for tongue ties to be diagnosed

2. Feeding & oral function assessments are not part of basic education for most health care professionals - Brazil is the first country to implement legislation for all infants to be assessed for tongue ties at birth & at regular intervals after birth - this means that all health care practitioners whom care for babies are trained to perform a specialised oral examination and assessment.

3. Potential Signs of tongue and/or upper lip tie:

• Feeding struggles/feed refusal
• Failure to thrive/poor growth
• Constantly snuffly baby 
• Baby uncomfortable & squirmy with feeding
• "Clicking &/or noisy sounds" when feeding
• Baby having to stop feeding to gasp for air
• Difficulty co-ordinating breathing with sucking/swallowing
• Back arching &/or gagging with feeds
• Gassy baby struggling with wind
• Frequent & dissatisfied feeder?
• Tried lots of different bottles & not getting anywhere
• Milk spilling from baby's mouth while feeding
• "Biting" on the nipple or teat
• "Chomping" type sucking action
• Dribbling between feeds and during sleep

4. Tongue and lip ties aren't the only ties that mouths can have - they can be inside cheeks as well

5. Tongue,  Lip & Cheek ties are connective tissue within the mouth that is abnormally TIGHT & impairs complete oral function and can lead to dental, ear/nose/throat & sleeping problems. 

6. Those affected with a tongue tie often have a narrow hard palate and this causes the nasal, sinus and ear tubes to be compressed.  This leads to poor drainage of fluid/mucus & ear/nose/throat infections

7. Tongue ties can be "Faux" - in other words, they look like tongue ties but really aren't - when infants have tight head/neck muscles, it has an effect where the tongue and structural support muscles are pulled back like a tight ponytail.....this is why not all "tongue ties" are true tongue ties

8. Tongue Ties can lead to poor sleep quality due to open mouth breathing, sleep apnea and behavioural/attention difficulties

9.  Babies who have a tongue tie, usually have an upper lip tie.  Sometimes they can have one or the other
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10. Children do not "grow out" of having a tongue or upper lip tie.  These bands of connective tissue are abnormally tight like a rubber band that has lost its stretch and cannot relax

11.  Check out the videos below for more insight on lip & tongue ties

12. Check out my weblinks for some valuable websites about Lip & Tongue Ties


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