It's very easy to correct a posterior tongue tie, all it takes is a 
little snip or two, just like the more up-front ones. Can be done with 
just a little topical anesthetic, in an office setting.

Some babies with tongue ties improve as their mouth grows and they can 
take a larger mouthful of breast, some babies improve if their mother 
increases her milk production with a breast pump and they don't have to 
work as hard, and some keep hurting mom and keep sucking inefficiently. 
It is hard to predict.

The babies who can attach, maintain their attachment for at least a few 
minutes at a time, and can keep their tongue tip over the lower gum 
ridge CONSISTENTLY during sucking are more likely to go on to breastfeed 
adequately. Tt babies are almost never as efficient as babies with free 
tongues, they take longer to feed and often feed more often, but if mom 
is patient some of them can do it. If we can get a tolerable latch, and 
baby is moving sufficient milk, I just monitor the dyad. If the baby 
can't latch at all, or can't maintain the tongue over the gum ridge 
during sucking at the breast (a finger is skinnier, remember that!), or 
is very inefficient at transferring milk, the prospects are poorer, and 
I encourage mom to see a specialist sooner.

Hope this answers your questions.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R).
There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html