Katherin writes:
How often are you all seeing non-problematic ankyloglossia?
I've always assumed it's always a problem to some degree but I realize
that could be because I *only* have contact with moms who are having problems
- generally major problems. Many of you see moms routinely in the
hospital before problems have occured.
~~~ Once in a while I see one, and then we assess together whether it's an
issue or not. If the residual connection is stretchy enough ( like the
red rubber bands on US blueberry containers, which it seems people see all
the time) and the tongue has good range of motion, power and coordination,
and the baby gets adequate milk without pain for mom or protracted feeds,
we just talk about making sure that remains the case, with monitoring over
time, and especially as babbling should begin, and solids and more speech
milestones. This is the case probably only about 10% of the time, which makes
sense because most moms who are calling me know their baby cannot/does not
feed well for some reason. I'm just the one who explains why this may be
so. The flip side is that most posterior ties are still not being identified
by local MDs and even some local IBCLCs, as well as moms being told that
that "little" tongue-tie is not the reason for their pain, frustration,
choking baby, poorly feeding baby, non latching or sleepy baby, low milk supply,
etc. I tell them my definition of a tongue-tie that is not an issue is
that mom should be comfortable and baby should be able to feed well in a
reasonable amount of time to satiation. Not to be too crass, but really "size
[or appearance] doesn't matter", it's function. :)
Peace,
Judy
Judy LeVan Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY, USA
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