Due to come computer problems, I am sending this on behalf of Edwina
(Winnie) Old Coyote.  Thanks, Cindy Anderson

Hello and greetings!  My name is Winnie Old Coyote and I am a junior
nursing student attending the University of North Dakota.  I joined the
listserv a week ago and have enjoyed reading the various topics that
have been discussed so far.  I am currently enrolled in a childbearing
course and have had the opportunity to observe and discuss breastfeeding
with the new mothers.

I am interested in breastfeeding and the role nurses play in helping
the new mother with that experience.  I realize that breastfeeding is
not always considered the "norm" these days, but I am aware of the
importance of breastfeeding and it is good that health care
professionals are emphasizing breastfeeding.  While researching
difficulties with breastfeeding I came across some literature about a
condition called Ankyloglossia, also called tongue tie.  This condition
is believed to cause difficulties with breastfeeding, such as the infant
having difficulties with their latch or ineffective sucking.  According
to Ricke, Baker, Madlon-Kay, & DeFor (2004), affected infants with
tongue tie are more apt to be exclusively bottle-fed by 1 week of age,
and that frenotomies that were performed on 123 infants improved the
latch in all 123 cases.  They also suggest that due to these results
frenotomies should be performed prior to 1 week of age but according to
Medline Plus (2005), surgery should be postponed until the child is
approximately 9 months old.  According to Wallace & Clarke (2006),
tongue tie division was performed on ages ranging from 2 to 31 days of
age and improvement in breastfeeding was noticed immediately.  According
to Hall & Renfrew (2005), "Hogan and colleagues found that more than
half of the babies with tongue tie had no problems breast feeding."
(p. 1214).

For those of you that have worked with tongue tied babies, how were
their situations handled?  Did they undergo a frenotomy? Was it done on
an outpatient basis with or without the use of anesthesia?  Was it
successful, if performed?  Or do tongue tied babies nurse okay without
intervention? 

Thank you for sharing your wisdom, knowledge and experiences with me in
regards to this interesting topic, it is truly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Winnie Old Coyote, Student Nurse

Hall, D. & Renfrew, M. (2005). Tongue tie. Arch.Dis.Child, 90,
1211-1215. Retrieved on
	
March 14, 2006 from http://www.archdischild.com 

Medline Plus. Medical Encyclopedia: Tongue tie (2006). Retrieved on
March 14, 2006 

	from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/ency/article/001640.htm 

Ricke, L.A., Baker, N.J., Madlon-Kay, D.J., & DeFor, T.A. (2004).
Newborn tongue-tie: 
	Prevalence and effect on breast-feeding. Retrived on March 14,
2006 from
	http://www.jabfb.org 
Wallace, H., & Clarke, S. (15 January, 2006). Tongue tie. International
Journal of 
	
Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. Retrieved on March 14, 2006 from 

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijporl 
	

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