Dear Rachel and all,
     It is difficult to say what the incidence is for many reasons: 1. It
is not well-defined,
2. It often is not a problem to bo. fed babies (though it can be)  3. It
comes under "wnl"....this is half-joking.....I saw this once in a card
for a med. school graduate.  wnl is used in the US, short for "within
normal limits"......but stated as a joke for "we never looked".
     Alison Hazelbaker wrote her master's thesis on tongue tie, very
interesting.  She says it is hard to plainly state what the incidence is.

     In my experience as a novice LC during the first year of a
hospital-based lactation support center, out of approximately 1,000
breast fed babies that delivered that year, 1998, I would say there were
5 to 9 out of the 1,000 with whom a tight frenulum was contributing to
sore nipples or ineffective milk transfer.  There are a couple of LCs
from Massachusetts....Lynn (I think), who emailed me that is the number
they are seeing, too.
     Sometimes the frenulum looks very tight and short and restrictive of
tongue movement, but the baby's mouth "fits" just fine with Mom's
anatomy.  Three dear FP docs and myself are proposing a study on it this
year, waiting to hear if we have been granted a grant.
    Susan Potts  rn ibclc
    Minnesota

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