Tongue-Ties (Infants)
Dr Maria Kalkani offers tongue tie divisions for infants that are facing breastfeeding / bottle feeding difficulties. Early diagnosis and intervention for tongue ties can greatly improve feeding outcomes for both the baby and the mother.
What Is Tongue-Tie or Ankyloglossia?
A tongue-tie, also known as ankyloglossia, is a condition in which the frenulum or attachment of the undersurface of the tongue to the floor of the mouth is tight and restricts function.
Feeding challenges
Tongue tie (ankyloglossia) can significantly impact both breastfeeding and bottle feeding, as it restricts the tongue's movement, making it harder for a baby to suck, latch, and feed effectively.
Breastfeeding Challenges with Tongue Tie:
Poor Latch: Babies with tongue tie may struggle to latch properly onto the breast, leading to shallow latching and inefficient feeding.
Inadequate Milk Transfer: The limited tongue mobility can prevent the baby from expressing enough milk, resulting in prolonged or frequent feedings.
Pain for the Mother: Mothers may experience nipple pain, soreness, or damage due to the baby’s improper latch, and some may develop mastitis or blocked ducts.
Feeding Fatigue: Babies with tongue tie may tire quickly because feeding requires more effort, leading to weight gain issues and frustration.
Bottle Feeding Challenges with Tongue Tie:
Difficulty Creating Suction: Just like with breastfeeding, tongue tie can interfere with a baby’s ability to create suction on the bottle nipple, causing spills, fussiness, or the need for frequent breaks during feeding.
Extended Feeding Times: Bottle feeding may take longer, as the baby has trouble maintaining a steady flow of milk.
Air Intake and Colic: Babies may swallow more air during bottle feeding due to improper latch, potentially leading to increased gas, colic, or reflux symptoms.
Tongue-Tie Treatment
Frenotomy: A simple, quick procedure to release the tongue tie can help resolve feeding difficulties in both breastfeeding and bottle feeding.
A systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of tongue-tie treatment on breastfeeding difficulties concluded that infant tongue-tie release is effective for improving standardised scores on breastfeeding difficulty and maternal pain scales and could improve breastfeeding outcomes (Bruney et al., 2022).
Untreated tongue-ties can often lead to difficulties and restrictions as children grow and develop.
For tongue and lip tie releases we use diode laser technology (Biolase). It provides the ability to accurately and delicately cut and coagulate soft tissue simultaneously. Benefits include minimal bleeding, less trauma to the tissue, reduced post-operative pain. This helps reduce the amount- if any- of anaesthesia needed, as well as not needing sutures. A secondary benefit is that the laser also sterilises the wound leading to decreased infection rates.
Multidisciplinary support
Dr Kalkani often works with lactation consultants, speech and language therapists and paediatric osteopaths to help address feeding, speech or other issues related to tongue ties.
What Parents of Our Patients Think
Absolutely Fantastic! We brought our newborn recently and the service received was Exceptional! Extremely professional, skilled but also very caring and kind. The whole experience has been so pleasant for us parents as well as our child. Our thanks particularly go to Maria who looked after our baby. Thanks so much
— Alessandro B.