What Problems Does Tongue Tie Cause?
In newborn infants with tongue tie, the most common symptoms are feeding problems. Most often, there is difficulty with latching on during breast feeding, which is found in up to 85% of infants with ankyloglossia. Other problems include poor sucking, ineffective milk transfer and fatigue within a few minutes of starting feeding. Mothers often experience significant nipple pain (described as the infant “chomping” on the breast) or erosions on the nipple with breastfeeding. The cumulative effect of the difficulty, frustration and pain with nursing may lead to abandoning breastfeeding. Infants fed with a bottle can also experience slow feeding, excess dribbling during feeding, or swallowing air. In older children, tongue tie can cause problems with speech and pronunciation. Studies have shown that children with tongue tie have significantly more articulation errors than children without tongue tie. Tongue tie will not cause speech delay, however. Other problems older children may experien
