Links: Breastfeeding a Baby with Tongue-Tie

Great basic info on breastfeeding and tongue-tie
Q&As
Moms' stories
In-depth and professional information
General articles (not breastfeeding related)
Journal Articles

Great basic info on breastfeeding and tongue-tie

Is your baby tongue tied? by Kathy Kuhn, RN, BSN, IBCLC
Tongue-Tie by Anne Smith, IBCLC
Tongue-Tie Information for Families from The Royal Women's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
Helping a baby with a tongue tie - information for parents and health professionals from the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative
Tongue-tie By Any Other Name: Does Ankyloglossia Affect Breastfeeding? by Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

Q&As

Tongue-tie and difficulty with latch on by Debbi Donovan, IBCLC
Does tongue-tie impact nursing? by Debbi Donovan, IBCLC
Tongue-tie: Can it cause sore nipples in nursing mom? by Debbi Donovan, IBCLC
Tongue-tie: To clip or not to clip? by Robert W. Steele, MD

Moms' stories

Dealing With Tongue-Tie by Joni Niedert, from New Beginnings, Vol. 13 No. 2, March-April 1996, pp. 41-2.
Discussion of the Hazelbaker Assessment Tool for evaluating tongue-tie by Eva Lyford (look below for more info on the Hazelbaker Assessment Tool)
What a Difference a Day Makes by Patty Spanjer, from New Beginnings, Vol. 17 No. 5, September-October 2000, p. 161. This story is about a child who had a tight upper (labial) frenulum, which can also cause problems.

In-depth and professional information

Congenital Tongue-tie and its Impact on Breastfeeding by Elizabeth Coryllos, MD, MSs, FAAP, FACS, FRCSc, IBCLC, Catherine Watson Genna, BS, IBCLC, and Alexander C. Salloum, MD, MA. From AAP Section on Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding: Best for Mother and Baby, Summer 2004 Newsletter.
Tongue-Tie by Dr Carolyn Lawlor-Smith, BMBS, IBCLC, FRACGP
Ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) and breastfeeding from the Canadian Paediatric Society, Paediatrics & Child Health 2002; 7(4), 269-70.
Hazelbaker Assessment Tool for Lingual Frenulum Function from Pediatrics. 2002 Nov;110(5):e63.
Tongue-tie: Impact of breastfeeding. Complete Management Including Frenotomy by Dr. Evelyn Jain. Examples of tongue tie and information on Dr. Jain's video, which was produced to help in identifying tongue-tie, assessing its impact on breastfeeding and performing frenotomy, and providing followup lactation management.
Breastfeeding and Frenulums and Info on Tongue-Tie by Dr. Brian Palmer, DDS

General articles (not breastfeeding related)

Tongue-Tie by Caroline Bowen,PhD, Speech-Language Pathologist
Tongue Tie Assessment by Lawrence A. Kotlow, DDS
Ankyloglossia (tongue-tie): A diagnostic and treatment quandary by Lawrence A. Kotlow, DDS, from Quintessence International 1999;30(4):259-262.
"Effective Exercises for a Short Frenum" by Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, MS, CCC-SLP, from the 1/15/2001 issue of Advance for Speech-Language Pathologist and Audiologists

Journal Articles (most recent listed first)

Wallace H, Clarke S. Tongue tie division in infants with breast feeding difficulties. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2006 Mar 6; In press as of 4/13/06.
Amir LH, James JP, Beatty J. Review of tongue-tie release at a tertiary maternity hospital. J Paediatr Child Health. 2005 May-Jun;41(5-6):243-5.
Hogan M, Westcott C, Griffiths M. Randomized, controlled trial of division of tongue-tie in infants with feeding problems. J Paediatr Child Health. 2005 May-Jun;41(5-6):246-50.
Naimer SA, Biton A, Vardy D, Zvulunov A. Office treatment of congenital ankyloglossia. Med Sci Monit. 2003 Oct;9(10):CR432-5.
Fitz-Desorgher R. All tied up. Tongue tie and its implications for breastfeeding. Pract Midwife. 2003 Jan;6(1):20-2.
Ballard JL, Auer CE, Khoury JC. Ankyloglossia: Assessment, Incidence, and Effect of Frenuloplasty on the Breastfeeding Dyad. Pediatrics. 2002 Nov;110(5):e63.

"All frenuloplasties were performed without incident. Latch improved in all cases, and maternal pain levels fell significantly after the procedure... Conclusion. Ankyloglossia is a relatively common finding in the newborn population and represents a significant proportion of breastfeeding problems. Poor infant latch and maternal nipple pain are frequently associated with this finding. Careful assessment of the lingual function, followed by frenuloplasty when indicated, seems to be a successful approach to the facilitation of breastfeeding in the presence of significant ankyloglossia."
Messner AH, Lalakea ML, Aby J, Macmahon J, Bair E. Ankyloglossia: incidence and associated feeding difficulties. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2000 Jan;126(1):36-9.
Masaitis NS, Kaempf JW. Developing a frenotomy policy at one medical center: a case study approach. J Hum Lact. 1996 Sep;12(3):229-32.
Jain E. Tongue-tie: its impact on breastfeeding. AARN News Lett. 1995 May;51(5):18.
Nicholson WL. Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) associated with breastfeeding problems. J Hum Lact. 1991 Jun;7(2):82-4.
Themed issue on ankyloglossia. J Hum Lact. 1990 Sep;6(3).

Page last modified: 03/24/2008

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