infants + babies

What is a Tongue Tie?

A tongue tie occurs when the thin membrane under the baby’s tongue (the lingual frenulum) restricts the movement of the tongue. You can find your own lingual frenulum by looking in the mirror, opening your mouth and stretching your tongue up. All babies are born with some extent of this tissue, and for approximately 3-15% of newborns, it is so tight that they cannot move their tongues freely. Babies affected by this will struggle with their ability to latch, which leads to poor feeding, nipple pain and trauma, decreased milk intake, and a decline in milk supply over time. Tongue tie, medically known as Ankyloglossia, is simply a congenital oral anomaly caused by an unusually thick, or unusually short, lingual frenulum.