Some developmental delays become noticeable when children reach a certain age while others can be identified in infants. Tongue tie is one of the conditions that can be commonly noticed in infants. Tongue tie, also known as Ankyloglossia, is a medical condition that can occur if the lingual frenulum (a thin piece of tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of our mouth) is comparatively shorter, thicker and tighter. Due to this condition, babies can find it difficult to move their tongues freely while breastfeeding, eating, or talking. The restricted movement of the tongue can have a bad impact on their health and behaviour as well. In this blog, we are going to discuss how you can identify a tongue tie and how feeding therapy in Dubai can help. Let’s start!
Signs of Tongue Tie in Infants- Identify and Revise
Breastfeeding Difficulties
Baby’s tongue play’s the most crucial role in breastfeeding. If the tongue movement is restricted due to a tight frenulum, it can interfere with a proper clasp while breastfeeding. Your baby can make smacking or clicking sounds while feeding. Tongue tie can make it difficult for a child to launch onto the breast, it can be challenging to continue having a secure seal and sucking milk properly. Ultimately, it will not only cause insufficient milk transfer to infants and poor weight gain and health but also result in pain and discomfort for mothers.
Frustration And Fatigue During Feeding
When your baby is suffering from a tongue tie, it may start to cry during feeding. It can be a sign of frustration that they show when they struggle to extract or swallow milk properly. If your baby is feeling frustrated during breastfeeding or spilling milk or not having an age-appropriate amount of milk, it can lead to longer feeding sessions, feeding inefficiency and excessive fatigue.
Digestive Issue
Another problem that a child with a tongue tie faces is digestive issues. Infants can be excessively gassy when a tongue tie is causing ineffective breastfeeding and results in an excessive air intake during feeding. It can also trigger other digestive discomforts in the infant.
Speech And Language Development
Speech and language disorders can be a result of tongue ties as uttering words requires comfortable movement of the tongue. If your baby has a tongue tie and this problem is not disguised sooner due to minor symptoms, it can eventually cause chewing and swallowing disorder and in the worst cases, speech and language disorder when they are about one and a half years or two years old. Due to restricted tongue movement, proper articulation of certain sounds and speech clarity is hard to achieve when they grow up.
Feeding Therapy- An Effective Treatment to Promote Breastfeeding in Dubai
When an infant has a tongue tie, it is recommended to consult with a pediatric feeding therapist in Dubai. They can help you evaluate the severity of the tongue tie of an infant and determine the best treatment to improve tongue movement and sucking ability. This therapy can mitigate the difficulties with tongue movement due to tongue tie. Also, it improves feeding, speech, and overall oral function in the infant.
Benefits of Feeding Therapy for Children with Tongue Tie
Strengthen the muscles of the mouth to enhance the ability to suck and chew in an infant
Enhance the ability to swallow food particles
Accelerate tongue movement
Improve chewing
Boost acceptance of different foods, liquids and textures
Improve the coordination of the suck-swallow-breath pattern in infants
Tips You Can Follow to Improve Ability to Suck and Breastfeed
You can experiment with different breastfeeding positions to find the one that works best for your infant
Take advice from a lactation consultant or breastfeeding specialist to learn supportive breastfeeding techniques
Try using other feeding methods, such as paced bottle feeding to minimise the risk of overfeeding and improve tongue movements
Include gentle oral exercises in the regime to improve tongue mobility of the tongue-tied infant
Consult with Feeding Therapists- Hope Abilitation Medical Center
Parents can have a difficult time as well when their infants have a tongue tie. But, they can easily get effective treatment for their babies with the help and guidance of our feeding specialists at Hope Abilitation Medical Center. Being a trusted rehabilitation center in Dubai, we can assess and treat feeding and swallowing disorders of infants with a tongue tie and children with speech and language disorder.
Call us today and schedule a consultation to discuss any developmental delays and get the best suggestions from specialists!
