There are two different types of tongue tie, anterior and posterior.
Anterior is at the front of the mouth where the frenulum (the connecting skin) is tethering the movement of the tongue and the tongue is held down all the way to the tip.
Posterior is the presence of abnormal collagen fibres surrounded by tight mucous membranes under the tongue. It is situated nearer to the base of the tongue and is not as visible.
Tongue tie restricts the movement of the tongue and can cause problems with feeding. It rarely causes problems with speech and can prevent french kissing when they are older!
Look inside your baby's mouth, an anterior tongue tie will show as a dip in the front of the tongue and your baby will not be able to stick its tongue out of it's mouth. when your baby is crying, it's tongue will look like the picture above.
This picture is of a posterior tongue tie. They are most commonly diagnosed because it is more painful for a prolonged period when breast feeding. If you are experiencing extremely painful breast feeding, advice should be sought from a medical professional, a lactation consultant, or tongue tie practitioner.
I will be writing more about this topic but if you have more concerns you can contact me through this website.
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