To think that a tongue tie check should be standard for all newborns?

[escapingthecity]

Was reflecting this morning on the challenges so many mums I know have had with BF. In many many cases it turns out to be due to baby being tongue tied. Once that's sorted, feeding usually seems to work out OK, but lots of people give up bc pain is just too much to work through while you wait to be seen. Why isn't checking for tongue tie standard after birth? Is it something you can see when they're newborn? Could it not then be snipped easily on the labour ward and hopefully make feeding easier for thousands of women every year?

Yes, it seems obvious that all babies should have this simple check and get it sorted straight away. Feeding correctly is rather bloody important after all.

1 in 10 babies have tongue tie so it should be checked.
my son’s was detected on day 2 by a midwife with experience then we were given a letter for an appointment 6 weeks away for it to be done.
it a 30 second procedure so could deffo be done on the ward.

My second and third were automatically checked but I’m guessing that was because my first had a severe tongue tie. I was more fussed about that than if they had ten fingers and toes tbh.

Agreed. My DC had a tongue tie but the 24 hour check was carried out by dad taking Dbaby to another ward where the doctor was. I knew that I was struggling to feed, but I wasn't part of that check. where we live, there isn't even a NHS offer to cut posterior tongue ties, you have to go out of area with a 6 month waiting list. I've seen change.org petitions about this before, but nothing's ever done. It's so frustrating.

The problem is training, midwives and Drs are supposed to be trained already to know how to check for tongue tie and yet 3 midwives and 2 GPs missed my DD's. It was only identified by a lactation consultant when I went to her private clinic sobbing with the pain of cracked nipples and mastitis when DD was 6 weeks old. Even when she identified it and wrote up a detailed note for me to give to my GP saying she was recommending that it needed to be snipped, the GP (male, natch) dismissed it and I ended up having to pay privately for it to be done. By that stage the damage had been done and I gave up breastfeeding a few weeks later.

When DS was born I took him to the same lactation consultant when he was 5 days old as she was the only person I trusted to get it right. Thankfully he was all clear.

I think more importantly there should be better training for midwives and doctors in regards to tongue tie. The amount of people I know who have been told at the newborn check that ' there is a tie present but it won't affect anything ' who then present a week or so later with latch issues/bleeding nipples/painful latching/milk dribbling/clicking is ridiculous. As a breastfeeding support worker, I wish there was more understanding of ties ( especially posterior ones which are often overlooked ) and how they can cause reflux like symptoms,bad wind etc

Tbh I think tongue tie is totally overdiagnosed in the UK as the reason for bf difficulties. I had my first DC in Europe, in a country with higher bf rates than the UK, and tongue tie was an extremely rare diagnosis among the many babies of my friends. And I think we all know babies who had their tongue tie snipped and bf was still difficult afterwards.
A good friend of mine worked as a midwife in Namibia for years and said she rarely encountered the same bf difficulties she did in the UK. Bf seemed to work easily for 95% of mothers.
I believe the vast majority of bf difficulties attributed to tongue tie are actually due to other reasons (lack of support, lack of self confidence etc.)

YANBU!
Mine was missed by the midwife doing the newborn check and everyone else in hospital but easily picked up by the midwife visiting on day 3 or whenever it was. But not sorted for weeks and weeks.

I've heard it's more common now as a side effect of greater rates of taking folic acid in pregnancy. So not surprising less babies in Namibia have it

I agree. Suspected DS had a tongue-tie, but he was my first and I was just told to 'be strong and push through' or 'give up, don't worry, lots of people can't bf' etc etc... so I didn't pursue anything. Didn't have the guts or the energy, and thought I was probably just being oversensitive.

With DD I was a good few years older and a hell of a lot wiser, and I also had an amazing midwife - she was older, German and very direct, no 'bedside manner' as DP pointed out, but she was fabulous and got shit done, including 'yes, I think she might have a tie, I'll make a referral, best to sort it out or at least know for sure' and bam, a couple of weeks later, DD had her tie cut and it was plain sailing from there on. I don't know if it makes a difference that it was a midwife rather than a health visitor, or that I was a lot less likely to be fobbed off with my second child...

I had plenty of support, plenty of confidence (second baby) but yet I still had trouble feeding.

A good friend of mine worked as a midwife in Namibia for years and said she rarely encountered the same bf difficulties she did in the UK. Bf seemed to work easily for 95% of mothers.

Infant mortality before the age of five is 40 deaths per 1,000 in Namibia.

Seven per 100,000 in the UK.

There's a really interesting book called why the politics of breastfeeding matters.

The author talks about this. In some communities the women would laugh at the idea that someone couldn't breastfeed.

That's not to say women don't struggle, they do, but so often we just lack the support to help them. That plus the formula manufacturers have done a grand job of perpetuating a lot of infant feeding myths.

I also read a couple of interesting articles about folic acid being a potential reason for tongue ties. Especially if mum has been taking it for a while. Anecdotally I think there's something in it. I took it for 2.5 years before getting pregnant with my first and he has a tongue tie. Only took it for 6 months with youngest and she doesn't.

Overall though, diagnosis is shocking and a proper check early on would really help some mothers.

My babies was detected at birth but they wouldn't do anything, said it was only slightly.

All newborns have their mouth examined as part of initial checks. But although a tongue tie can affect breastfeeding latch, not all tongue ties require cutting for successful breastfeeding. And not all tongue ties are obvious.

I say all this as someone who’s baby had a tongue tie missed until 5 months. We did pay to have it cut but mainly as she couldn’t swallow food properly.

There are a lot of cultural issues in the UK that affect breastfeeding rates and have nothing to do with tongue tie. The bigger issue is access to proper support from a trained specialist - a lactation consultant. It’s a public health issue really, but this is so far down the agenda for the government and has been for some time now sadly.

There has been some association with folic acid made more recently, but unfortunately the risks of low folate in the mother include increased chance of miscarriage and the baby being more likely to have a neural tube defect.