Ankyloglossia - Incidence and associated feeding difficulties

Objectives: To determine the incidence of ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) in the well-baby population, and to determine whether patients with ankyloglossia experience breastfeeding difficulties. Design: Prospective controlled study. Setting: Tertiary care children's hospital. Patients: A total of 1041 neonates in the well-baby nursery were screened f or ankyloglossia. Those positively identified were invited to participate i n the study. Mothers of newborns with ankyloglossia and mothers of a matche d control group of unaffected newborns were contacted by telephone on a mon thly basis for 6 months after their children were discharged from the hospi tal to determine the presence of breastfeeding difficulties. Main Outcome Measures: Incidence of ankyloglossia, percentage of infants su ccessfully breastfed, and incidence of breastfeeding difficulties. Results: Fifty newborns were identified with ankyloglossia, for an incidenc e of 4.8% The male-female ratio was 2.6:1.0. Of the 36 mothers of affected infants who were followed up and who intended to breastfeed, 30 (83%) succe ssfully breastfed their infants for at least 2 months, compared with 33 (92 %) of the 36 mothers of infants in the matched control group (P = .29). Bre astfeeding difficulties were experienced by 9 (25%) of the mothers of infan ts with ankyloglossia compared with 1 (3%) of the control mothers (P < .01) . Conclusion: Ankyloglossia, which is a relatively common finding in the newb orn population, adversely affects breastfeeding in selected infants.