Untie Your Baby's Health: The Importance of Treating Tethered Oral Tissue (TOTS)
Untie Your Baby's Health: The Importance of Treating Tethered Oral Tissue (TOTS)
Are you familiar with the terms 'tongue tie' or 'lip tie'? These terms refer to Tethered Oral Tissues (TOTs), which can present challenges for your baby's feeding and overall development.
TOTS occurs when the frenulum, a small piece of tissue located either underneath the tongue or beneath the upper lip, forms an attachment too tight, resulting in limited range of motion.
TOTS can lead to various adverse outcomes:
Difficulties with feeding, both breastfeeding and bottle-feeding
Airway functionality
Jaw development
Posture
Speech
Oral Health
Early intervention plays a pivotal role in realizing your dream of a smooth feeding journey and ensuring your little one's optimal oral health and development.
In today's blog, we'll explore the importance of addressing TOTS and how Baby Bonds provides the essential guidance and support you need. Whether you're in the local Boise area or beyond, early intervention with a skilled lactation consultant makes all the difference!
The Impact of TOTS and Breast/Bottle Feeding
No matter how you choose to feed your baby — whether breast or bottle — their ability to latch and suck directly relates to tethered oral tissues. A tongue tie or lip tie can make it more challenging for your baby to feed easily.
Latching difficulties remain a top symptom of TOTS, affecting both parents and babies. When the frenulum adheres too strongly to its surrounding tissues, it restricts movement in your baby’s tongue, lips, jaw, and more.
This limitation impacts their ability to latch deeply and suck properly, potentially leading to supply issues for some parents. (Great, another thing to worry about, we know). Successful milk transfer depends on fully emptying the breast. For bottle-feeding, you might notice your baby being fussy during feeds, experiencing reflux, or displaying poor weight gain.
TOTS causes a range of symptoms [1]:
Difficulty latching or severe pain during latching
Nipples appearing creased or flattened after feeding
Slipping off while attempting to latch onto the breast or bottle
Incomplete breast drainage
Falling asleep while feeding
Poor weight gain
Nipple bleeding
Reflux
Colic
We understand this list may seem daunting, but there's no need to fear. You have a compassionate and experienced lactation consultant nearby, ready to guide you through a release journey. Imagine all these symptoms resolved and envision a joyful feeding journey!
A frenectomy, or 'release,' involves modifying the attached tissue to promote optimal function and development.
A significant study has shown marked improvement in breastfeeding symptoms post-frenectomy [1].
TOTS can have other negative health impacts on your baby, making a release about more than just feeding. Let's delve deeper into how ties can affect the airway.
Airway Obstruction in Babies with Tethered Oral Tissues
It’s true, TOTS can even affect your baby's breathing. The restriction of the tongue or upper lip can lead to issues with your baby's airway clearance and the ability of their mouth to rest in the proper position.
Airway obstruction results in problems like mouth breathing. Believe it or not, your infant shouldn't be sleeping with their mouth open. While it might be a cute pose in newborn pictures, it's actually a sign of oral ties.
Your baby should sleep with their mouth closed, breathing through their nose. A closed mouth allows the tongue to rest in the correct position, and breathing through the nose naturally filters the air and produces nitric oxide (NO).
NO aids in restful, deep sleep, so mouth breathing forces sleep disturbances in babies, and we all know how precious sleep is with a new baby in the house!
As a skilled lactation consultant in the Boise area, Melanie walks through this journey with you, providing education and compassion that your family needs. Not every IBCLC has experience with tongue ties, but Baby Bonds is your local expert.
How Jaw Development and Posture Are Affected by TOTS
Treating oral tissues is essential for your baby's overall health and development. While getting them to feed easily and well is often your goal as a parent, we also recognize the impact on jaw development and posture.
Particularly with a tongue tie, the mouth experiences limitations and restrictions. When the tongue doesn't rest in the right position and doesn't allow for proper movement while your baby feeds, it leads to altered formation of the jaw.
A valuable study examined how a tongue tie affects the cranial base, jaws, and nasopharyngeal structures. Since babies are still growing when they're born, tongue placement matters.
They found that a tongue tie "affects the anatomy and essential functions of oro-facial structures."
Untreated, oral ties hinder normal jaw growth, resulting in issues such as malocclusion, dental problems, and even facial symmetry problems [2]. Releasing a tie with a frenectomy allows for normal development of these structures and can also improve posture…
Yes, that's right!
Oral ties produce tension in your baby's facial muscles, leading to further strain in their neck and shoulders. With added tension and restricted movement, the body compensates, causing the head to have a more forward position.
This change clearly takes time to develop, so treating early with a frenectomy relieves this worry. And remember, you don’t have to do it alone.
Why Your Baby’s Speech and Oral Health Can Be Affected by Tethered Oral Tissue
Oral ties can impact jaw development, which, in turn, affects speech in the future. We understand that it can be overwhelming to think about all these issues, but that's why a release matters for your baby's development too.
With ties, the restriction in the mouth and the movement of the tongue impacts the ability to physically articulate letters and words for babies and toddlers.
Tongue-tie can interfere with the ability to produce certain sounds, such as "t," "d," "z," "s," "th," "r," and "l"[3]. It might be hard to imagine your one-month-old pronouncing letters, but oral ties impact much more than feeding.
A frenectomy allows the tongue full range of motion to pronounce and articulate letters as they should when your child reaches that age.
Learn More About Baby Bond’s Specific Tongue Tie Evaluation
Oral health matters, even before those tiny teeth make an appearance! Early intervention when working with a lactation consultant can help you avoid further issues.
With tethered oral tissue, the mouth has a harder time manipulating food as it should. This leads to an increase in germs and bacteria in the mouth. [3] When your little one eventually grows tiny teeth, it becomes more challenging to brush specific areas and can be more sensitive for your baby or toddler.
As if brushing tiny teeth wasn't challenging enough! Don't let tethered oral ties get in the way of your family's oral health when you have support nearby.
Baby Bonds Lactation Consultant Services Support Your Family Through Your TOTS Journey
As you can see, a tethered oral tissue release is about much more than just breastfeeding or bottle-feeding your baby. It's honestly about their overall health and development.
We consider ourselves fortunate to have this knowledge and the ability to guide families in Boise. Early intervention with a proper release and an informed lactation consultant by your side sets your baby up for success in all areas for a happy and healthy life.
Set Up A Consult With Melanie Here!
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