Tonguetie guidelines issued

WELLINGTON: Doctors are welcoming new guidelines on when and if it is appropriate to snip babies with a tonguetie.

As many as one in 10 babies are born with a tonguetie each year, which can cause breastfeeding difficulties.

The new guidelines want to ensure anyone providing surgical treatment is following the same advice to treat the condition.

Babies born with the abnormality have a very tight or short band of tissue attached under their tongue, restricting its movement.

Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners medical director Dr Bryan Betty said one of the issues of tongue tie was that it could interfere with latching on and that breastfeeding in the early part of an infant’s life was very important.

He said in the past there had been concerns the surgical procedure to correct tonguetie, frenotomy, was being overused.

Dr Betty said the guidelines now made it clear how and when different procedures to correct tongue tie should be used. — RNZ