(Provided photo)

I often find myself tied up by parents with lots of questions about their infant or young child being tongue-tied.

Let me see if I can stick out some information on this topic.

Tongue tie or what also carries the name, ankyloglossia, is what happens when the connection or band we call the frenulum between the tongue and the floor of the mouth is shorter than usual. Tongue tie is present at birth and often runs in families.

To see if your baby has this problem, watch your baby try to stick out their tongue. If the tongue can’t extend past the gum line or curls up with a heart shaped appearance at the tip, your baby probably has it.

The good news is that in most cases, the short band holding back the tongue either stretches or disappears in the first year of life and the problem goes away.

In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics in a recent report reviewing the research on tongue tie has found that having this problem will not delay a child’s speech development or worsen dental health or other medical conditions.

They recommend that nonsurgical options including suggestions to improve breastfeeding latch techniques be tried first before surgical options are considered.

If despite the nonsurgical suggestions in technique, your baby is still having trouble breastfeeding and not gaining weight as a result, then treatment to clip the band can be performed. This is a simple and relatively uncomplicated procedure done most often with scissors, although a scalpel, or laser can also be used to clip the band restricting the tongue’s movement. The procedure carries with it a low risk of infection or bleeding similar to that which occurs with ear piercing.

If feeding is not a problem, but as your child gets older, you notice their speech is being hampered by the tongue-tie, then again, surgical treatment may be warranted. Your child’s health care professional can help you evaluate whether to wait and allow tincture of time to take its course or to do the procedure.

Hopefully you will latch on to tips like these (or your baby will latch on with the tip of their tongue) when it comes to knowing a bit more about what to do or say if you think your child has tongue tie.

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Lewis First, MD, is Chief of Pediatrics at The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. You can also catch “First with Kids” weekly on WOKO 98.9FM and NBC5.