Infant Services

Lip & Tongue Ties.

Lip and Tongue Ties

Our infant trained feeding specialists are trained to evaluate the function of a baby’s tongue and lips to determine if there is restricted movement that is impacting their feeding and developmental skills. We will then walk you through the next steps and provide referral recommendations. Often therapy is recommended before and after the lip and/or tongue tie procedure. We work closely in partnership with you and your frenectomy provider to ensure the best possible outcomes before and after a release.

Common signs and symptoms of tongue ties in infants:

Maternal pain/damage during breastfeeding
Difficulty latching onto breast or bottle
Clicking sounds while eating
Poor weight gain
Sliding off the nipple
Compromised maternal milk supply
Fussy often
Reflux symptoms

Gagging or choking when eating
Biting or “chewing” the nipple
Pacifier falls out easily
Mouth breathing
Eating very frequently
Difficulty transitioning to solids

It is important to note that not all difficulties with feeding are due to tongue or lip ties. Our feeding therapists can help look at all aspects to help determine the source of your baby’s feeding difficulties.

Feeding Difficulties

Feeding your baby should not feel like a full-time job. Whether you are feeding at the breast or bottle ties can impact the entire feeding experience. When a baby is unable to move their tongue and lips to effectively suck and swallow, they will often need to eat more often to get enough calories throughout the day. This experience is exhausting for both the baby and the people caring for them. Feeding progress can improve quickly when the underlying cause is addressed. We look forward to being able to help you enjoy feeding your baby instead of dreading it. At Monkey Mouths, we have both speech pathologists and occupational therapists that have specialized training in infant feeding related to tongue and lip ties.

Occupational Therapy

If your child has a tongue or lip tie, you might notice that their body feels tense or tight or you might even feel as if your baby just does not relax. This is most often caused by a tightening of the fascia within the body. Tightness within the fascial system can lead to delays in all the babies’ motor systems (oral, gross, and fine motor).

This restriction and tightness can lead to other issues in the body such as:

It is recommended that a baby receive generalized bodywork to promote natural and normal movement patterns. Our occupational therapists at Monkey Mouths are specially trained in a variety of therapeutic handling techniques such as total motion release, myofascial release, infant massage, MNRI, and other techniques to help reduce the impact of ties in the body. By providing intervention early with your baby and an effective home program designed by our therapists, you can improve the development of their oral motor, gross and fine motor skills and hopefully prevent future concerns.

Testimonial

My son was diagnosed with a lip and tongue tie when he was a few weeks old, and Rhonda and Tricia were so amazing in helping us navigate how to help get the ties corrected and then helping to release the tightness in my son’s body. Every session with Rhonda and Tricia was informative and incredibly therapeutic. They work so well with my baby and are wonderful parent educators. My son is caught up to where he needs to be, and I credit so much of that to their work. I recommend Monkey Mouths!

– Joshua Reid