Influence of Neonatal Ankyloglossia on exclusive breastfeeding in the six first months of life: a cohort study.
Christyann Lima Campos Batista, Alex Luiz Pozzobon Pereira
PMID 38922259WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy term infants with asymptomatic tongue-tie were weaned from exclusive breastfeeding earlier than those without it.
The chance of stopping before six months was almost 4.5 times higher. This finding applies to infants who did not need surgery.
Key findings
01Infants with ankyloglossia had a mean exclusive breastfeeding duration of 4.5 months compared to 5.4 months for infants without the condition.
02After adjusting for other factors, the presence of ankyloglossia was associated with a 4.49 times higher chance of weaning before six months.
03The increased risk of stopping exclusive breastfeeding became evident from the second month of life onwards.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was conducted at a specialized center where all participants received intensive multidisciplinary support, which may limit generalizability to settings with less breastfeeding support. Attrition occurred between recruitment (329 dyads) and final analysis (225 dyads), potentially introducing selection bias if those who dropped out differed from those who remained. The study excluded infants with symptomatic ankyloglossia requiring surgery, so findings do not apply to the most severe cases. Weaning was assessed via maternal interview rather than objective measures of milk intake or weight gain.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial support or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this applies to infants with severe tongue-tie who need surgery. The study only included asymptomatic cases that did not meet surgical criteria, so the effect size may differ for symptomatic infants.