The Frenotomy Efficacy in Gaining Weight of Exclusively Breastfed Infant with Ankyloglossia

Abstract

Background: Ankyloglossia, or tongue-tie, is a condition in which the tongue is attached to the floor of the mouth through the frenulum, causing limited tongue movement. Short frenulum variations cause reduced anterior tongue movement resulting in breastfeeding, swallowing, articulation, and orthodontics problems. These abnormalities in infants cause breastfeeding problems that affect infants' weight gain, malocclusion, and speech disorders. Frenotomy in infant ankyloglossia is performed if there are problems with breastfeeding, poor sucking, slow weight gain, and recurrent mastitis. With this indication, we need to observed the efficacy of frenotomy done before the age of 1 month, and the frenotomy done at 1-3 months old in gaining weight of exclusively breastfed infants with ankyloglossia. Materials and Methods: A observational retrospective cohort method from patient medical records in a private hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. The research subject is a total sampling patient medical records secondary data and collected 68 subjects. The Subjects are divided into two groups, the first group was patients whose frenotomy was done before the age of 1 month, and the second group was patients whose frenotomy was done at 1-3 months old. We assessed the weight gain between the two groups. The data were analyzed and compared the percentage of weight gain before and after frenotomy. Results: The percentage of weight gain before and after frenotomy shows that in the first group, there was a percentage gain of 11.4% in body weight of the subjects and during post-frenotomy control, the percentage of weight gain in this group increased to 111, 4%. In the second group, the percentage of weight gain before the frenotomy was 70.6%, while the post-frenotomy control was only 57.7%. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the efficacy of frenotomy in gaining weight of exclusively breastfed infants with ankyloglossia. There was a significant difference in the weight gain of infants with ankyloglossia who underwent frenotomy at the age of exclusive breastfeeding, before the age of 1 month and between the ages of 1 to 3 months.