However, tongue tie doesn’t just affect breastfed babies. It can also affect bottle fed babies. This usually only starts to become a problem after about 6-8 weeks of age. Unfortunately, mothers of bottle fed babies with a tongue tie that is affecting their ability to suck effectively, often undergo months of distress due to the lack of knowledge in the healthcare community around this subject.
All babies have reflux. Anatomically, there is a valve at the top of the stomach that is meant to close off and prevent backflow of stomach contents/acid up the oesophagus. In small babies this is never closed as it is not yet a mature muscle. Therefore, when babies are put in a lying down position, they get reflux. If babies take in too much milk and their stomachs become over inflated, their reflux symptoms worsen. This is why reflux starts to become an issue at about 3weeks of age, as volumes of milk are increasing.