Tongue-tie baby turns nursing champ

A combination of professional help, a supportive husband and a breastfeeding-friendly workplace helped public servant Mieko Otsuki, 39, successfully breastfeed her baby Elijah for a year despite his tongue-tie condition. Babies with a tongue-tie have an unusually short piece of skin between the underside of the tongue and the floor of the mouth, which can affect their ability to suckle.

“When he started losing a lot of weight during the early days, I thought I wasn’t producing enough milk. But my lactation consultants from the National University Hospital reassured me that my body wasn’t failing me and there could be other reasons preventing my baby from getting enough milk,” Ms Otsuki said.

That was when they found out about his tongue-tie. Once it was rectified through day surgery when Elijah was five weeks old, he recovered swiftly and became a champ at nursing. Now 13 months, Elijah is weaned and Ms Otsuki is glad that she had trudged through the initial challenging days of breastfeeding.

“Many breastfeeding mothers will experience an initial period of anxiety but once they push through that, the results will be rewarding. Adequate support is also essential for new mums,” she said.