Petition GPs should be trained to check for tongue ties at the 6 week baby check

A startling number of babies are born with tongue ties. Tongue ties can affect feeding, and speech if left unchecked.

Posterior (at the back) tongue ties are often not apparent at birth, becoming more apparent as baby grows. They are normally apparent by 6-8 weeks.

Anterior (at the front) tongue ties tend to be more obvious at birth, but still can be missed.

Not all tongue ties cause pain during feeding, or rejection of the breast. Some simply cause the baby to not gain adequate weight. This means that the initial feeding criteria that midwives use is inadequate as it takes several weeks for the "symptoms" to manifest.

It takes 30 seconds to check for either kind of tongue tie, a simple check that could easily be added to the 6 week check. This petition is to lobby to get this check added to the 6 week checkup.