Objective: To determine the prevalence of ankyloglossia and its impact on breastfeeding rate as well as the usefulness of the Assessment Tool for Lingual Frenulum Function (ATLFF) in assessing the severity of ankyloglossia in breast-feeding newborns. Methods: We conducted a case-control study among 2,058 infants born in Maternity Hospital of University Medical Center Sarajevo. All infants were examined for ankyloglossia. Two breast-feeding infants with normal tongues were identified and matched for each case. Mothers were interviewed when the babies were 1 and 6 monts old. Results: The prevalence of ankyloglossia was 3, 9 %. Eighty infants with ankyloglossia and 160 control infants were enrolled. At the age of 1 month the prevalence of exlusive breasfeeding in infants with ankyloglossia was 43% compared to 79 % in the control group without ankyloglossia (p<0,001). At the age of 6 monts the breastfeeding rate decreased in both groups, but the difference was still statistically significant (ankyloglossia vs. no ankyloglossia group 29% and 65%, respectivelly (p<0,001)). Thirty-two (40%) of the infants with ankyloglossia had ATLFF score of 'perfect', 38 (47,5%) had score 'acceptable', and 10 (12,5%) had score of 'function impaired'. At the age of one month none of the infants with ATLFF score 'function impaired' was breastfeeding, while 50% of those with the score 'perfect' was exlussively breastfeeding. Conclusions: Ankyloglossia is a relatively common condition in newborns. Infants with ankyloglossia were significantly more likely to be exclusively bottle-fed by 1 and 6 months of age. The ATLFF was a useful tool to identify which infants with ankyloglossia are at risk for breast-feeding problems.
