Mums are hoping to raise the awareness of the symptoms of tongue tie after their babies struggled to feed and became underweight.

Three women, who all attend mother and baby classes at The Willow Children’s Centre, off Brookfield Road in South Ashford, are calling for increased training for midwives and health visitors, who sometimes misdiagnose the common condition.

First-time mother Dani Albert, from Kingsnorth, said she started to feel depressed when baby Eva struggled to put on weight, despite constantly breast feeding.

She said: “She seemed to latch on really well.

“The only thing that was an indication that she wasn’t feeding properly is that she wasn’t gaining any weight.

“She was getting enough to be content, but not thrive.”

Eva was born weighing 4.5kg and went down to 3.95kg, staying at that weight for eight weeks.

She saw three midwives, five health visitors and a GP, none of whom suggested she could have tongue tie.

Mrs Albert, 28, added: “The midwives and health visitors were lovely and supportive. I can’t say a bad word against them except that they didn’t pick up on her tongue tie.

“That is obviously a lack of training rather than malice.”

Mrs Albert, who additionally used formula milk to supplement Eva’s diet, said: “Although it wasn’t intentional, I was made to feel like it was on me. At no point did anyone mention it might be her who had the feeding issue.

“We went on holiday, and she was attached to me the whole time. I thought ‘this is suppose to be getting easier, not harder’. I was starting to feel depressed, as she was attached to me constantly.”

Mrs Albert then saw a breast feeding counsellor at the children’s centre, who looked in Eva’s mouth and noticed she had tongue tie.

"I was starting to feel depressed, as she was attached to me constantly.” - mum Dani Albert

Eva had the procedure at 15 weeks old to correct her tongue tie – which involves snipping the piece of skin between the tongue and floor of the mouth – at the William Harvey Hospital.

She has since put on weight but is now bottle fed.

It was a similar story for Folkestone mum Diane Mccaffrey, who also attends the mum and baby group at The Willow Centre.

Her son Jacob, who is now four months, was five weeks old when he had the procedure for tongue tie.

Before that he suffered with colic, was often sick and made clicking and sucking sounds when feeding.

He had seen a pediatrician, who said he had reflux, which he prescribed Gaviscon for, and suggested a different feeding position.

When he was three weeks old, Miss Mccaffrey saw the same breast feeding counsellor who observed a feed, heard him click and straight away said he had tongue tie.

The mum said: “I didn’t give him the Gaviscon but it could have been months of giving it to him, when all that was needed was a tongue tie diagnosis."

Miss Mccaffrey, 33, said there was “a lack of provision in Kent”, adding: “Jacob had a kidney scan and tummy checked. They did all sorts, but didn’t check his mouth.

“If they had just checked there, they would have seen it.”

Mum Maria Sealey, from Stanhope, in Ashford, said she “cried and cried” after her baby struggled to put on weight.

She said Oscar, now 12 weeks – pictured before treatment, above – would feed non-stop but was never full.

She admits she would “cave in in the evenings and give him a bottle”, adding: “I think that is what sustained him, as he wasn’t getting enough from breast.”

At six weeks old, Oscar was extremely underweight. Miss Sealey, 21, said: “The health visitor told me not to lose sleep over it, but had basically told me my baby had been hungry for six weeks. I felt inadequate. I cried and cried.”

When Oscar was eight weeks old, Maria met Dani at the mum and baby group, who noticed Oscar was small and that Maria looked stressed.

Miss Sealey said: “No one had explained the symptoms to me. Dani was the first one to list them.

“I looked online after and there was a list of 15. Oscar had 13 of them. I liaised with my health visitor, who then referred me to a lactation consultant that week.”

Oscar eventually had the procedure done at 10 weeks old in London following two more assessments.

Mrs Albert added: “They must be wasting so much money – with babies going to see consultants, and then people having to go on formula, anti-colic bottle and having reflux medicine – when really it’s a simple check.

“The thing is, the mouth is the most important part of the baby, because if they can’t eat they will die. End of.”

Mrs Albert, a teacher, said more questions need to be asked by the health visitors, and increased training. She added: “If they had been trained there is no way they would have missed it.

“I’ve now made my own checklist that would help health visitors.”