Blog
Your Baby Has a Tongue Tie but You’re Not Ready for a Release. What Can You Do in the Meantime?
If you have been told your baby has a tongue tie, anterior restriction or a deeper submucosal restriction, you may be trying to make sense of a difficult decision.
Perhaps feeding has felt hard from the beginning. Your baby may click, leak milk, lose their latch, pull off crying, gulp, cough, swallow air, feed for long periods, become stiff through their body or seem uncomfortable after feeds. You may have sore nipples, damaged nipples, low supply, oversupply or concerns about whether your baby is transferring milk efficiently.
5 Signs of Oromotor Dysfunction in Children
Children develop oral skills gradually, and it is common for feeding, speech, breathing and oral habits to change as they grow. However, when you notice a repeated pattern affecting your child’s breathing, sleep, feeding, comfort, speech or daily life, it can be worth exploring further.
Oromotor dysfunction, also known as an orofacial myofunctional disorder, describes differences in how the tongue, lips, jaw, cheeks and throat work together. These muscles are involved in breathing, resting posture, feeding, chewing, swallowing and speaking. One sign alone does not mean there is a problem; it is the whole picture that matters.
Post-frenectomy wound care is finished…Now what?
Once wound care is finished after a frenectomy, the focus can shift from structured healing work to playful oral therapy that helps your baby explore their new tongue mobility in a more relaxed way. This stage matters because babies still need practice to integrate tongue movement into feeding, soothing, and early oral development, even after the wound has healed.
Why kid’s ears get blocked easily
Babie’s and toddler’s ear are different to adult’s ears which expalins why they seem to get very congested easily. The Eustachian tube that drains the middle ear is shorter, narrower and more horizontal in young children, so fluid and mucous can build up here instead of draining effectively.
Why Is My Baby So Mucousy (But Not Sick)? Understanding Snuffly Babies, Reflux and Underlying Causes
Many babies sound snuffly or “chesty” but are not actually sick with a cold, and often there are several overlapping reasons for this.
Why your baby can’t keep a dummy in: an early clue about tongue‑tie, tension or reflux.
The sucking reflex develops in late pregnancy (around 32–36 weeks), so term babies usually arrive with a basic suck in place, while late preterm babies often have a weaker or less coordinated suck at first.
In the first months, sucking is largely reflexive and then gradually becomes more voluntary between about 2–4 months, so “dropping” the dummy is very common while baby is still learning to organise tongue, lips and jaw together. If a baby is otherwise feeding and growing well, frequently losing the dummy in the first 8–12 weeks can be within normal developmental variation, especially when tired, overstimulated or premature.
The Hyperactive Gag Reflex in Infants, Toddlers and Children: What you can do to help
Many parents worry when their baby gags easily during feeding, when trying new textures, or even when brushing teeth. While the gag reflex is an important safety mechanism, helping prevent choking, an overly sensitive one can create ongoing feeding and developmental challenges.
Top 10 Benefits of Babywearing
If you have a very unsettled newborn, you may feel like you are doing all the right things to calm your baby, but nothing seem to be helping. If your baby is inconsolable, difficult to settle and has feeding and sleeping issues most of the time, it is important to address any underlying issues.
Early Rolling And Fascial Tension
Is your baby rolling early? Did you know that your baby’s milestones can be influenced by increased fascial tension, infant reflux and oral restrictions?
Babies typically begin rolling over from back to tummy and tummy to back between 4-6 months. However, early rolling (before 4 months) can sometimes be a sign of increased fascial tension.
Torticollis and the Sternocleidomastoid muscle
Does your baby tilt their head to one side?
If your baby has been diagnosed with congenital torticollis, you may have noticed them tilting their head to one side or preferring to rotate their head in one direction. This restriction may affect their ability to latch and feed, so it is crucial to treat torticollis early.
What does baby’s lip blister mean?
Does your baby have a blister in the middle of their top lip? Or their lower lip?
The key to successful breastfeeding lies in the movement of your baby's tongue.
What you need to know about infant torticollis
Does your baby lie with their head positioned to one side or is unable to feed from both sides equally?
The word torticollis is derived from the Latin, "tortus" meaning twisted and "collum" meaning neck. Torticollis is usually related to tightened muscles on one side of the neck.
Understanding jaw strain in infants: A guide for parents
One of the many things I consider when assessing an unsettled newborn is the possibility of jaw strain. Your baby may have experienced birth strain from the forceful pressures during the birth process, or even the position they were confined to in the womb. Another cause could be irritation or impingement of the nerve supply to their temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Yes, that's the joint that helps them open up wide to feed.
A Parent’s Guide To Nurture Nasal Breathing From Infancy
Is your little one's mouth hanging open during sleep or rest? It might seem like a harmless habit, but habitual mouth breathing in children can have a lasting impact on their face and jaw development. Paying attention to subtle signs like lips apart and the tongue resting low in the mouth can make a significant difference in promoting optimal facial and jaw muscle development early on.
What You Need To Know About Oral Restrictions (Tongue-Tie)
Tethered oral restrictions (TOTS) include anterior tongue tie, posterior tongue tie (submucosal), lip tie (labial), and buccal (cheek ties). Frenums, identified as thin lines between gums and lips (labial) or the floor of the mouth and the base of the tongue (lingual frenum), can become tight or restricted, impeding normal oral tissue function.