How To Get Baby’s Tongue On The Roof of The Mouth for Proper Tongue Resting Posture & Nasal Breathing
Mouth breathing is not ideal for a lot of reasons (you can read a compilation of studies on the subject here). You may have seen videos of moms closing their baby’s mouth on social media and tried it yourself. If your baby is anything like mine were, the mouth wouldn’t stay closed and fell open within minutes (sometimes even seconds)!
Scroll to the bottom for an in-depth tutorial video and troubleshooting tips!
* An important disclaimer:
If your baby (or child) is a chronic mouth-breather there is a REASON.
Physical barriers like a tongue-tie, body tension, high upper palate, (like my babies), low muscle tone, or a cleft lip or palate can make it very hard for them to keep their mouth closed completely.
There may be chronic congestion forcing them to breathe through their mouth. If your baby has chronic congestion or enlarged tonsils or adenoids, DO NOT ATTEMPT this until that is addressed.
You MUST address ANY limiting factors and the CAUSE of the mouth-breathing before focusing on this. Otherwise you’re just going to be stuck with a bandaid solution and you’ll constantly be closing their mouth. THEN, you work on exercises like this and other oral motor exercises to form the strength and habits needed to keep the mouth closed.
**Never medical or professional advice.
Why do we want baby's tongue up on the palate?
Here are just a few benefits:
•When the tongue is suctioned up to the palate at rest, it supports the development of a nice, wide upper palate - giving lots of room for teeth to come in. It prevents crooked teeth and supports full development of the face and jaw.
• The roof of the mouth, is the floor of the nose. When the palate develops nice and wide, this provides a big, open airway. Preventing things like snoring and sleep apnea.
• Nasal breathing (with the tongue up on the palate) cleans and humidifies the air we breathe. Leading to less allergies and sickness! It also gets more oxygen into your bloodstream and brain.
• Nasal breathing is one of the biggest ways to prevent cavities! Mouth breathing throws off the ph and leads to bacteria growth.
• The tongue being up during sleep gives deep, restorative sleep. Chronic mouth breathers often have ADD/ADHD-like symptoms due to not getting restorative sleep.
*The sleeping tongue posture hold is by Michelle Emanuel OTR/L IBCLC NBCR of the Tummy Time Method and BabyMyo Technique.
If you want to find the best providers to help with oral motor function and address the root of your baby’s mouth breathing, check out the Infant Feeding Directories!
how to close baby’s mouth and get the tongue up on the palate
