The rumors are true... some of our children are well-endowed with super-dee-duper tongues that come in quite handy for long distance frosting frolicking. The tongue, being a muscle, is susceptible to hypotonia and thus may be a bit difficult for your baby to keep under control.Don’t stress about it because there are lots of things you can do to teach your little one how to manage her tongue. In the early years you will need to do the work of training this muscle for her. The payoff is greater oral motor control which means an easier time eating and speaking, as well as keeping her mouth closed when in a resting state.
The best exercise you can do is called tongue-walking. Every time your baby’s tongue is hanging out you can walk it back in by using your finger (keep gloves or antibacterial hand sanitizer on hand) to gently tap tap tap from the end of it up the center of it until you have reached the middle portion of it. Your baby’s tongue will instinctively retract and tighten in response to your touch. Do this exercise a few times in a row several times a day and anytime you spot her tongue being lax.
Other exercises include various versions of “kissing”. Put your face up close to your baby’s face and make a rounded kiss shape with your lips. Then make the kissy sound. Your baby will try to imitate you thus pulling in her tongue and strengthening her lips and cheeks. You can also do this using the “m” sound positioning of your lips. Make the sound “ma ma ma” and then put your mouth in the closed “m” position right on your baby’s mouth and hum the “m” sound so she can feel the vibrations on her lips. This also encourages her to imitate you and helps her to feel what that closed mouth “m” sound is like.
When your baby is ready to move on from the nursing or bottle stage, you can offer a cup that has a straw. Mr Juice bear or the NUK straw cup (available online at beyondplay.com and in-store at Walmart, respectively) are great options. Teaching your baby to drink from a straw rather than a sippy cup will stimulate good lip closure and keep her tongue in. (Sippy cups allow her tongue to slide out under the spout enabling bad habits.)
As your child gets older you will be able to add gentle touch mouth cueing to get her to pull her tongue in and close her mouth. There may always be times when she is tired, excited, or concentrating hard that her tongue will try to make an escape but by working with her from a young age you will minimize this and help her to gain control over that rowdy tongue.
when i first saw max's tounge... i said to myself, that can't all fit in that little mans mouth. thats great advice:) - great post
ReplyDeleteGreat advice!! So it's not that their tongues are bigger, right? It's that their mouths are smaller as well as the lower tone, correct?
ReplyDeleteIt is low tone, little rosebud mouths, and for some, so says our ENT, a super-dee-duper sized tongue.
ReplyDeleteDr. Libby Kumin told us at the NDSC convention a few weeks ago that kids w/ Ds have normal sized tongues, but small oral cavities. When mixed w/ low tone, they can tend to be more extended. Although I have seen some seemingly super long tongues that can almost touch their nose :-)
ReplyDeleteI too have also heard not to "push" the tongue back in because that can actually cause the tongue to become stronger, thicker, and more likely to stick out...think resistance training on a muscle...same thing! I will try the tapping idea :)!!!
ReplyDeleteLove this post as I was just having this talk with my pedi today. Little Wysdom loves to stick his out(too cute..but gets in the way of feeding)Thanks for the tips
ReplyDeleteOzzie's tongue is enormous. He doesn't seem to have trouble keeping it in his mouth, but his tongue is really long. He's gonna be hell on an ice cream cone.
ReplyDeleteWe were constantly poking Lily's tongue back in her mouth, she has no problem at all. The other thing we did, which a nurse told us about was to use an ice cube or wash cloth, same thing as finger just different technique.
ReplyDeleteTapping sometimes works for me. Matthew would never try to imitate me if I tried "kissing" or making the "m" sound. And now he can stick out his tongue and touch it if I ask him "Where's your tongue?". Then he sticks it back in his mouth. So when I see his tongue resting on his lower lip, I ask him "Where's your tongue?"
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Great tips. I have a surprise for you on my blog. Stop by....
ReplyDeleteHi DS Mama!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sad but I had you down on my list as wanting an 18-24 mos "i did it" tee and when I went to go through my quickly diminishing stack, I saw that I am SOLD OUT of 18-24 mos. In fact...I'm completely sold out of all the sizes. All 19 of the 20 I ordered sold and Joaquin is wearing the 20th one. I do plan on ordering more, I promise!!! Just need to save a bit of money since some of it is out of pocket :) I hope you'll order again when we have more :)!!!!!! Thank you again for your interest and support!
We have more fun with the tongue than I think humans should have!
ReplyDeleteGreat post...thanks for the info...I am a tapping!
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