Oral motor skill development is linked to very complex tongue movements.
Typical patterns of development include:
- The movement of liquid (in breastfeeding) moves liquids through correct attachment to the nipple of the breast in an anterior/posterior (in/out) pattern. The synchronised movement of the infant’s mandible (jaw) and the pulsating movement of the tongue. The infant coordinates a suck, breathe and swallow rhythm.
- There are similarities between breastfeeding and bottle feeding. The human nipple is much softer than the artificial nipple. The artificial nipple is more rigid and does not reshape as in the case with the nipple of the breast. The motion of the infant’s tongue during breastfeeding differs from that during bottle feeding. Breast milk production and milk flow is in response to the infant’s demand, due to sucking. Milk from a bottle provides a continuous flow of milk, requiring minimal motion from the tongue and mandible.
- Moving from liquids to pureed foods, where the movement of the tongue is a superior/inferior (up/down) motion.
- The tongue moves chewable foods with a lateral (side-to-side) pattern over to the molar surface and then back to the centre, splitting and separating the food until it is ground down into a bolus to be swallowed.
- The infant begins to stabilise their jaw, with the tongue serving as the initial, central base for sucking, and then advancing to a lateral position when munching on foods.
- Practicing new patterns of tongue movements with foods being offered (moving from liquids to more textured foods) and manipulating the different and new foods, and the safe movement via the pharynx.
References
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