compensatory behavior

When a tongue and/or lip ligament is tight, it can affect the surrounding muscles. This can be one reason why infants need to drink to compensate and use muscles or their jaw more.

If the tongue cannot be used as it should and the opening of the mouth is restricted by a tongue strap that is too short, the first docking often fails. Even if the infant succeeds in grasping more breast tissue through sophisticated attachment techniques, the infant will attempt to use the tongue unsuccessfully. If that doesn’t work, he slips in the direction of the nipples and begins to compensate by pulling in his lips and using his chewing muscles to trigger the milk ejection reflex. This results in smacking, clicking or snapping noises.

The retracted lips and the reduced mouth opening leads to open corners of the mouth from which the milk runs out and air is drawn in and swallowed. The chewing movements lead to deformation and injury to the nipples. Due to the compensated, non-physiological drinking, the breast is not emptied sufficiently, the baby can have weight problems and the mother can get clogged milk ducts, repeated engorgement, breast inflammation and even a breast abscess. The loss of vacuum often results in undocking and docking again. The swallowed air can cause gas, colic, reflux and belching, farting and hiccups.

If you have a lot of milk, the infant cannot regulate the milk flow due to the restricted tongue function, so he coughs and chokes frequently.

The baby is not really full, breastfeeds constantly, is dissatisfied and falls asleep quickly due to the strenuous drinking to compensate. Due to the flatulence and colic, he prefers to be carried upright and cannot be laid down on his back or sleep due to the backward position of the tongue.

The mouth is constantly open due to the incorrect resting position of the tongue. When sleeping, grunting, rattling or snoring noises can be heard.

You experience pain when breastfeeding, your nipples become cracked or even bloody and are deformed and tender to the touch after breastfeeding. Your milk supply decreases while at the same time it takes a lot of time for breastfeeding.