Yes, I agree that many babies are born with habits they created in utero!
Just observing a baby at first can give you LOTS of clues about what they
used to do and what positions they favor.

One of the "tricks" I use for "tongue suckers" and "small mouth openers" is
to teach parents how to get baby to mimic them sticking out THEIR tongues -
and use a word as a "trigger" for this action.

When baby is in quiet alert, I have them look directly at the baby ('en
face' position) and have them SAY "AAAABRE" while opening their mouths wide
and putting their tongues down and out in an exaggerated version of what we
want.

At the same time, I also have them gently touch the lower lip, which usually
gets the tongue moving in the direction we want.

THEN we "celebrate" and "praise" every small movement the baby makes with
the tongue that are TOWARDS the "down" and "out" directions. Babies look
puzzled at first - but then the repeated celebrations are fun and they learn
that you'll make a fool of yourself when they do it!  So they keep on doing
it!

It is amazing how quickly babies (who CAN do it - not the tongue-tied
babies, or those with problems that require interventions such as CST, of
course) learn to stick out their tongue when they hear the word "AAABRE"
(which means "open" in Spanish - but "open" has such a small rounded mouth
position I don't like to use it - all these babies start out being
"bilingual" <grin>).

I also teach this to the young siblings - they LOVE having a "job" to do,
teaching the baby to open WIDE and stick out their tongue!  <grin>

When baby is at the breast, I have the mom say "AAABRE" to baby knows it's
time to do the "trick"!

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
California, USA

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