Association between tongue, lips position and breathing in newborns.
Silvia Márcia Andrade Campanha, Roberta Lopes de Castro Martinelli, Durval Batista Palhares
PMID 37851717WHAT IT FOUND
Newborns with greater or absent nasal mirror flow in one nostril more often had a low tongue at rest, repeated tongue forward movements, and maternal reports of breathing difficulty.
Symmetrical flow was linked with a high tongue and closed lips.
Key findings
01Newborns whose mothers reported breathing difficulty had greater or absent nasal expiratory flow in one nostril more often than newborns whose mothers did not.
02Symmetrical nasal expiratory flow was associated with a high tongue at rest, while absent flow was associated with a low tongue at rest.
03Newborns with absent nasal expiratory flow in one nostril presented repeated forward movements of the tongue.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only clinically stable full-term newborns aged 1 to 5 days in one university hospital rooming-in unit. It may not apply to premature, medically unstable, or older infants. The authors noted a reduced number of newborns with absent expiratory flow or flow in only one nostril. This makes those comparisons less stable. The study was observational, so it reports associations and does not show that tongue or lip position causes breathing difficulty. Lip position was not significantly associated with nasal expiratory flow, despite 19 newborns having open or half-open lips.
Declared interests
Financial support came from CAPES under Finance Code 001. The supplied text gives no author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that a low tongue, open lips, or repeated tongue movements cause breathing difficulty. The study only observed associations in stable newborns, and lip position was not significantly associated with nasal expiratory flow.