GOLD Learning Speakers

TummyTime!™ is a program designed specifically for parents and babies to support connection, health and development. Tummy time is helpful for babies to offset the time they spend sleeping while lying on their backs, helps promote natural reflexes and helps to promote optimal breastfeeding relationship.

Babies with tongue/oral restrictions and Cranial Nerve Dysfunction (CND) present with clinical indicators of decreased airway patency which interrupt latch and breastfeeding skills, airway development and Autonomic Nervous System regulation. These difficulties are noted clinically by mouth breathing, open mouth posture, stridor, snoring and other noisy breathing, suboptimal breathing patterns, decreased suck/swallow/breathe coordination and poor tongue and jaw posture / movement during activity and rest. Many of us are familiar with the Vagus nerve and the vital role it plays as our body’s sensory/afferent relayer of information to the central nervous system, as well, the Vagus serves as the primary parasympathetic influence on most of our viscera, including our heart, which helps us regulate. However, what we often gloss over is the motor input to the skeletal muscles of the soft palate, pharynx, larynx and tongue which directly impact breathing. This lecture will delve into this fascinating topic and provide clinical applications.

The Social Nervous System, comprised mainly of cranial nerves 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12, is a newborn baby’s special skill and ability. The combination of using face, jaw, tongue and throat muscles along with head turning to mother or father’s voice have profound influence on how baby is able to bond, attach and especially breastfeed. Babies are born with sophisticated abilities to socially engage, and when we don’t see this happening easily for babies, we want to have a way to address this. Professionals will be provided with simple and easy ways to evaluate this system and provide parent support and education for how to maximize full function. The connection between the function of this system and baby’s health will be explored in this one hour talk. Michelle will also blend the neuroscience of touch and the benefits for bonding, attachment, breastfeeding and thriving in our hectic, fast paced world.

Cranial Nerve Dsyfunction, CND, is a term used to describe a disruption, dysregulation or dysfunction in one or more cranial nerves in the precrawling period. Cranial Nerves are twelve, paired nerves, ten of which originate in the brainstem. They mediate all incoming sensory input and also help regulate, move and maintain the health of the muscles of the face, head, neck, jaw, tongue and throat. From sensing mother’s smell, touch, taste to rooting, latching and coordinating suck/swallow/breathe patterns, optimal cranial nerve function is paramount. Lactation consultants need to be able to identify CND, identify a couple of treatment interventions and know when to refer to appropriate health care professional such as OT, PT, Speech, or Manual Therapist/Bodyworker. CND explains how many tongue/lip tied babies who have had a frenotomy continue to struggle significantly with the activities and movements of optimal breastfeeding. Michelle will cover the basics of CND, a simple classification system, and her 4 Principle Functional Movement Protocol, which she states can optimize cranial nerve function in the precrawling baby and improve breastfeeding outcomes.

Interoception is a term used to describe our nervous system's awareness of the sensations from the gastrointestinal and visceral system, as well as the primary sensory part/input to baby's Autonomic Nervous System. ANS function and regulation underlay all automatic processes of the body, from heart beat to breastfeeding and digestion function, as well as maintaining a calm state in order to engage in social interaction or to transition easily in and out of sleep. More simply put, interoception is "feelings from the body". In addition to visceral information, interoceptive pathways carry information related to affective touch, itch, temperature and pain and are delivered to a separate area of the brain, the insular cortex, which also contains a map of the body, similar to the well known homunculus. Interception plays a large role in dynamic equilibrium and autonomic regulation of tissues of the body. Interoceptive information and the processing is the basis of all important activity to optimize energy utilization. This system is often compromised in babies who present with complex oral dysfunction, tethered oral tissues, postural asymmetries, fussiness, gas, reflux or other dysregulation in function. How babies feel is mirrored in how they function, compromised function equals compromised interoceptive processing. This talk covers the basics of this system and practical clinical applications for precrawling babies to optimize neurodevelopment and breastfeeding abilities.

The Social Nervous System, comprised mainly of cranial nerves 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12, is a newborn baby’s special skill and ability. The combination of using face, jaw, tongue and throat muscles along with head turning to mother or father’s voice have profound influence on how baby is able to bond, attach and especially breastfeed. Babies are born with sophisticated abilities to socially engage, and when we don’t see this happening easily for babies, we want to have a way to address this. Professionals will be provided with simple and easy ways to evaluate this system and provide parent support and education for how to maximize full function. The connection between the function of this system and baby’s health will be explored in this one hour talk. Michelle will also blend the neuroscience of touch and the benefits for bonding, attachment, breastfeeding and thriving in our hectic, fast paced world.

Cranial Nerve Dsyfunction, CND, is a term used to describe a disruption, dysregulation or dysfunction in one or more cranial nerves in the precrawling period. Cranial Nerves are twelve, paired nerves, ten of which originate in the brainstem. They mediate all incoming sensory input and also help regulate, move and maintain the health of the muscles of the face, head, neck, jaw, tongue and throat. From sensing mother’s smell, touch, taste to rooting, latching and coordinating suck/swallow/breathe patterns, optimal cranial nerve function is paramount. Lactation consultants need to be able to identify CND, identify a couple of treatment interventions and know when to refer to appropriate health care professional such as OT, PT, Speech, or Manual Therapist/Bodyworker. CND explains how many tongue/lip tied babies who have had a frenotomy continue to struggle significantly with the activities and movements of optimal breastfeeding. Michelle will cover the basics of CND, a simple classification system, and her 4 Principle Functional Movement Protocol, which she states can optimize cranial nerve function in the precrawling baby and improve breastfeeding outcomes.

Babies with tongue, lip and buccal ties commonly present with altered or compensatory movements of the tongue, lips, face, mandible, neck and whole body. These compensations are secondary to restrictions and subsequent oral dysfunction that results from not having full range of motion and movement of the tongue, a vital organizational organ of the body. While these compensatory strategies have been somewhat functional prior to release, once the ties are released, babies need novel movements to emerge for function to improve and breastfeeding to experience a positive shift. The difficulty is that novel movements often do not spontaneously arise, requiring therapeutic intervention. In this talk, Michelle will discuss 3 keys to eliciting and strengthening novel and more competent oral patterns and feeding abilities after release while making compensatory strategies obsolete.