Oral exercises for babies

Table of Contents for all blog posts
Page updated October 2026

Improve your baby’s feeding skills with oral exercises.

The uterus is a tight place, and birth is a bumpy ride! All babies need time and a bit of help, to “unwind” post-birth (some more/some less) to use their oral skills to feed better. I call this process “De-uterizing”

For babies with oral tension and/or ties, torticollis, and other body tension/asymmetry - oral exercises (this page) and bodywork help you get to know your baby’s movements, and work with new new patterns for better feeding.

Start with Basic Oral Skills

Focus on fun, keep sessions short and silly, and respect your baby’s cues (stop if they get upset). It may feel strange to put your fingers in your babies mouth - but I promise these are fun!

• Oral Exercises by Lisa Lahey - tongue lateralizing (side to side), jaw motions (chewing), palate stimulation, trying various positions for baby (laying on their back vs. on their side)

• Suck Training and Facial Massage by Lisa Lahey - tongue cupping, extension, sucking/tug of war, palate work, tongue pushes, cheek massage, and more.

  • If baby sucks on your finger feel for cupping and extension (imagine that your finger is the “hot dog” and the baby’s tongue is the “bun”) and also to suck harder when you play “tug of war”.

  • If the baby is gagging, do some palate work - make rainbows, zig zags, etc to help them get used to something touching their palate.

• Challenge baby to maintain sucking with a progressively wider mouth. Tug down on their chin and look for them to keep their tongue fully extended, lifted up and cupped.

  • At first they may only be able to keep the suction when slighly open - that’s fine! See if they can maintain it progressively wider over time.

• And I have a variety in my video library showing all of the above - as done by me or shared by patients.

• Sleeping Tongue Posture Hold by Michelle Emanuel

• Resting Tongue Posture by LA Lactation

  • Both are great for tongue/palate contact, and strength of tongue-lift. All of us should have our tongues at rest against our palate vs. low in the mouth.

Challenges you may see/feel - hearing air intake, feeling loss of suction, feeling the tip of the tongue flick back to the tip of your finger, feeling the baby’s gums biting. These may give you clues as to why latch and/or bottle feeding are hard for your baby.

As you work with your baby, note their strength, stamina, and symmetry - and how the motions change over time. You are helping your baby change and grow!

Extending from the above ideas

Together we will look at which motions your baby is doing correctly and which ones they are having trouble with. From there, we can add ideas to specifically help them refine certain motions. Here are some more examples to draw from (and some the basic skills above if you are just looking for more!)

• Facial Massage and Oral Exercises by LA Lactation - mouth opening, tongue lateralizing, chewing/jaw, palate work.

• Lateralizing, extension and cupping by Bryna Sampey

• Mouth opening, lateralizing and cheek work by Melissa Cole (also has a gentle post-frenotomy tongue lift)

• Mouth opening, lateralization, chewing/jaw motions, tug of war, cheek work by LA Lactation

• Facial Massage and Oral-Motor Exercises by Mighty Kiddos - facial massage, jaw chomping, and more.

Toys, teethers and pacifiers enhance oral skills

• Three great videos by LA Lactation - one,  two, and three

• Instagram video with overview of oral motions and how to use toys/teethers to enhance them

• Instagram posts showing toys/teethers in use - One, Two, Three

• Use vibration - hold an oral jiggers, infant toothbrush or any item that gently vibrates. The baby will feel your finger vibrating as you do the above exercises, which may enhance them.

• Examples of a variety of oral/motor toys, teethers, pacifiers:

  • Tongue exploring (extension, lateralization, etc) - the O-ball, any ball with texture, the Innobaby “Star" Teether, these Fruit Teethers, or anything similar to these so the baby can push their tongue toward, into and around the item

  • Tongue exploring, lateralizing, jaw/chewing, palate work - Teething Tubes, the Comotomo Teether, a “Bunny” teether, a Banana Teether, a Nuk Brush. Really any teether/toy that has extensions for baby to mouth, chew, and explore (or one with shorter projections) for a baby who easily gags.

  • Suckling on teethers like this Penguin or this ”Chicken" - also good for all of the above.

  • The Ninni pacifier is great for exercising a baby’s suckling/wavelike motion of the tongue. It can be hard for a baby to use, so put your finger inside of it to help them get started.

    • Example of a baby using the Ninni well and another in my video library.