Association between tongue, lips position and breathing in newborns

PURPOSE: To verify the association between breathing nasal expiratory flow and posture of lips and tongue at rest, presence of repeated forward movements of the tongue and maternal complaint of respiratory difficulty in the newborn in the first days of life. METHOD: A observational study was carried out in 130 babies, in a university hospital. Included newborn with Apgar score greater than or equal to 8 in exclusive breast milk. It was the following data: position of lips and tongue at rest, nasal expiratory flow and maternal complaint of difficulty in breathing in the newborn. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using the tests, Fisher's exact test and the Chi-Square test, adopting a significance level of 5% . RESULTS: there was a significant association between maternal complaint of newborn difficulty breathing with repeated forward tongue movements and nasal expiratory flow; tongue position with resting lips position at rest, repeated tongue forward movements with nasal expiratory flow and tongue position at rest; nasal expiratory flow exit with tongue position at rest. CONCLUSION: Symmetrical nasal expiratory flow is associated with an elevated tongue position and closed lips at rest; on the other hand, increased and/or absent nasal expiatory flow in one nostril is associated with maternal complaints of difficulty in breathing, open/ half-open lips position and low tongue position during rest, as well as, repeated forward tongue movements.