When It’s Not Just a Tongue Tie: How Body Tension and Hidden (Submucosal) Tongue Restrictions Affect Baby’s Feeding
You might’ve heard terms like “submucosal tongue tie” or “hidden tongue tie”, but those labels don’t always tell the whole story. In my experience, I often see babies with tongue restriction and body tension, especially in the mouth, jaw, and neck. It’s this interplay that can make feeding feel relentless. Let’s unpack what’s really happening with submucosal restrictions, why it matters, and how addressing whole-body tension before considering a release can set your baby up for better feeding success.
1. Everything is Connected
Your baby’s muscles and connective tissue (fascia) run in continuous chains throughout the body. Tightness in the neck, jaw, oral cavity or shoulders can affect how freely your baby’s tongue moves. Sometimes this makes the tissue under the tongue look or feel more restricted, even when part of the problem is actually muscle tension rather than a short or restricted frenulum.
2. The Nervous System Holds Tension
Some babies have higher muscle tone due to birth experiences, reflux, feeding difficulties, or even their position in the womb. Your baby’s body will often go into “protect” mode, especially around their mouth, because feeding and breathing are essential for survival. This guarding can make the tongue (and jaw) feel tighter and less mobile (cue shallow latch or chomping on your nipple!). This protective posture can mask or mimic slightly hidden tongue ties by restricting movement.
3. Feeding Compensations
When babies struggle to latch or feed efficiently, they recruit other muscles, especially in the jaw and neck, to compensate. Over time, these compensations create tension that further limits tongue freedom, making feeding feel inefficient or painful, even with no visible tongue tie.
4. Birth and In-Utero Positioning Influence
A baby’s position before or during birth, like being, breech/transverse, spine-to-spine (posterior) and/or experiencing a long/fast labour or assisted birth can create tension patterns in the neck, jaw, or cranial muscles. These patterns can anchor the tongue more firmly to surrounding structures, making any tongue mobility limitation feel deeper than expected.
5. Repeated Success With a Function-First Approach
Over the years, I’ve seen many babies with what appeared to be a “hidden tongue tie” or submucosal restriction - the kind you can’t necessarily see, but you can feel underneath during our full oral and physical assessment. In these situations, I always stress the importance of not rushing into a procedure.
Muscle tension in the jaw, oral cavity, and neck can sometimes create the appearance of a restriction or reduce tongue mobility, even when the limitation is not caused by the frenulum itself. As we take a conservative approach first, focusing on your baby’s full body, oral function and feeding optimisation, we often see mobility, feeding, digestion, and even sleep improve significantly.
In many cases, once that tension is addressed, the tongue is able to move more freely, feeding challenges the parents initially presented with resolve, therefore, parents decide that a release is no longer needed or that there was never truly a “tongue tie” to begin with. This approach avoids unnecessary intervention and ensures that if a release is required, the tongue is better prepared, making the procedure more effective and recovery smoother.
Why This Matters
Not every possible submucosal restriction needs to be released straight away. In many cases, addressing muscle and body tension first can free up the tongue and improve feeding without surgery. And if a release is needed later, preparing the tongue and surrounding muscles makes the procedure more effective and recovery smoother.
Final Thoughts
If your baby has signs of a possible tongue restriction, especially one that’s hard to see but can be felt under the surface, it’s important not to rush into a release without looking at the bigger picture. Muscle tension in the jaw, mouth, and neck can mimic or worsen a restriction, and in many cases, improving that tension first can make all the difference to feeding, comfort, and sleep.
A gentle, function-first approach means you can be confident you’re making the right decision for your baby, whether that’s moving ahead with a release or finding that it’s not needed after all.
Want to Explore This Topic in More Depth?
The Gentle Village Parent Library is coming soon! Inside, we’ll be sharing in-depth resources on oral function, feeding challenges, and baby body tension, including the exact strategies I use with families in clinic to help improve tongue mobility and feeding comfort.
In the meantime, stay connected via our blog and social media for more insights, real-life stories, and updates on when the Library opens. Your baby’s feeding journey matters and we are are here to help you every step of the way!