Moving Toward Ease; bringing balance to mothers, babies and bodies

07/21/2025

Class 1? Class 4? Let’s clear it up 👅

When we talk about tongue-tie classification, we’re talking about location — not severity.

👉 The classification system (like Coryllos or Kotlow) tells us where the frenulum inserts on the underside of the tongue.
• Class 1 inserts near the tip of the tongue
• Class 2 inserts just behind the tip
• Class 3–4 are farther back toward the base

📍 But this doesn’t tell us how tight, restrictive, or impactful the tie is.

💡 So how is severity actually determined?

✔️ Function.
✔️ Mobility.
✔️ Symptoms in the infant (and often the lactating parent).
✔️ Ability to lift, extend, cup, and lateralize the tongue.
✔️ How the baby feeds, swallows, and handles milk flow.

You can have a Class 2 tie that causes no feeding issues… and a Class 4 tie that severely restricts movement.

🔍 That’s why a full functional assessment is key — not just a visual glance.

Classification = location
Severity = function + impact

If you’re not sure what your baby’s tongue-tie means for feeding, speech, or oral development — connect with a skilled IBCLC, pediatric dentist, or bodyworker who understands both structure and function.

07/15/2025

One way to visualize whole body connections.

Dizziness? Vertigo? Spinning?

Found this image again. Nice map of structures and connections between them that are incredibly important. It may not just be crystals in your ear. I once saw a woman where dizziness was corrected by working her foot.

So, I would probably also include feet, but a quick list of structures to assess here:
-Temporal bones and TMJ
-C1
-Shoulder girdle, especially manubrium
- Pelvis, p***c bone and sits bones

Reflexes govern a lot of these connections, like Visual Righting or Labyrinthine.

How do you train reflexes??? What causes reflexes to diminish or disappear?

06/19/2025

Pediatric MTE sessions take place within the context of family.

06/18/2025

A client recieves his first session. How lucky am I to be present with the sacredness of new life?

During my sessions with infants they move from sleep to awake, crying to feeding, smiling to squirming, and back to sleep. My job is to meet them where they are; in mom's arms or lap, over her shoulder and of course at the breast. Latching on at different times throughout the session allows the baby to remain calmer and assimilate the work that has been done. It also let's me observe how the releases are moving the baby towards more comfortable and effective feeding.

We spend time on a blanket on my rug reaching, rolling, and playing as I am assessing evenness of strength and motor ability from side to side and top to bottom. What shape does the spine like to be in? What is the comfortable range of motion of the head and neck; left, right, up, down, and tipping left and right? I observe how their limb movements effect their bodies. I talk to parents about all that I am observing. Together we create a visual map in our minds of their baby's current state. Then I ask, "How can I help you little one?" That is when the wisdom of their little bodies rises up to meet my hands and guides me. That is when the "magic" happens and it humbles me each and every time.

05/31/2025

I finished the Nurtured Young course and immediately began incorporating Rhythmic Movement into my sessions with babies. Guess what? Parents and babies love it! I'm so excited to share this fun and gentle way to help parents help their wee ones through play.

Come learn how at MaMa Mentoring for FREE!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1420519446028297/

Send a message to learn more

05/20/2025

OK I've dived into Nourished Young's Rhythmic Movement course so that I can expand my hands-on toolkit and provide parents with playful ways to improve lactation through relaxation and range of motion in the entire trunk. Feeding involves the entire body not just the tongue and jaw. When our focus is on only the tongue and jaw we have narrowed our perspective and may miss the forest for the trees. As always Avery is super clear and makes it easy to learn the skills. I like how well it meshes with what I already know from Ortho-Bionomy® and Feldenkrais.

https://www.nourishedyoung.com/supporting-latching-skills-online-course

Supporting Latching Skills: How to Use Rhythmic Movements to Improve Feeding is an interactive virtual course to help infant care professionals learn how to use Rhythmic Movement exercises to help babies move better, feel better and feed better.

03/14/2025

Just had a super successful Zoom session with a new mom who is in the post release phase of tethered oral tissues. We worked on how to help her baby's innate feeding reflexes re-ignite and rewiring the baby's brain away from the compensation pattern of jaw clamping and lip holding which were the only effective strategies he had for feeding until he was released. We also worked on some of the compensation patterns mom had fallen into getting her infant to latch and stay feeding. Moms and babies are dyads, one unit. These shared patterns do not just disappear as soon as a baby is released. With guidance from a professional and conscious effort old damaging patterns can fall away and new correct patterns can be mapped in our brains and bodies.

Call or text Jennifer Stover founder of Moving Toward Ease and MaMa Mentoring. 805.459.8145

03/07/2025

How DO you figure out if your baby's feeding issues are being caused by a tongue-tie? There are steps you can take to either remedy the breast or bottle feeding issues you are having or move you toward understanding that yes your baby has tethered oral tissue. Parents often feel lost or confused as they move through the process of finding out if their baby has ties. I created this simple guide to take the confusion out and positive actions in. The list of steps is in the post below.

Besides mentoring mamas I am a professional gentle touch bodyworker with specific training in tongue-tie. Here is a series of posts from my Moving Toward Ease page to help take the stress out of a super stressful decision for parents.

Need help? Call or text me. 805.459.8145
Jennifer Stover

Helping Parents Make a Differential Diagnosis of Tongue-Tie

1. Get professional lactation help. They should teach you how to activate feeding reflexes correctly and take steps to ensure baby is getting enough nutrition. This gives you time to get to the root of the problem without putting your baby at risk.

2. Have FIRST Moving Toward Ease session to get a complete oral reflex assessment and release body tensions, pain and stress. I will teach you simple oral reflex and rhythmic body exercises targeted to your baby’s needs.

3. Do the assigned easy oral reflex exercises to keep the feeding neurons firing and the tongue muscle strengthening. Minimum of 1 week.

4. At the same time do the assigned playful rhythmic body exercises to help baby relax, and to stimulate the entire nervous and fascial systems into correct relationship with the tongue. Minimum of 1 week.

5. Have SECOND MTE session. Together we will assess baby’s progress. I will continue with gentle system wide release work, guide your exercise technique, add or subtract exercises, decide if chiropractic care or other therapeutic intervention is needed, and further discuss if this is potentially a tie.

6. Eliminate other possible stressors, such as food sensitivities, waiting too long to answer babies feeding cues, an anxiety producing environment, or over stimulation.

7. Consider if other family members have struggled with addressed or unaddressed ties. Giveaways are narrow mouths and teeth crowding, snoring and apnea, speech delays or difficulties.

8. Have a professional tongue-tie release provider weigh in on what they see.

03/07/2025

Is My Baby Ready for a Tongue-Tie Release?

Once you have gone through the steps of eliminating all other possibilities it is time to get ready for the big day. There is a lot to do BEFORE your baby has surgery. Do NOT jump into an unprepared frenotomy. Your chances of a smooth experience and successful breastfeeding outcome is much higher when everyone is prepared. Here is a check list to help you know if everyone is ready.

Are You & Your Baby Ready for a Frenotomy?

1. Have you had TWO Moving Toward Ease sessions?

2. Has a lactation consultant said you are positioning baby correctly and triggering their feeding reflexes correctly?

3. Has a lactation professional helped you address other lactation issues present?

4. Have you, baby and 1 other person learned how to do the aftercare stretches? Do you have a plan in place for calming baby before and soothing baby and yourself after stretches?

5. Do you, baby and 1 other person feel comfortable with both oral reflex and body exercises, such as rhythmic play, TummyTime Method or other neuromotor play taught to you by a professional?

6. Have you established oral trust with baby?

7. Do you have a pain relief plan in place?

8. Do you have an after-care plan in place?

9. Do you have a feeding plan in case your baby refuses the breast for a few days?

10. Are both parents feeling emotionally ready?

11. Has one parent cleared their schedule of all other parenting or economic duties for a minimum of 72 hours, one week is best?

12. Have all your concerns about the need for the procedure, the procedure itself, and after-care been addressed?

13. Do you have post-op appointments made with your lactation consultant, release provider and Moving Toward Ease?

Let me be your guide.

Call of text: 805.459.8145
Jennifer Stover
Moving Toward Ease bodywork
MaMa Mentor

03/07/2025

Helping Parents Make a Differential Diagnosis of Tongue-Tie

1. Get professional lactation help. They should teach you how to activate feeding reflexes correctly and take steps to ensure baby is getting enough nutrition. This gives you time to get to the root of the problem without putting your baby at risk.

2. Have FIRST Moving Toward Ease session to get a complete oral reflex assessment and release body tensions, pain and stress. I will teach you simple oral reflex and rhythmic body exercises targeted to your baby’s needs.

3. Do the assigned easy oral reflex exercises to keep the feeding neurons firing and the tongue muscle strengthening. Minimum of 1 week.

4. At the same time do the assigned playful rhythmic body exercises to help baby relax, and to stimulate the entire nervous and fascial systems into correct relationship with the tongue. Minimum of 1 week.

5. Have SECOND MTE session. Together we will assess baby’s progress. I will continue with gentle system wide release work, guide your exercise technique, add or subtract exercises, decide if chiropractic care or other therapeutic intervention is needed, and further discuss if this is potentially a tie.

6. Eliminate other possible stressors, such as food sensitivities, waiting too long to answer babies feeding cues, an anxiety producing environment, or over stimulation.

7. Consider if other family members have struggled with addressed or unaddressed ties. Giveaways are narrow mouths and teeth crowding, snoring and apnea, speech delays or difficulties.

8. Have a professional tongue-tie release provider weigh in on what they see.

03/07/2025

Is This a Tie?
1. We can't know that by looking at a photo or manually lifting the tongue. We must assess how it functions.

Suboptimal function? We must dig deeper. Why isn't the tongue functioning properly?
* Is it coming from poor reflex responses?
* Is it an outgrowth of improper latching or positioning techniques which caused the baby's innate feeding reflexes to not fire correctly?
* Is it coming from current pain, stress or physical distress from somewhere else in the body?
* Is it coming from body tension left over from their birth or postpartum experiences?
* Is it due to an issue causing poor motor control and low muscle tone throughout the entire system?

Tongue-tie is a differential diagnosis. We have to eliminate all the other possibilities FIRST and then see what is left. I can guide you through this process.

Jennifer Stover
805.459.8145

03/07/2025

Spending time today taking a master class in how innate oral reflexes relate to breastfeeding success. How you can use them to assess issues and create personalized plans for parents. Great review on what I have been doing plus I'm deepening my understanding of why it works, improving my technique, and learning how oral reflexes create brain maps and connect into the entire body. Great course.

This comprehensive 4-hour course helps infant feeding professionals understand everything they need to know about to use oral reflexes to assess and improve oral function with or without a surgical release, and quantify and track progress over time.