Mt Hawthorn Chiropractic

Mt Hawthorn Chiropractic "Specifically Different"
We allow your body to reduce chaos, restore balance & regain control thereby Gonstead Chiropractors - Specifically Different

21/09/2026

The tongue isn’t just there to help your baby feed.

It’s also one of the major forces shaping the developing palate.

And that matters.

Because how the tongue rests, moves and functions helps shape the developing palate — and the shape of that palate matters for how the mouth and nasal airway develop.

So when we talk about tongue function, I don’t want the conversation to stop at:

“Can baby latch?”

That’s important.

But it’s only one piece of the picture.

The bigger question is:

“Is the tongue functioning well enough to do what it’s supposed to do as the mouth develops?”

Because feeding is just the beginning.

The goal isn’t simply a tongue that can latch.
It’s a tongue that can function well as your baby grows.

And that means we need to look beyond the tongue itself — and understand the nervous system controlling it.

19/09/2026

We spend a lot of time looking at the tongue.

Its shape.
Its movement.
Its attachment.
Its involvement in latch.

But there’s something underneath all of that which often gets overlooked.

The nervous system.

Because the tongue doesn’t operate independently.
Its movement, tone, coordination and timing are all controlled by the nervous system.
And if that system isn’t regulated enough, the tongue may not have the capacity to function the way we expect it to.

So sometimes the better question isn’t:

“What’s wrong with the tongue?”

It’s:

“What is the nervous system allowing the tongue to do?”

Because the tongue can only do what the nervous system underneath is regulated enough to let it do.

17/09/2026

Same tongue.
Same anatomy.
Same latch.

But feeding can look completely different — even on the same day.

So if tongue mechanics alone are supposed to explain feeding function…

there’s a pretty big hole in that theory.

And that hole is the nervous system.

Because the tongue doesn’t decide how, when or how efficiently it moves.

The nervous system does.

It controls the coordination, timing, tone, sensation and motor output that turn tongue anatomy into actual function.

Which means you can’t fully understand feeding by looking at the tongue in isolation.

Structure matters.
But function is neurological.

And that distinction is something I think parents deserve to understand before a tongue diagnosis becomes the whole conversation.

Episode 55 of Decoded: The First Year — tongue function, and the piece that often gets overlooked.

16/09/2026

A tongue that isn’t functioning well doesn’t automatically mean the tongue is the problem.

And this is where the conversation around “tongue tie” can get a little too convenient.

Because tongue function isn’t just about the tongue.
It’s movement.
It’s sensation.
It’s coordination.
It’s reflexes.
And ultimately, it’s the nervous system telling the tongue what to do.

So yes — the structure of the tongue and its attachments matter. But if we only look at the tissue, we can miss the system controlling it.

The question shouldn’t just be: “Is there a tongue tie?”

It should also be:

“Why isn’t this tongue functioning well?”

That’s a very different question.

And sometimes, it leads you to a very different place.

Episode 55 of Decoded: The First Year is all about tongue function — and the part of the conversation that often gets overlooked.
Find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and You Tube.

12/09/2026

If a primitive reflex is still active, the reflex itself isn’t the problem.
It’s the symptom.

A reflex is an expression of what the nervous system is doing, NOT an isolated problem that exists independently of the system.

So when we see a reflex that is unusually strong, persistent or poorly integrated, the better question isn’t:

“How do we get rid of the reflex?”

It must be,

“Why is the nervous system still needing to express it?”

Because if you only chase the reflex, you will always miss the thing driving it.

The reflex is giving you information.
Learn to read the information, and you start treating development very differently.

The symptom is not always the problem.
Sometimes it’s the nervous system telling you where to look.

DM DECODER if you want to understand what your baby’s movement patterns may actually be telling you.

10/09/2026

If your baby startles at EVERYTHING, it’s easy to think they’re just sensitive.

But here’s the thing…

A startle response that fires easily — and struggles to settle — can tell us something about the state of the nervous system.

When a baby’s baseline state is already heightened, it doesn’t take much stimulus to trigger a protective response.

A sound.
A movement.
Being put down.
A change in position.

The stimulus might be small.
The response isn’t.

And that’s why I’m less interested in simply asking, “How do we stop the startle?”

I want to know why their nervous system is perceiving so much as a threat in the first place.

Because the reflex is NEVER the problem.
It’s the information it’s telling us about the system underneath.

If your baby seems constantly startled, unsettled or difficult to settle, don’t just write it off as “that’s their personality.”

Watch the pattern.
That’s where the useful information usually is.

DM DECODER if you want my Baby Milestone Decoder.

03/09/2026

Your baby’s movement or posture asymmetry isn’t a muscle problem. It’s a nervous system problem.

Muscles don’t decide how they function.
The nervous system does.

Your baby’s brain and nervous system are constantly taking in information, processing it, and telling the muscles what to do — how much, when, and on which side.

So when you see an imbalance or asymmetry in movement, simply stretching, strengthening or “working on” the muscle can miss the point.

You’re treating the output.
But the output is being driven by the input.

Change the input → change the output.

That’s why I’m much more interested in why, from a nervous system angle, your baby is moving asymmetrically than simply trying to make the two sides “look the same.”

The asymmetry is information.

The challenge is learning to read it.

DM DECODER if you want my Baby Milestone Decoder - the cheat code to reading your baby’s nervous system in action.

02/09/2026

If your baby always turns their head one way, don’t just look at the head. Look at the pattern.

That preference can affect much more than the aesthetics of skull.

It WILL influence how they feed, how they move, how they develop their early movement patterns — and over time, even the shape of their skull.

And here’s the part I wish more parents were told:

The flat spot isn’t usually the starting point.
The starting point is often the preference to spend more time in one position.

So the important question isn’t simply:

“Why is my baby’s head flat?”

It’s:

“Why does my baby keep choosing that position?”

That’s the conversation we need to have.

This is exactly what I unpack in Episode 53 — the why, the how, the what and the what next when a baby develops a head-turning preference.

Because once you understand the pattern, the flat spot starts to make a lot more sense.

Link in my bio for all episodes of Decoded: The First Year

26/08/2026

There’s a difference between common and normal.

And crawling is a perfect example.

Did you know that crawling is no longer considered an official developmental milestone — and that matters.

Not because crawling suddenly became less important.
But because so many babies weren’t crawling that not crawling became common enough to be considered “normal.”

And this is where we need to be careful.

Because removing something from a milestone checklist doesn’t tell us that the thing itself is unimportant.

But that’s very different from saying:

“Crawling doesn’t matter.”
It does.

Crawling is a complex neurological movement that brings together reciprocal coordination, weight shifting, bilateral integration, trunk rotation, visual processing and the ability to organise the body against gravity.

So I’m not interested in making parents anxious about whether their baby crawls.

But I am interested in making sure we don’t confuse:

“This is common”
with
“This is developmentally insignificant.”

Because they are not the same thing.
And perhaps the more uncomfortable truth is this:

Sometimes we redefine “normal” to fit what we are seeing — rather than asking whether what we are seeing is actually what we want to call normal.

That’s a conversation worth having.

20/08/2026

The flat spot isn’t usually where the story starts.
It’s where the story becomes visible.

A baby who consistently prefers looking or resting in one direction spends more time loading one part of the skull.
Over time, that repeated pressure can influence the shape of the developing skull — and suddenly the flat spot becomes the thing everyone is talking about.

But here’s the important bit:

The flat spot is the result, not the cause.

The cause will be revealed by asking why that baby keeps choosing that position in the first place.
What is happening with their movement?
Their head control?
Their visual and vestibular input?
Their ability to comfortably move both ways?
Their nervous system’s ability to organise symmetrical movement?
The resulting reflex function as a result of asymmetrical input?

Because if the preference remains, you haven’t really addressed the pattern.
You’ve just been watching the consequence.

And no, this isn’t about making mums panic every time they notice a flat spot.

It’s about understanding what your baby’s body is communicating.

Shape is information.
Position is information.
Movement is information.

The goal isn’t to obsess over the shape of your baby’s head.

It’s to understand the pattern that helped create it.

That’s the bit worth decoding.
Want to decode more about your baby? Send me a DM with DECODER for your free copy of the Baby Milestone Decoder.

Address

110 Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn
Perth, WA
6016

Opening Hours

Tuesday 7:30am - 12pm
2:30pm - 6pm
Wednesday 2:30pm - 6pm
Thursday 7:30am - 12pm
2:30pm - 6pm
Friday 7:30am - 12pm
Saturday 7am - 10:30am

Telephone

+61894449466

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