Therapy series : Oral Motor Excercises 2

Tongue

1. Stick your tongue straight out, hold, then put it in
2. Move your tongue to the right corner of your mouth then to the left on the outside of your mouth
3. Push the inside of your cheek out with your tongue on the right side, then the left side
4. Lift your tongue up to your upper lip, then your lower lip; don.t use your jaw to lift your tongue up
5. Lift your tongue up behind your front teeth as if you were saying .la.
6. Open your mouth and lick your lips with your tongue in a wide circle

Source : Clarian Health Partners, Inc., 1998

Minimising the risk of Influenza A (H1N1) Infection from mother to baby

• The spectrum of disease of pandemic influenza A H1N1 09 in newborns is unclear
• Breast feeding should be strongly encouraged

Sensible efforts should be made to reduce the likelihood the baby will be infected, while minimising the effect on the mother-baby relationship. These include:

• treating the mother to reduce the risk of transmission (the mother is considered non-infectious after 72 hours of treatment with antiviral medicine)
• the mother and baby should sleep in separate beds
• when breast feeding, bathing, caring for, cuddling, or otherwise being within 1 metre of the baby, the mother should:
• wash her hands thoroughly with soap and water before interacting with the baby
• always use cough etiquette near the baby.

Although these measures can be ceased when the mother is no longer infectious, continued good hygiene should be encouraged at all times. These measures should apply to any carer or family member with influenza.

• Mothers requiring hospital care should not be prematurely discharged because they have influenza
• If discharged while still infectious, mothers should be provided with a sufficient supply of surgical masks to take home
• Prophylaxis is not recommended for the baby. Should the baby develop symptoms, the baby should be isolated from other babies, assessed urgently by a paediatrician, and if influenza is diagnosed, considered for treatment with antiviral medicine.

Source: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Therapy series : Oral Motor Excercises 1

Lips

1. Open and close your mouth

2. Pucker your lips (like whistling), then relax

3. Smile, then relax

4. Pucker and hold, then smile and hold

5. Put lips together tightly, then smack open

6. Pucker your lips and swing left, then right

7. Puff out cheeks and hold air in, then slowly blow the air out

Source : Clarian Health Partners, Inc., 1998

Prevention from Influenza A (H1N1) for Pregnant Women

To avoid influenza, it is recommended that pregnant women are advised to take sensible precautions including:

• Avoid close contact with people who have symptoms, if possible
• Wash hands with soap and running water or use an alcohol based hand rub after contact with symptomatic people or their secretions e.g. on used tissues
• Get immunised against influenza if they will be at any stage of pregnancy during winter
• Encourage symptomatic people in the household to keep at least 1 metre away and follow cough etiquette and good hand hygiene
• Avoid large, crowded gatherings during the influenza season.
• There is no recommendation for well people to wear surgical masks, or to exclude themselves from regular activities.

Source: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists