Osteopathic treatment of newborns and infants allow the treating physician to suggest when adaptive responses to childbirth or to injury/illness are not engaged and, based on palpated anatomy, hypothesize how the adaptive response can be assisted. For example, a poor or weak latching to the breast in the newborn may hasten evaluation from a lactation consultant, a pediatrician, a pediatric neurologist, or even oral surgeon's opinion. An osteopathic evaluation may further suggest to consult these specialists if there are indications of a nerve palsy, shortened tongue attachment, or may simply suggest poor adaptive responses from altered neck and cranial 'physiology' following a normal (or traumatic) birth. The osteopathic physician is trained to evaluate where the nerve tracts that control the tongue originate, how they could be exposed to strain or injury during birth, and how to correct the infant's response to the injury by
restoring function to the area in question. This is usually accomplished with a gentle touch that is applied to facilitate the body's correction. Trauma, stress and variation in anatomy may be factors that complicate the body's ability to restore function or may restore it with significant compromise to the surrounding area.