Oral motor issues that affect feeding often also affect feeding and sometimes speech as well! In a perfect world, when we are not speaking or eating, we breath through our nose alone, mouth closed! When this doesn't happen, we say that a person is a mouth breather, meaning they have an open mouth posture at rest and this can happen during the day or a night, or both! 

Scientists are discovering that there's a link between mouth breathing and one's ability to focus and pay attention along with a host of other things! Why? Well, mouth breathing brings less oxygen to your brain and we know we need oxygen to do anything well. Nasal breathing is significantly more beneficial to the body and mouth breathing is quite harmful actually. In most cases, mouth breathing is a temporary solution for a child who has blocked nasal passages from a cold or allergies. However, if mouth breathing persists over time, it can be a sign of sleep apnea, a deviated septum, tongue-tie, enlarged tonsils, or sinus polyps. 

Although snoring and mouth breathing are common now in children, physicians don’t usually screen for sleep-related breathing disorders. Parents should share ALL symptoms with their child's doctor at their next appointment.

ADHD and mouth breathing share some common symptoms, including: 

• Brain fog 
• Lack of attention to detail 
• Irritability upon waking
• Mood swings
• Problems concentrating 
• Crying episodes at night (not always)
• Inability to concentrate 

How to Tell If Your Child Is Mouth Breathing 

When they are awake: 

• Is their mouth open while awake and doing something that doesn't require talking (like watching tv, coloring, etc)? 
• Do they chew with their mouth open? 
• When looking at a profile of their face (side view), is their chin recessed or jutting out?
• Are any of their teeth crooked? 
• Do they struggle with making certain sounds? 
• Do they wake with a dry mouth? 
• Does the pillow have drool in the morning?

When they are asleep: 

• Does your child snore or have audible breathing? (Snoring is a huge indicator of a sleep-related breathing disorder)
• Do they wet the bed? 
• Does your child wake up frequently throughout the night?
• Does your child move around a lot during the night?
• Does your child grind his or her teeth?  

Why is ADHD and Mouth Breathing Connected?
Mouth breathing brings less oxygen to the brain compared to nasal breathing. Less oxygen, along with poor sleep creates a perfect storm for an unfocused day. One study proved that mouth breathing brings less oxygen to the brain compared to nasal breathing, which adversely affects brain function and gives rise to ADHD symptoms. It also found that, “Children with sleep-disordered breathing were from 40 to 100 percent more likely to develop neurobehavioral problems by age 7, compared with children without breathing problems.”

It’s not uncommon for a medical provider to prescribe medication for this condition, but it is not also a condition that warrants medication. It requires a closed mouth! Many countries require a sleep test in children before these medications are given, but the United States is not one of them.  It is important to explore all reasons for attention disorders before starting medication that may cause other effects. 

Why is Mouth Breathing and Feeding Connected?
Mouth breathing happen with the jaw is low and usually the tongue comes along with it. When the tongue and the jaw are not doing what they are supposed to do, it indicates weakness, possible restrictions (ties) and instability. When you are that, it means the oral motor skills are generally poor and poor oral motor skills means difficulty moving food around in the mouth. This can create a negative experience with food and lead to children pushing out foods from their diet until they are left with a minimal number of 'safe' foods. 

What's The Solution?
Helping your child stop mouth breathing can be done in a number of ways, depending on your child’s specific needs. It starts with an airway and a myofunctional assessment to determine what is exactly going on. Then, some options include myofunctional therapy to strengthen the tongue, a frenectomy to release a too-tight tongue, or other orthodontic appliances to expand the mouth and airway. 

If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD or has ADHD symptoms, and if you think they may breathe through their mouth, schedule an evaluation with us! We can asses your child's oral motor status virtually or in person. This will require a team approach though! Usually an ENT and orthodontist are an integral part of this team to remediate fully. 

Give us a call to schedule today 516-669-0434

If you feel as though your child has some of these red flags, look into getting a myofunctional evaluation with someone who has training and specializes in oral motor issues. 

You can also listen to the podcast episode where I break this down further! Click the link here. 

Want to learn more? Listen to my free podcast episode on this exact topic for more details! Click the link here to listen in!

If you go down any feeding aisle in any baby store, you are sure to see about 30 different types of cups. Don't even start typing it into Amazon! You will be in a never ending rabbit hole of drinkware. But when and what type of cup to get? How soon is too soon?  Let's dive into the details! ​

When first introducing a cup to your baby around 6 months of age, start with an open cup where they can take small sips a few times throughout the day, such as during mealtime. Then, between 6-9 months of age, introduce a straw cup that assists their ability to sip through a straw by priming liquids into the straw (e.g., Honey Bear Straw Cup or Rubbermaid Juice Box Straw Cup). After they can successfully and consistently take sips from this type of cup with a straw, you can start to introduce more advanced straw cups that require your baby to independently sip through the straw. 

It is recommended that you continue to offer a variety of cups (i.e., open cups and straw cups) that promote a mature swallowing pattern and appropriate tongue placement rather than focusing on use of a single cup. This allows your baby to learn to use and become comfortable with various cups, just like us. 

If you have concerns related to your baby’s feeding and/or swallowing, reach out to your pediatrician or to a speech language pathologist in your area, or contact our office. If you’re interested in how your baby’s development relates to feeding and swallowing, you may want to check out, “Feed Your Baby & Toddler Right: Early Eating and Drinking Skills to Encourage the Best Development” by Diane Bahr. 
​

If your child is struggling to master this or you just want some personalized guidance, Contact us to work with us directly, and if your child is a picky eater, you can also learn how to work with your child yourself using our proven strategies in our self-paced parent course. ​

Holiday time! This can be stressful enough without throwing a cracky picky eater on top of it! (If they would only eat something they wouldn't be so cracky, right?!). I put together 7 tips and tricks to help you make it through! 

If you're working on your child eating new foods, then you'll want to introduce foods similar to what they already love based on properties (texture, color, size, etc.) (E.g., If your child loves PB&J sandwiches, try putting cranberry sauce on bread (similar to jelly in texture and color, served on something they already love)

Serve all the foods at the table rather than pre-making plates and bringing them to the able. This helps them be in charge of their own plate! It also takes some of the pressure off and gives them options and choices. 

Let your child serve themselves (make sure a preferred food is on the table too!). This gives them a little bit of control over what they're going to eat and how much. If they don't want to put foods on their plate, ask them to help you put food on your plate instead.

We’ve likely all engaged in oral habits at some point or another. There are some oral habits that are considered developmentally appropriate as long as they resolve before our mouth and jaw finish developing. Oral habits are repetitive, automatic actions or patterns of behavior surrounding the oral structure. These may include thumb sucking or lip biting. Oral habits often develop as soothing mechanisms during infancy and childhood, however prolonged use of oral habits can significantly alter how the teeth, mouth, face, and airway develop and lead to oral dysfunction, tongue thrusting, poor sleep, and more. ​

We will help you or your child eliminate poor oral habits. The ideal time to start Orofacial Myofunctional Treatment is 7-8 years of age, but adults and children as young as 4 can benefit from support in oral motor development and elimination of poor oral habits. We don’t stop there though! It’s important to treat all resulting factors and therefore treatment targets may also include establishing correct resting tongue posture, establishing nasal breathing, learning to chew and swallow correctly without tongue thrusting, and correcting speech sound errors. ​

If your child is struggling to master this or you just want some personalized guidance, Contact us to work with us directly, and if your child is a picky eater, you can also learn how to work with your child yourself using our proven strategies in our self-paced parent course. ​

So your little baby is growing up fast, and it's already time for them to start drinking from a cup! At 6 months of age, we want to start teaching them how to use cups and straws, right when they start solid foods! 

Just because a cup is on the market doesn't mean that it's good for your baby. In fact, many cups on the market today HINDER your baby's oral motor development. 

It’s best to avoid cups that promote continued use of an immature swallow pattern which utilizes the tongue for control as opposed to the lips and other facial muscles. This can lead to a prolonged tongue thrusting pattern that eventually is no longer developmentally appropriate. This behavior has the potential to lead to additional difficulties later related to eating, drinking, speech, and more.  Here are some examples of items to avoid: 

Spouted sippy cups are very common, however, they are not ideal for mouth development. Spouted sippy cups promote jaw thrusting when sucking and require the tongue to protrude out under the spout to engage in a suckling pattern to take a sip of liquid. This promotes your baby to maintain use of an immature sucking and swallowing pattern and can lead to prolonged tongue thrusting. In addition, the head must tilt back, which extends the neck. This can open the airway and allow liquids to enter the airway rather than traveling down the esophagus.

Cups with a top membrane, such as the Munchkin 360 cup, may also promote an immature swallow pattern. Your baby must tilt their head and extend their neck to take a sip, similar to a spouted sippy cup. Additionally, you must press your upper lip into the top membrane of the cup and suckle the rim of the cup to take a sip of liquid, which again promotes an immature sucking and swallowing pattern. 

While we have discussed some straw cups recommended for your baby, be careful when choosing a straw cup. There are some straw cups that promote suckling and immature swallow patterns. Here are some considerations when choosing a straw cup:  

Consider the length of the straw. Short straws promote a mature swallow pattern and reduces the likelihood of the child biting the straw or using the straw on one side of their mouth. Instead, the child must use their lips as well as their supporting facial muscles to take a sip and a short straw ensures use of the straw in the center of the lips which supports balanced facial muscle development. 

Avoid cups with soft straws, such as the Dr. Brown’s straw cup which has a soft, silicone straw. Soft straws often collapse when you try to take a sip as expected (i.e., straw touching the lower lip and the lips rounding around the straw) and therefore no liquid will go through the straw. However, if you suckle the straw, you’re able to get sufficient liquid through the straw, prompting continued use of an immature sucking and swallowing pattern and tongue thrusting. There are additionally some weighted straws that similarly collapse while your child takes sips of the liquid from their cup causing them to rely on sucking. It’s recommended you try out the straw ahead of time to ensure that the straw does not collapse or require suckling to access the liquid.

Also consider the diameter of the straw. Monitor your child’s sips. Straws with a large diameter are great for drinks such as smoothies, but a larger diameter allows for a greater amount of a thin liquid, such as water, to move through the straw. You may need to choose a straw with a more narrow diameter to restrict the flow of liquid if your child is coughing or showing other signs that the amount of liquid is overwhelming.

As a parent, I know how much worry and planning goes into every detail of your child’s life. We want the best for them at every turn, and there are so many decisions to make! Hopefully, we have helped narrow down some options for this one topic, and guided you on the right path so you can check this off your list! 

​Contact us to work with us directly, and if your child is a picky eater, you can also learn how to work with your child yourself using our proven strategies in our self-paced parent course. ​