My passion.

My WHY.

Why did I choose myofunctional therapy?

My own daughter had struggled since birth.  At the time and as a new mother, I didn’t know what I know now. I didn’t realize the connection between tongue and lip ties or restrictions and nursing.  I had no problem producing milk because I pretty much only pumped and bottle-fed my baby.  However, she started failing hearing tests in Pre-K.  I knew she could hear, so we did our research and took her to a highly recommended ENT.  There she had a hearing test done in a soundproof room and found she could hear fine, but did have some fluid buildup in her ears.  Soon after, she started having chronic ear infections (some children suffer from ear infections, some from strep throat).  After months and months of her being on round after round of antibiotics, I bypassed the pediatrician and went straight back to the ENT and told her that I thought my daughter needed surgery.  She scoped her and allowed me to look through the scope to see how tiny her airway actually was.  We quickly scheduled for the removal of her tonsils and adenoids along with the placement of tubes in both ears.  This was life changing!  I finally felt like we had solved the problem! 

·        She stopped wetting the bed.

·        She stopped having nightmares.

·        She stopped being constipated.

·        She never had another ear infection.

·        She was sleeping more soundly.

·        She was able to concentrate and focus better.

·        She was able to breathe so much better.

·        Her appetite improved, and she started growing more.

But there was still something not quite right.  In elementary school around age 7, I took her to the orthodontist.  She had phase 1 of ortho which included a palatal expander and a few brackets.  She also needed some baby teeth extracted for ortho, so we did that with the oral surgeon.

Unfortunately, she still didn’t seem to be functioning properly and living her best life.  

What was I missing as a mother and as a health care professional?  What was everyone else – the specialists, surgeons, and pediatricians missing?

It was proper function.  Or better yet, restoring her proper function.  She was born with the instinct to breathe and feed properly, however, little did I know at her birth, she had some physical restrictions that kept her for doing so in the most natural and easy way.  She was straining each and every day just to function.

She had tissue ties inside her lips and under her tongue that limited her from proper sucking.  She had enlarged tissues in her throat that made breathing more of a struggle.  For all those years of her life she had to compensate to breathe and swallow; she didn’t know she was compensating - that that was “her normal”. 

Now the remaining concern was relearning how to properly breathe and swallow…recreating habits she had had for her life time.  The primary focus was toning muscles in her mouth and face she hadn’t been utilizing for all those years to allow her to properly breathe and swallow. As an added bonus, her facial profile and lip shape greatly improved.

That is where Myofunctional Method comes in.  That is my “WHY”.