Do's and Don'ts

Pacifier's are okay to use for soothing until 6 months of age. The long term use of a pacifier will alter the shape of the child's bone structure and more than likely cause the child to have a tongue thrust and open bite which will need to be corrected with myofunctional therapy in combination with expansion (orthodontics).  

Mouth Breathing is crucial to your body's overall health. When you breathe through your mouth your tongue isn't elevated to the roof of your mouth and you can experience hyperventilation, GERD and increase your likelihood of sleep apnea by overworking your upper respiratory muscles.   

Thumb sucking (similar to a pacifier), after the age of 6 months old is not recommended. The child's bone structure will alter around the shape of the thumb giving the child a vaulted palate, tongue thrust and open bite which will need to be corrected with myofunctional therapy in combination with expansion (orthodontics). 

While standing against a wall, your head is supposed to be in line with your shoulders and hips. When you are a chronic mouth breather your posture changes by pushing your head forward and putting pressure on your neck. Sometimes this appears as a hump on your neck or slightly bent over. 

When a baby uses a bottle the baby's tongue rests below the bottle and thrusts forward to swallow causing the baby to have a tongue thrust and possible vaulted palate due to the low resting tongue. When a baby expresses breast milk the tongue has to go upward which spreads the palate horizontally naturally. 

Sleep is the body's time to recharge and heal. While sleeping our body needs to reach REM sleep (deep sleep) where out body is healing, processing emotions, brain develops, our memories are restored and we dream. If we never enter this stage of the sleeping process our body's don't heal or operate correctly.