What’s All the Fuss with Mouth Breathing?

Recently, I have had an influx children who come to see me with tongue-thrust. The difficulty these children have is not in moving their tongue, but in the rest position. The speech difficulty is noticed by a teacher or parent and that’s how they get referred to me. But the speech is often the symptom of a myriad of other issues beneath the surface. This alternate rest posture and mouth-breathing is related to various causes: tongue-tie, obligated mouth-breathing due to an underlying medical condition, and genetic factors. These children tend to have difficulty regulating, breathing, sleeping, learning, and speaking.

These children benefit from a multidisciplinary approach including Speech-Language therapy as well as orthodontist/dentist, and a physician. Sometimes, the medical underlying aspect is allergies and it’s causing enlarged tonsils or adenoids, making nasal-breathing a challenge. These children tend to live in “fight or flight” as mouth- breathing is not as restorative as nasal-breathing. Often times, looking deeper and trialing an elimination diet can help to determine if there is a dietary connection with inflammation that is causing the breathing difficulty.

This is an area where Functional Medicine coaching and Speech-Language therapy intersect. Making lifestyle changes such as eliminating dairy for children can be a major challenge, but often it can be of great significance in the child’s life.

If you notice your child is a mouth-breather chances are there is more to the picture. I enjoy helping families navigate this complicated picture to help their child speak, breath, sleep and learn at their best.