Your baby is screaming. Your toddler won’t go to sleep. You’re tired and exhausted. You just want peace and quiet. You’re in church. The grocery store. A doctor appointment.
The pacifier. A thumb. Their fingers. The tag of a blanket. The ear of a bear.
HALLELUJAH!!!
We are here to help you or your child stop using the pacifier, thumb/fingers, or other item for non nutritive sucking. We help eliminate unwanted sucking habits for those age 3 and up. At age 3 a child can usually begin to understand, participate, and follow directions. This is when myofunctional therapy can begin. It is best to eliminate these unwanted habits as young as possible to allow for better facial growth and development.
Detrimental Effects of Non Nutritive Sucking
- Poor jaw formation
- Crooked teeth
- Open bite
- Embarrassment
- Speech issues
- Sore skin/fingers
- Incorrect swallowing pattern
- Low tongue rest posture
- Orofacial myofunctional disorders
Many of the above issues continue to be a problem even after the sucking habit is eliminated. For this reason, we help eliminate the habit but also help retrain the facial muscles to rest and function correctly for years to come. Eliminating the habit and completing myofunctional therapy can lead to many health benefits!
Kids
The goal of habit elimination for kids is to encourage and motivate the child to choose to quit the habit. The child and parents must both be willing to participate for success. Each situation is unique and therefore recommendations may differ for each client.
We spend time discussing with the child things such as:
Germs
Social interactions
“Good” vs “bad” teeth
Healthy vs unhealthy habits
What hands are for
What mouths are for
We might do activities such as:
Draw and/or look at pictures
Make a puppet to go over a hand
Throw a good bye party for a pacifier
We may incorporate the use of:
MyoMunchee–Finger tape–Puppets–Charts–Rewards
Adults
It is never too late to work on quitting an unwanted sucking habit. If you’re an adult that still sucks your thumb, finger, or other object, you are not alone. Typically, this occurs sub consciously at night. You don’t want to do it but feel you have no control over it when you are sleeping.
WHY IT’S HARD TO QUIT:
When an object is placed in the mouth and presses up onto the palate it causes a feel good response. It relieves anxiety and stress. It has a calming effect and can help you fall asleep. The tongue is what should be pressing against the palate to elicit this response. If the tongue does not rest in the palate, kids and adults are more likely to struggle with quitting the sucking habit. We help you retrain your tongue to rest in the correct spot, which can help you be successful with habit elimination. Once the habit is eliminated, myofunctional therapy must be continued to restore normal muscle function of the tongue, lips, and other facial muscles.
Contact us for a free phone consultation or to set up an initial myofunctional therapy evaluation.