Part 2 of my journal is here! Julia and I did a feeding evaluation and I started myofunctional therapy exercises. The road to release of my tongue tie is started.
Here's me doing a button pull and looking super silly. This exercise is working on my lip seal and strength.
Julia, our myofunctional and feeding therapist here at Wisco Lactation, and I made some time to finish my myofunctional initial assessment today. It's been hard to fit our appointments in between all the babies we see everyday, but I'm so glad we could because I learned so much more about how my body is compensating with lack of tongue movement.
Feeding Assessment
We started with having me chew and make sure I'm creating what's called a bolus of food before I swallow. It took me awhile to get this one because Julia stopped me RIGHT before I swallowed to make sure the bolus was there on my tongue and I kept swallowing before she could get her fingers in my mouth. The first time she opened my mouth the chewed Goldfish were stuck on the roof of my mouth and because my palate is so high she thought I swallowed it already. Nope! Just stuck ALL THE WAY up there! We determined that I can make a bolus of food so that's awesome.
Next was making sure I'm swallowing properly. What we found was that my neck and shoulder muscles are being called into action each time I swallow. Not good! Hello again to the partial cause of my neck tension. When swallowing water this was even worse. I have so much trouble swallowing pills so this all makes sense.
Jaw Movement
I know that my jaw doesn't have symmetrical movement. I can feel it every time I try to close my mouth. You can see how hard I'm trying to push my jaw to my left in this photo. It just does not want to go that way at all. That's the side I grind my teeth on as well.
Myofunctional therapy
Myofunctional therapy is an exercise training program for the muscles around your face, mouth, and tongue. These exercises are designed to improve issues with talking, eating, or breathing. Research has found that myofunctional therapy may also be an effective treatment for sleep-disordered breathing.
Since my daughter has already done myofunctional therapy I am somewhat familiar with some of the exercises. The easiest time for me to do them is while I'm driving to home visits so I'm going to make them a part of my commute. We are going to start with button pulls, tongue clicks & holds, raspberries, lip pops, puff into cheeks, and saying “ooh tee”-focus on round lips and big smile. You are probably like, what the heck is she talking about. I'm not going to share specific exercise instructions in this blog post as therapy exercises are tailored to each person so please work with your therapist for the best exercises for you.
Therapy should take 6-8 weeks depending on how much I can do the exercises. The more I can do them the faster they will work.
What is next?
Since I have to wait until May to get in for my palate expansion consultation we decided it may be a good idea to get a consult for my tongue release in the meantime. I will report back once I've had that assessment. Until then I'm off to do my tongue clicks!
This blog post is in no way medical advice and just my personal experience. Please consult with your local myofunctional therapist for a full assessment.
Local to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area? Have a child you want to have assessed for tongue or lip ties? Book a visit with our Myofunctional Therapist, Julia!