Breathing Into Life Podcast

Most parents don't know what a myofunctional evaluation is until they're already searching for answers.

Maybe your child sleeps with their mouth open. Maybe they snore, have crowded teeth, struggle with feeding, or seem tired no matter how much sleep they get.

The challenge is that many of these signs are often dismissed as something children will "grow out of." But when we step back and look at function, they can tell us a much bigger story.

In this Myo Minute, Chelcie Gjellum shares five common signs that may indicate your child would benefit from a myofunctional evaluation and why paying attention to these early clues matters.

In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why an open mouth posture is an important sign
• What snoring and mouth breathing can tell us about sleep quality
• How crowded teeth and a narrow palate reflect oral function
• The connection between feeding, speech, and oral motor development
• Why parental intuition should never be ignored

If you've been feeling like something isn't quite right but haven't gotten clear answers, this episode is for you.

Watch my FREE webinar:
breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251

🌐 Website:
breathingintolifeco.com

About Chelcie:
Chelcie Gjellum is a myofunctional therapist and CEO of Breathing Into Life Myofunctional Therapy. She helps children and families address the root causes of mouth breathing, sleep disruption, tongue dysfunction, and oral development concerns through a functional, airway-centered approach.

Mama, if you have been watching something in your child and wondering whether it is significant enough to act on — this episode is going to give you clarity.

Today Chelcie walks through the five most common signs that a child needs a myofunctional evaluation. Not rare signs. Not clinical signs you need a medical degree to spot. Signs you can look for at home, starting tonight.

She covers open mouth posture, sleep and snoring patterns, what the teeth and palate are telling you, feeding and speech history, and — the one that matters just as much as the others — the gut feeling that something is off and nobody has been able to name it yet.

If any of these sounds like your child, you do not need all five. One is enough to warrant a closer look. And this episode will show you exactly what that looks like.

Listen in — then head to the free webinar at breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251 to understand the full picture and what to do next.

"Let's just wait and see."

For many families, those four words sound reassuring.

But when it comes to breathing, sleep, jaw development, and oral function, waiting is not a neutral decision.

Because development doesn't pause while we wait.

The jaw continues to grow.
Breathing patterns become more established.
Oral habits become more ingrained.
Sleep challenges often become more persistent.

One of the most important things I teach families is that childhood development happens within windows. Certain changes are easier to influence when a child is younger and those windows do not stay open forever.

That doesn't mean every child needs treatment.

But it does mean that concerns deserve to be evaluated rather than dismissed.

If you've been told to "wait and see," yet something keeps telling you that there may be more to the story, I want you to trust that instinct.

A functional evaluation can provide clarity, direction, and peace of mind. Missing a developmental opportunity is much harder to get back.

In my free webinar, I walk you through the signs to watch for, what may be contributing to these challenges, and how to know when it's time to take the next step.

Watch my FREE webinar: breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251

🌐 Website: breathingintolifeco.com

About Chelcie: Chelcie Gjellum is a myofunctional therapist and CEO of Breathing Into Life Myofunctional Therapy. She works with children and families to address the root causes of mouth breathing, sleep disruption, tongue dysfunction, and oral development concerns.

Mama, if a doctor has ever told you to wait and see — about the snoring, the mouth breathing, the teeth, the speech, the behavior — this episode is going to validate everything your gut has been telling you.

Today Chelcie is breaking down one of the most common and most costly pieces of advice families receive in pediatric healthcare: wait and see. Not because providers are wrong or careless — but because the system was never designed to identify the functional patterns that Chelcie looks for every single day. And the result is families waiting through developmental windows they cannot get back.

She covers what those windows actually are, what waiting costs in real developmental terms, why this advice keeps getting given, and — most importantly — how to know when to stop waiting and what to do instead.

If you have been sitting on that advice and something in you keeps saying it is not right — this episode is permission to trust that instinct.

Listen in — then head to the free webinar at breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251 to learn exactly what to look for and what the evaluation process looks like.

If breastfeeding felt difficult — painful latch, clicking, gas, constant feeding, or your baby never seeming satisfied — you may have been told it was your supply, your technique, or just something that would “work itself out.”

But in many cases, there is a missing piece that isn’t discussed early enough: oral function.

In this episode of MyoMinute, Chelcie Gjellum explains how tongue restriction and low tongue function can impact feeding in infancy — and why those early feeding challenges don’t always disappear as a child grows.

You’ll learn:
• Why babies click, slip off, or fall asleep during feeds
• How tongue function affects suction, seal, and milk transfer
• Why feeding challenges can evolve into sleep, breathing, and oral development concerns later in childhood
• Why “waiting it out” often doesn’t resolve the underlying issue
• What families can do when they’re still seeing symptoms months or years later

The goal is not blame — it’s clarity. Because when we understand function, we can finally understand the pattern.

If this resonates with your experience, you can start here:

Free webinar: breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251

🌐 Website: breathingintolifeco.com

About Chelcie: About Chelcie Gjellum is a myofunctional therapist and CEO of Breathing Into Life Myofunctional Therapy. She works with children and families to address the root causes of mouth breathing, sleep disruption, tongue dysfunction, and oral development concerns.

Mama, if feeding was hard with your baby — and you've carried that with you — this episode is for you.

Today Chelcie is talking about something she sees constantly in her practice: the thread that runs from a difficult nursing experience in infancy all the way through to a school-age child who mouth breathes, won't eat anything with texture, and has a jaw full of crowded teeth. These are not separate problems. They are the same story, written in different chapters.

She covers why feeding difficulty almost always comes back to tongue function, what happens developmentally when that's never addressed, what picky eating and texture aversion are actually telling you, and what support looks like at every age — from newborns to older kids.

If you have ever wondered whether your child's feeding history is connected to what's happening with them now — the answer is almost certainly yes. And this episode is going to show you exactly how.

Listen in — then head to the free webinar at breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251 to learn what to do next.

Crowded teeth are often treated as a cosmetic or genetic issue—but what if the real cause is functional?

In this episode of Myo Minute, Chelcie Gjellum breaks down how jaw development is directly influenced by oral posture, especially tongue position.

You’ll learn why the tongue is one of the most powerful forces shaping your child’s airway and dental arch—and why low tongue posture can lead to narrowing, crowding, and breathing issues.

We cover:
• Why crowded teeth are often not genetic
• How the jaw develops based on functional forces
• The role of tongue posture in palate expansion
• What happens when the tongue rests low in the mouth
• The connection between narrow palate and airway restriction
• Why many children with dental crowding also have breathing challenges
• Why early intervention matters (especially under age 10)

This is not just about teeth—it’s about function, breathing, and long-term development.

If your child is showing signs of crowding or mouth breathing, this episode will help you understand what’s actually going on beneath the surface.

👉 Learn more or start your journey here: breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251

🌐 Website: breathingintolifeco.com

About Chelcie: Chelcie Gjellum is a myofunctional therapist and CEO of Breathing Into Life Myofunctional Therapy. She works with children and families to address the root causes of mouth breathing, sleep disruption, tongue dysfunction, and oral development concerns.

Mama, if you're sitting on a waitlist for braces or you've been told to just wait until all the adult teeth come in — this episode is going to reframe everything.

Today Chelcie is breaking down what your child's teeth are actually trying to communicate. Because crowded teeth, narrow arches, and high palates are not just cosmetic inconveniences waiting for an orthodontic fix. They are signals — about how your child is breathing, where their tongue is resting, and how their jaw has been developing since they were a baby.

She covers why the jaw is far more responsive than most parents realize, what specific dental patterns are connected to breathing and tongue function, why the timing of intervention matters enormously, and what you can actually do right now — whether your child is four or fourteen.

This one is going to make you look at your child's mouth in a completely different way. And it's going to give you the language to walk into your next dental appointment and ask better questions.

Listen in — then head to the free webinar at breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251 to learn exactly how breathing, tongue function, and development are all connected.

A tongue tie revision is often seen as the “end of the story”…

If your child had a release and you still feel like something isn’t quite right—this is important to understand.

A revision changes the restriction, but it doesn’t automatically restore function.

Because after years of compensation, the tongue doesn’t just go back to working the way it should. The patterns are still there. The habits are still there. The system is still adapting.

And when that happens, we often continue to see the same concerns show up again… mouth breathing snoring restless sleep crowded dental development and daytime symptoms that don’t fully resolve.

This is where many families get stuck—expecting that step one was the full solution.

But what we often see in practice is that the release is only part of the process. The retraining is what helps the system actually change.

Because the tongue is a muscle. And muscles need function, repetition, and guidance to relearn how they’re supposed to work.

When we miss that piece, we miss the foundation.

If this is sounding familiar, this is exactly what I help families understand and work through in my free training.

Watch my FREE webinar: breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251

🌐 Website: breathingintolifeco.com

About Chelcie: Chelcie Gjellum is a myofunctional therapist and CEO of Breathing Into Life Myofunctional Therapy. She works with children and families to address the root causes of mouth breathing, sleep disruption, tongue dysfunction, and oral development concerns.

Mama, if your child had a tongue tie revision and you still feel like something isn't right — this episode is for you.

Today Chelcie is breaking down one of the most misunderstood topics she sees in her practice every single week: tongue tie. Not the scary version. Not the dismissive "it's over-diagnosed" version.

The real, accurate picture that will actually help you understand what's going on with your child. She covers what tongue tie actually is (hint: it's about function, not just mobility), why posterior tongue ties get missed all the time, how the symptoms shift as your child gets older, and why so many families get to the revision and think they're done — when the most important step is actually what comes after.

Whether your child is a newborn, a toddler, or a school-age kid who's been mouth breathing for years — this one will give you language, clarity, and a real path forward.

Listen in, then head to the free webinar at http://breathingintolifeco.com/pl/2147652251