Our Airway Health Journey with Ella: Four Years in the Making

It’s been a long time coming (like, four years long), but I thought it was finally time to share our journey toward better airway health with Ella!

I knew from the day she was born that Ella had a tongue and lip tie. I had taken some training in ties, but nothing close to what I know now. At the time, I brushed it off. Breastfeeding went surprisingly well—probably because I had enough milk to feed a small village. But looking back, she had so many symptoms I wish I had recognized: trouble managing letdown, coughing and choking at the breast, constant spitting up. It’s wild how hard it is to see the forest through the trees when you’re in the thick of postpartum life. Add in some pretty brutal postpartum anxiety, and I just didn’t have the capacity to do more at the time.

I do wish I had pursued a release when she was a baby, but we can only do what we can, when we can. So now, I’m practicing what I preach and supporting her oral function and airway health—just on a slightly delayed timeline.

We breastfed for about 2.5 years. She was a total rockstar with solids (shout out to baby-led weaning!), but she was also a mouth breather when she slept. Looking back at the 47 billion sleeping baby pictures I have, her mouth is open in so many of them (cringe).

Then in 2023, Ashleigh and I took a training that completely shifted my mindset—not just in my clinical work, but as a mom. I could no longer ignore the mouth breathing, high palate, and obvious tongue tie. So we had Ella start working with Julia, our OT and resident myofunctional therapy wizard.

At her first assessment, Julia confirmed what I was already suspecting (and then some): tongue and lip ties, a tiny airway, massive tonsils, and an extremely high palate. We started with a few myofunctional therapy sessions, and then Julia referred us to an ENT to address those giant tonsils. Her airway was so narrow, it’s a wonder she was breathing at night at all. (Cue the mom guilt.)

Working with Julia on bodywork, feeding therapy and myofunctional therapy.

Here are some of Ella's assessment photos.

We went ahead with surgery—tonsils and adenoids removed—and scheduled it for January 2, 2025. I was a complete wreck, but Ella was a champ. And the change? Immediate. She started sleeping through the night, mouth closed about 60% of the time, and she suddenly had more energy and better focus. Turns out, oxygen is kind of important!

Before surgery and after:

What Helped Us Survive Tonsillectomy Week:

1. Stay ahead of the pain. We didn’t miss a single dose of Tylenol or ibuprofen for a full 7 days. Not one.

2. Hydration station. We set a drink timer to go off every 20 minutes during the day. She had to sip something—water, juice, smoothies, popsicles, milkshakes, whatever. Keeping her throat moist really helped with healing.

3. All the snack options. I stocked up: frozen fruit for smoothies, applesauce, pudding, ice cream, popsicles, mashed potatoes. Letting her pick what sounded good gave her some control. And yes, we Doordashed milkshakes and fries twice a day for the first three days. #survivalmode

4. Prep, prep, prep. My kid thrives on knowing the plan. She wanted to know who’d be in the room, what would happen step-by-step, all of it. We found this book and this video that were super helpful to walk her through the process.

5. Vanilla extract = lifesaver. They warned me about the “dragon breath,” but nothing could have prepared me. It was like a bear ate poop and then died. I’m not being dramatic. Every time she looked at me and let out a slow-motion “Moooommmm,” I gagged. So I dabbed some vanilla extract under my nose and powered through the smelly snuggles.

   
   

What’s Next?

Palate expansion. Her palate is so high that we need to create space before we can release her ties. We’re planning to start that process this summer, so stay tuned for Part Two of Ella’s Airway Journey!

This blog post is in no way medical advice and just my personal experience.

Need help navigating your child's oral function? Let our OT Julia help with a full functional assessment, myofunctional therapy, bodywork, craniosacral therapy and Feldenkrais therapy! With offices in Milwaukee and Mequon we've got you covered.

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