What do teething, tongue ties, flat spots and growing pains all have in common? They are all related to proper bone and tissue development…and mineral imbalance.
My kids are horrible teethers. Horrible. My oldest went on a nursing strike at nine months old because of teething. We managed to work through it. But then at eleven months old, while working on molars, she daytime weaned.
I tried and tried and tried. But nursing was just too painful.
Fast forward ten years to my youngest. He has basically been teething since birth. The non-stop drool and fist eating started around six weeks. I could see two teeth under the gums already at two months. At nine months old he already has eight teeth. And they hurt! Even in the middle of writing this post I had to stop because he woke up screaming in pain from teething.
Coincidentally my mom says I stopped breastfeeding at nine months old too. I just refused. My guess is that it was teething pain.
Thankfully I’m a bit wiser now and know some natural remedies like homeopathy (this is what we use) and essential oils. So we can get through without too much trouble. Plus I’m too stubborn to quit breastfeeding because of teeth. I wish I had known this stuff ten years ago!
But having teething remedies doesn’t change the fact that my kids have had a lot of pain from teething. And I know I’m not alone.
Why is Teething Painful?
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way here. It hurts when your teeth are poking through your gums. That’s a given. So teething is going to be at least somewhat bothersome for all kids.
But there is more to it. Mineral imbalance may get in the way of proper tooth development.This includes the teeth as well as the rest of the mouth.
Anybody else have kids with a narrow mouth and high palate? Does it make sense that if your mouth is misshapen and your teeth are not developing properly that it would be harder for them to come in easily? Which would then make the process more painful? I’d say so!
This is also likely the cause of mouth breathing. I wrote about how I helped my oldest overcome mouth breathing. She has had a high palate since birth, and it impacted her eating and breathing. The constant open mouth then made the narrow palate even worse.
What is a Tongue Tie?
Tongue ties, lip ties and cleft palates are all referred to as mid-line defects. Basically something went wrong in the womb with structural development form the center of the body (brain, mouth, spine, etc.).
I’m specifically addressing tongue and lip ties. All four of my kids have had them. But I didn’t know anything about them until my third was struggling with feeding. So my third and fourth have had theirs revised. My oldest also had her lip tie revised at age seven.
A tongue tie is when the mucous membrane attaching the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too large or connected in the wrong place. In some children it is very obvious as their tongue is completely restricted. At the other end of the spectrum is a posterior tongue tie where the membrane is only visible when the tongue is lifted and the tissue pulled back. It is harder to diagnose. All of my kids have had posterior tongue ties.
We now see more and more babies being diagnosed with tongue and lip ties. Some say it is genetic or related to the MTHFR genetic mutation.
As I was researching tongue ties I also came across a post about one mom’s story where her tongue tied son was a thumb sucker. It was a light bulb moment for me. Both of my daughters have been thumb suckers. They both have had the hardest time with nursing. I was also a thumb sucker! Until age five. My oldest went on a nursing strike at nine months. My third had her tongue tie revised a second time at nine months. And I self-weaned at nine months. I see a pattern here. Not a coincidence.
Last year when we started seeing our new chiropractor he immediately commented on my four year old’s thumb sucking. He told me kids don’t just do that. There is a reason behind it. At the time I wasn’t sure why. But now I get it. Nursing was HARD for them due to their ties. So their thumbs became comforting instead of me. So if you have a thumb/finger sucker you may also have a tongue-tied child.
What Causes a Flat Head?
Let’s stick with the head for a bit longer here. There is another infant development issue that has risen in recent years – flat head, or plagiocephaly. This is another case where there is improper development on one side of the body.
But in addition to an imbalance in the neck and spine we get into the bone formation of babies.
Overdoing on vitamin D can cause high tissue calcium, which robs the bones of calcium. Use caution when considering Vitmain D supplements. Vitamin D is actually a hormone.
Does “Back is Best” Cause Flat Head?
I believe it is a myth that the recent increase in flat head syndrome is caused by babies sleeping on their backs. I have four kids. Two had flat heads – my oldest and youngest.
My oldest was often in a car seat, swing, etc. I didn’t know that it wasn’t good for her. After we noticed the flat spot we tried to take measures to fix it by positioning her certain ways when she slept, nursing in different positions, etc. It did improve some over time. But not fully.
My youngest was the total opposite. From birth he was so rarely laying with his head against anything (I’ve been overly paranoid since my experience with my oldest). We don’t have a removable car seat, so he was only in his seat for a few minutes here and there (we don’t go away often). He was never in a swing or other contraption. I held him or wore him in a carrier, even while napping. And yet he had a flat spot (and has painful teething, and a tongue tie,…).
Contrary to my oldest, however, his flat spot is now almost completely gone. I don’t think anybody besides myself would even notice the slight imbalance that is left. By releasing his tongue tie and working with a craniosacral therapist to release his body, his bones were able to shift.
What Are Growing Pains?
Let’s take a trip all the way down the body to the legs. Has your child ever woken in the night with leg pain? We just chock it up to “growing pains.”
But if you ask a doctor what growing pains are…they don’t actually know! A basic Web MD search shows that doctors think they “might” be just muscle soreness. And they “might” not be related to growth.
Growing pains are more likely due to a mineral imbalance. Read about how we use magnesium for growing pains!
I have experienced this first hand with my third child. Since she was very little she would wake in the night crying in pain. All she could say was that her legs hurt. She still does it now after being active. Her bones are so weak that it doesn’t take much for them to hurt. Even just gently grabbing on to her arm to pull her away from a sibling argument causes her to cry in pain.
If your child complains of leg pains, you may want to consider his diet. Need help in this department? I can help with nutritional therapy!
Hello
I had the same as I started to give my daughter a liver and egg yolks, not even as she was about 6 months old. She began to teet at the age of 3 months and bite me to the blood about 9 months but I endured and I feed the second year. During pregnancy, I was on a vegan diet so I ate a lot of beta-carotene and supplemented with algae dha and a vegan multivitamin. Can my daughter have an excess of vitamin A because of how I was eating? I, as a little girl, drank tran and I had all the symptoms of excess that you mentioned mainly pain in my legs, I cried so much. Do I have an excess of vit. And could I give it to my daughter even though I did not eat zoonotic products during pregnancy? I’m worried about her small height and weak weight gain, so I feed her now and eggs and meat and a lot of butter which she would eat with spoons. I heard that it is a vitamin d deficiency if the child wants it. Thank you for any advice because I recently bought even tran Rosita and I do not know whether to give it, some say that yes. Fame God, such articles as yours, and a red lamp illuminates me …
Yes, a Vitamin A overload is passed on to your child both in utero and through breastmilk. Butter is fine to give her. Egg whites are ok. Egg yolks are very high in Vitamin A, so don’t give those too much. I will be sharing more about the Vitamin A Detox diet in a post very soon.
Mary, I just want to share this as it has affected me all my life, and could have been avoided if my parents had known better.
I have an “imbalance” that I especially notice in my face, which is flatter on the left side than the right. The shape of the cheek has been most obvious, and the smaller nares on the left side, and now that I’m getting older (63) I can see the difference in the shape of my eyes. From age 7 to age 16, I slept on the far side of a lighted closet (my sister was on the near side and the light didn’t get into her face); my dear dad wanted us to not be in the dark, in case we woke up at night or something. So during all my growing-bone years, I slept on my left side; otherwise, I could not get to sleep. And because of that habit, I still struggle to sleep on my back. I truly believe this affected everything, including the difference of the teeth/jaw on the left side from the right.
I just want to help everyone to know, sleeping on the back is best for beauty and health throughout one’s lifetime!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kathy! I hope you can find some healing.
Hi, I’ve been reading up about vitamin a the last 3-4 months. Have just now come across your site and I’m glad I found it. I’ve been eating low vitamin and haven’t had much improvements so far but I want to persist because the evidence is convincing.
I have both lip and tongue tie, though mild, nothing was done about it. I have joint and neck pain as well as other symptoms of vitamin a toxicity.
My eldest was diagnosed with rickets as a baby but came right soon after. He’s now 9 and has a lot of cavities.
My youngest has a underbite. His bottom teeth sit in front of his top teeth.
Hopefully I’m on the right track as to what has and is causing our health issues.
The Vitamin A Detox diet is tricky, Sophie. There is more to it than just avoiding Vitamin A. But that alone will do great things. It just might take a bit longer. I will have a guide to the diet coming out very soon! Or you can work with Dr. Garrett Smith. I’ve got more posts and recipes coming. I hope you stick around and that this is the path of healing you’ve been looking for.
Wow, I had terrible ‘growing pains’ as a child, and still get them as a 28yr old to the point they keep me from sleeping. It’s definitely not ‘muscle soreness’ my bones are hurting like heck. So glad I found your site (thank you Matt Stone) and articles, so much research to do! Thank you, Mary!
Thanks for stopping by, Kate! It’s all very fascinating!! I hope you learn a lot.
Hi Mary. Given your recent change in opinion about vitamin A, do you still feel it’s related to tongue ties and flat head?
Good question, Lisa. It’s hard to say. I don’t really have the answers at this point. I may end up totally removing this post or redirecting it when I have time.
How much vit a do you need to take to get a toxic level build up? Is it a few months of a supplement or years on supplements?
See the note at the top of the post. I do not support the Vitamin A as a toxin theory anymore. Yes, you can overdo on any fat-soluble vitamin. But eating normal amounts will not do that. If you are taking high doses of vitamin A long-term it could be problematic. But normal consumption of vitamin A is healthy.