#9 - Breathing Comes First: How Sleep, Anxiety & Oral Function Shape Our Kids’ Health - Ronit Agassi

Breathing comes first.
And when it doesn’t, everything else works harder.
In this powerful episode of Mind Your Mouth, Melissa sits down with Ronit Agassi to unpack how breathing, sleep, oral function, and nervous system regulation impact children’s behavior, anxiety, feeding challenges, and overall health.
Many kids (and adults) are labeled as “functional,” yet struggle daily with poor sleep, emotional regulation, anxiety, ADHD-like symptoms, picky eating, and chronic fatigue. Ronit explains why these issues are often rooted in airway health, oral function, and breathing patterns, not willpower or personality.
This conversation is a must-listen for:
✔ Parents navigating anxiety, sleep, or feeding challenges
✔ Providers looking to understand the whole-body connection
✔ Anyone curious about why traditional approaches often miss the root cause
We explore why early awareness, compassionate education, and functional therapy can change the trajectory of a child’s life, without shame, fear, or over-medicalization.
Because surviving isn’t thriving — and breathing is foundational to it all.

Melissa_the_mouth https://www.instagram.com/melissa_the...
Faceologymyo https://www.instagram.com/faceologymy...
Book a Myofunctional Consultation https://calendly.com/faceology/compre...
Melissa@melissamugno.com

Ronit Agassi Therapy https://www.agassitherapeutics.com/
ronit@agassitherapeutics.com
frontdesk@agassitherapeutics.com

breathing comes first, pediatric airway health, myofunctional therapy, child anxiety and sleep, picky eating and breathing, nervous system regulation, mouth breathing in children, functional therapy, whole child health, Mind Your Mouth podcast, airway focused dentistry, oral function and behavior


00:00 – Welcome to Mind Your Mouth: Intro Ronit Agassi
02:47 – The Real Role of Therapy Beyond “Speech”
06:15 – Oral Function, Feeding & Airway Development
11:04 – Breathing Comes First Everytime
13:43 – What is Moro? Fight, Flight, and Freeze
19:50 – Is Fight, Flight, and Freeze Contributing to your Childs Reflux
28:28 – Parents you’re not alone
31:26 - Why is Your Child More Prone to Allergies?
32:44 - Where Can we Bridge the Gap in Children’s Health: Tongue Ties
38:02 - Disorientation After Tongue Tie Release: Why Pre-Op Care & Stretches Matter
43:31 - Are You and Your Children Truly Functional?
51:45 - What are Practical Key Takeaways
53:17 - Surviving vs Thriving: When our Executive Functions are Offline
58:35 - Nothing Beats Mom Intuition
01:04:38 - Everything Else Aside: Bond & Love Your Baby
01:06:22 - How You Show up in The World: Ronit Agassi’s Approach
01:13:03 - There is Hope For You and Your Children
01:14:04 - Where to Find Ronit Agassi
01:25:03 - Personal Advice From Ronit Agassi