What do you think?
Rate this book
Breathe, Sleep, Thrive: Discover how airway health can unlock your child’s greater health, learning, and potential
Understand airway health to unlock your child's full potential.
Did you know that the way a child breathes will impact every aspect of their development including their sleep quality, learning, behaviour, jaw and facial development, speech, and future health?
Common issues children experience such as snoring, disturbed sleep, poor attention and concentration, ADHD-symptoms, difficulties with emotional regulation, recurrent ear infections, speech or feeding concerns, teeth grinding, crooked teeth, and more, can often be symptoms of a bigger, underlying problem. These are all symptoms of dysfunctional breathing and unrestorative sleep.
Many health care professionals are not taught to ask about a child’s breathing or sleep quality, and this knowledge deficit leads to the dismissal of a child's problems. We're told "they will grow out of it," but in the case of poor breathing and sleep left untreated, children often grow into different problems, falling short of their full potential all the way into adulthood.
Dr Shereen Lim was one of Australia’s first dentists to obtain a qualification in dental sleep medicine. She has a decade of experience in managing snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea and is calling for a reformed approach towards airway health from infancy instead of managing dysfunctional breathing and symptoms.
Breathe, Sleep, Thrive will connect the dots to help you identify the important developmental milestones for good airway health development and breathing, the red flags that indicate things are off track, and what can be done about it to help your child not just survive, but thrive.
Did you know that the way a child breathes will impact every aspect of their development including their sleep quality, learning, behaviour, jaw and facial development, speech, and future health?
Common issues children experience such as snoring, disturbed sleep, poor attention and concentration, ADHD-symptoms, difficulties with emotional regulation, recurrent ear infections, speech or feeding concerns, teeth grinding, crooked teeth, and more, can often be symptoms of a bigger, underlying problem. These are all symptoms of dysfunctional breathing and unrestorative sleep.
Many health care professionals are not taught to ask about a child’s breathing or sleep quality, and this knowledge deficit leads to the dismissal of a child's problems. We're told "they will grow out of it," but in the case of poor breathing and sleep left untreated, children often grow into different problems, falling short of their full potential all the way into adulthood.
Dr Shereen Lim was one of Australia’s first dentists to obtain a qualification in dental sleep medicine. She has a decade of experience in managing snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea and is calling for a reformed approach towards airway health from infancy instead of managing dysfunctional breathing and symptoms.
Breathe, Sleep, Thrive will connect the dots to help you identify the important developmental milestones for good airway health development and breathing, the red flags that indicate things are off track, and what can be done about it to help your child not just survive, but thrive.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2022
34 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 4, 2023
‘Sleep is a key pillar of health - Don’t ignore the snore’ - A major contribution for airway health
Australian author Dr. Shereen Lim has both dental and sleep medicine backgrounds and in this exceptionally important book she delivers a scientifically sound, user-friendly vastly important resource for understanding and incorporating airway health. As she states, ‘My goal is to make airway health such a powerful movement that everyone becomes more aware and knowledgeable about it.’ Providing information about many well known disabilities and diseases that have been treated based on symptoms rather that addressing etiology - airway structure that can be corrected at an early age - Dr. Lim teaches how to highlight the path of addressing root causes rather than managing symptoms, such as early management of dental /jaw health, infant feeding practices, oral rest posture, myofunctional disorders, and the major importance of nasal, not mouth, breathing. ‘There is a better way - and it starts with being proactive in your child’s health, not reactive as modern society has trained us to be.’
As she states, ‘Whilst lifespans are increasing, more people are succumbing to degenerative diseases and reduced health-related quality of life into adulthood. An increasing proportion of the population is medicated from the cradle to the grave to manage diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and other common illnesses and diseases.’ ‘Proper breathing is rarely discussed in parenting guides, yet it’s the most important function as a baby enters the world, even more important than food and water. It’s the one thing we absolutely cannot live without. The way we breathe will impact every aspect of our health, learning, growth, and future health.’ Her guidance provides accessible information on the warning signs of compromised airway health, especially in the newborn and infant stage, discussing the anatomy flaws that can be corrected if observed proactively, offering photographs and illustrations of oral anatomy that make her scientific research and practice immediately accessible to the reader. ‘Breathing difficulties during sleep are linked to unrestorative sleep, enhanced stress, inflammation, and oxygen deprivation, which means increased risk in virtually every chronic inflammatory disease.’
Dr. Lim is passionate about helping people recognize the signs and create a shift from treating disease and symptoms to addressing root causes and promoting airway health and optimal breathing from infancy. This book is a major contribution to medicine in all aspects of airway health - the go-to guide for parents with newborns, for patients with defects due to mismanagement of infancy airway maladaptations, for dentists, ENT physicians, and for everyone involved in child care. Very highly recommended.
Australian author Dr. Shereen Lim has both dental and sleep medicine backgrounds and in this exceptionally important book she delivers a scientifically sound, user-friendly vastly important resource for understanding and incorporating airway health. As she states, ‘My goal is to make airway health such a powerful movement that everyone becomes more aware and knowledgeable about it.’ Providing information about many well known disabilities and diseases that have been treated based on symptoms rather that addressing etiology - airway structure that can be corrected at an early age - Dr. Lim teaches how to highlight the path of addressing root causes rather than managing symptoms, such as early management of dental /jaw health, infant feeding practices, oral rest posture, myofunctional disorders, and the major importance of nasal, not mouth, breathing. ‘There is a better way - and it starts with being proactive in your child’s health, not reactive as modern society has trained us to be.’
As she states, ‘Whilst lifespans are increasing, more people are succumbing to degenerative diseases and reduced health-related quality of life into adulthood. An increasing proportion of the population is medicated from the cradle to the grave to manage diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and other common illnesses and diseases.’ ‘Proper breathing is rarely discussed in parenting guides, yet it’s the most important function as a baby enters the world, even more important than food and water. It’s the one thing we absolutely cannot live without. The way we breathe will impact every aspect of our health, learning, growth, and future health.’ Her guidance provides accessible information on the warning signs of compromised airway health, especially in the newborn and infant stage, discussing the anatomy flaws that can be corrected if observed proactively, offering photographs and illustrations of oral anatomy that make her scientific research and practice immediately accessible to the reader. ‘Breathing difficulties during sleep are linked to unrestorative sleep, enhanced stress, inflammation, and oxygen deprivation, which means increased risk in virtually every chronic inflammatory disease.’
Dr. Lim is passionate about helping people recognize the signs and create a shift from treating disease and symptoms to addressing root causes and promoting airway health and optimal breathing from infancy. This book is a major contribution to medicine in all aspects of airway health - the go-to guide for parents with newborns, for patients with defects due to mismanagement of infancy airway maladaptations, for dentists, ENT physicians, and for everyone involved in child care. Very highly recommended.
May 21, 2023
Book Made My Health Better & I Just Finished it!!!
WEhen it comes to self-help books that can have an immediate impact on your quality of life, ‘Breath, Sleep, Thrive’ by Dr. Shereen Lim should be at the top of any list. I will recommend this book to friends and family for many different reasons, but mainly because it is truly vital to learn how these body parts and processes impact all aspects of our lives.
Focusing on how improper jaw/dental development can cause a host of health problems, this book is packed with practical information and case studies which back up Dr. Lim’s primary thesis: Nasal breathing is a “missing pillar of health,” and mouth breathing is a “common contributor” to health problems that remains “unaddressed” by healthcare systems and professionals.
One of Australia’s first handful of dentists to become qualified in dental sleep medicine, she has fashioned a book that can be consumed cover-to-cover or employed as a reference tool. Right away I recognized symptoms from my own mouth breathing, especially when sleeping, and moved towards correction. I found immediate relief of neck tension and headaches that was accompanied by better energy and concentration, also my posture improved because I realized how connected it was.
Major emphasis falls on babies and children because proper growth of the mouth and jaw, combined with correct use of the tongue and muscles, will set them up to avoid serious conditions later, let alone in the immediate when they aren’t breathing or feeding properly. She goes into detail how breastfeeding is vitally important and alternatives such as pacifiers, pouch food or spoon feeding can be detrimental.
Everyone will be keen to learn how modern industrial society has contributed to, as Dr. Lim cites in Chapter Six, the “Melting of the Human Face.” Diet, sugars, processed foods and many other factors have helped create “flattened cheekbones, lower jaw melting down and back, longer faces, recessed chins and faces that are less attractive.” GET THIS BOOK AND LEARN IMPORTANT HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE LESSONS!!!
Brad Butler, Author of ‘Without Redemption’ and ‘A World Flight Over Russia.’
WEhen it comes to self-help books that can have an immediate impact on your quality of life, ‘Breath, Sleep, Thrive’ by Dr. Shereen Lim should be at the top of any list. I will recommend this book to friends and family for many different reasons, but mainly because it is truly vital to learn how these body parts and processes impact all aspects of our lives.
Focusing on how improper jaw/dental development can cause a host of health problems, this book is packed with practical information and case studies which back up Dr. Lim’s primary thesis: Nasal breathing is a “missing pillar of health,” and mouth breathing is a “common contributor” to health problems that remains “unaddressed” by healthcare systems and professionals.
One of Australia’s first handful of dentists to become qualified in dental sleep medicine, she has fashioned a book that can be consumed cover-to-cover or employed as a reference tool. Right away I recognized symptoms from my own mouth breathing, especially when sleeping, and moved towards correction. I found immediate relief of neck tension and headaches that was accompanied by better energy and concentration, also my posture improved because I realized how connected it was.
Major emphasis falls on babies and children because proper growth of the mouth and jaw, combined with correct use of the tongue and muscles, will set them up to avoid serious conditions later, let alone in the immediate when they aren’t breathing or feeding properly. She goes into detail how breastfeeding is vitally important and alternatives such as pacifiers, pouch food or spoon feeding can be detrimental.
Everyone will be keen to learn how modern industrial society has contributed to, as Dr. Lim cites in Chapter Six, the “Melting of the Human Face.” Diet, sugars, processed foods and many other factors have helped create “flattened cheekbones, lower jaw melting down and back, longer faces, recessed chins and faces that are less attractive.” GET THIS BOOK AND LEARN IMPORTANT HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE LESSONS!!!
Brad Butler, Author of ‘Without Redemption’ and ‘A World Flight Over Russia.’
May 30, 2023
“Breathe, Sleep, Thrive” is a comprehensive and well-organized look into an often overlooked area of healthcare: the airway. The author, Dr. Shereen Lim, is a dentist with qualifications in dental sleep medicine. From the first chapter, Dr. Lim’s passion and knowledge shines through as she shares her personal experience in the field and the extensive research she has done. She writes, “my goal is to make airway health such a powerful movement that everyone becomes more aware and knowledgeable about it.” This book is a key factor in spreading awareness, presented in a thorough but easy-to-understand format.
In the book, Dr. Lim discusses childhood airway development, and how it can affect various other areas of health. She provides an array of solutions, from forming good habits early on to fixing problems that arise later. Accompanied by case studies, photos, and charts, this book is great for anyone looking to better understand airway health and its effects. As someone with little medical knowledge, I was worried that this would be a difficult read, but I found that Dr. Lim presents her findings in a way that I had no trouble understanding, making this book perfect for anyone who is new to the subject.
I would highly recommend “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive” to parents, healthcare providers, or anyone with an interest in better understanding their health. Although Dr. Lim primarily focuses on children and their development, there is something for all ages to take away from this book. This book is truly breaking new ground in an up-and-coming field of medicine, as I haven’t seen anything else this extensive, well-researched, yet also personal when it comes to airway health and development.
In the book, Dr. Lim discusses childhood airway development, and how it can affect various other areas of health. She provides an array of solutions, from forming good habits early on to fixing problems that arise later. Accompanied by case studies, photos, and charts, this book is great for anyone looking to better understand airway health and its effects. As someone with little medical knowledge, I was worried that this would be a difficult read, but I found that Dr. Lim presents her findings in a way that I had no trouble understanding, making this book perfect for anyone who is new to the subject.
I would highly recommend “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive” to parents, healthcare providers, or anyone with an interest in better understanding their health. Although Dr. Lim primarily focuses on children and their development, there is something for all ages to take away from this book. This book is truly breaking new ground in an up-and-coming field of medicine, as I haven’t seen anything else this extensive, well-researched, yet also personal when it comes to airway health and development.
July 14, 2023
Every first-time parent should read this in anticipation for their baby’s arrival so they are prepared from the get-go and know what to look for with their child.
Well-researched, collaborated information. Easy to read format. Will be referring to this often and recommending to everyone.
Well-researched, collaborated information. Easy to read format. Will be referring to this often and recommending to everyone.
March 18, 2024
Required reading!
This is a great book for parents and clinicians alike. Dr Lim explains paediatric airways in a very easy to read way. Comprehensive and a must read for dentists looking to provide holistic care to their patients!
This is a great book for parents and clinicians alike. Dr Lim explains paediatric airways in a very easy to read way. Comprehensive and a must read for dentists looking to provide holistic care to their patients!
July 12, 2025
Lots of really good information and research. It's a lot to absorb, but i feel really confident speaking to medical professionals about sleep and breathing issues with my kids. This book will definitely help me as an advocate and voice for their health.
January 3, 2026
Good book but had a lot of the same concepts repeated over and over again which is unnecessary.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews