Causes of snoring in children: what causes them and treatment methods
Snoring is considered a common occurrence among adults. Men, obese and elderly people snore especially often. But rhonchopathy (noisy breathing) also occurs in children.
Table of contents:
- Causes of snoring in children: what causes them and treatment methods
- Causes of snoring in children
- What is a cause for concern?
- The most common cause of children's snoring
- The relationship between snoring and colds
- Treatment of snoring with a runny nose
- How to get rid of snoring that is not associated with a cold?
- Prevention measures
- First step
- Snoring in a child: causes, treatment, prevention
- Causes of snoring in a child
- Diagnosis of snoring
- Treatment and prevention depending on the diagnosis
- Allergic rhinitis (rhinitis)
- Infectious runny nose (rhinitis)
- Tonsillitis (tonsillitis)
- Overgrowth of adenoids
- Deviated nasal septum
- Overweight
- Congenital pathologies of the nasopharynx
- Treatment of snoring with modern folk remedies
- Snoring in a child: what parents should know
- Causes of snoring
- Acute bacterial and viral infections
- Allergy
- Other ENT diseases
- Malocclusion
- Enlarged thymus gland
- Rolandic (nocturnal) epilepsy
- Why is snoring dangerous for a child?
- Diagnostics
- Drug therapy
- Surgery
- Tips and tricks
- Is your child snoring during sleep normal or a cause for concern?
- Causes
- Treatment
- Allergy
- Angina
- Adenoids
- Overweight
- Ritty.ru
- Women's online magazine for lovely ladies
- A child snores in his sleep: what is the danger and why you need to help him get rid of snoring
- Children's snoring is a danger signal
- External causes of children's snoring
- Improper development of organs causing children's snoring
- Diseases that cause snoring in a child
- Child snoring - which doctor should I contact?
- Tips to help your child stop snoring
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Child snoring is an unnatural manifestation of breathing disorders in a child during sleep.
The causes of snoring must be clarified. After all, loud snoring can be caused either by a harmless runny nose or by more serious pathologies that require treatment.
Causes of snoring in children
Noisy breathing can be observed in infancy, at 3 years of age, and older. Snoring most often occurs between the ages of 2 and 7 years. According to statistics, approximately 5% of children are susceptible to rhonchopathy.
The causes of snoring in children can be either temporary or permanent. All of them must be subject to timely correction, since a child’s restless sleep makes him irritable and capricious, inhibits growth and development, affects the student’s attentiveness and academic performance, and increases the child’s body’s susceptibility to infections. Also, loud snoring can be accompanied by serious diseases of the cardiovascular system and pathologies of the ENT organs.
The following factors can provoke vibrating snoring:
- Nasal congestion caused by allergic reactions. As a result, the nasal passages become swollen and narrowed, which makes it difficult for air to pass through and the child is forced to breathe through the mouth. Such snoring is eliminated after identifying the allergen and selecting suitable medications by the doctor.
- Colds or viral diseases. This type of snoring will go away after treatment of a runny nose, cough and excessive sputum production.
- Growth of adenoids or tonsils. As they grow, they block the airways during sleep and prevent oxygen from entering the lungs. Usually treatment is based on surgical removal of enlarged adenoids and this decision is made by the doctor. After the operation, the cough and runny nose disappear, and the child’s sleep becomes quiet and peaceful.
- A similar reason is the formation of cysts, polyps or tumors in the nasal cavity or nasopharynx. In this case, surgery is also performed.
- Difficulty breathing and snoring also occur due to abnormalities in the structure of the respiratory system. Congenital or acquired deformation of the nasal septum, narrowing of the sinuses, underdeveloped jaw, malocclusion, all this negatively affects the respiratory process and causes noisy breathing. Only surgery can get rid of such problems.
- The cause of snoring may be obesity or endocrine diseases. If the problem is excess body weight, then after losing weight, normal breathing will be restored and noisy snoring will disappear. Diseases of the endocrine system are treated under the supervision of an endocrinologist.
- Snoring can also manifest itself as a sign of sleep apnea syndrome, a serious pathology characterized by short-term pauses in breathing during sleep. If apnea is not treated, severe complications develop as a result of oxygen starvation of the internal organs.
What is a cause for concern?
In most cases, snoring is not dangerous and goes away within a few days after the runny nose is treated. But sometimes wait-and-see tactics are not justified. Loud snoring does not go away, but only gets worse. How can you tell when you can wait and when you should see a doctor urgently?
When watching a sleeping child, you need to carefully listen to his breathing. You may notice periodic short-term delays in breathing movements. After such a delay, the child takes a breath, snoring is heard, and the baby may even wake up. These are signs of sleep apnea syndrome and in this case you cannot delay visiting a doctor.
You can also pay attention to the child's behavior. Restless sleep is often accompanied by moodiness, poor appetite, and drowsiness. Older children may complain of headaches, increased fatigue, and decreased concentration. Schoolchildren have difficulty mastering the material, academic performance drops, and memory is impaired. All this occurs as a result of insufficient oxygen supply to brain cells and, of course, requires an immediate response.
If a child does not have a fever and does not have a cold, but snoring is heard every night, then this is a signal that there are problems with the respiratory tract: inflammatory processes, enlarged adenoids or abnormalities in the structure. Only a doctor should solve these problems.
The most common cause of children's snoring
The most common causes of snoring in children are enlarged tonsils or adenoids, allergies and colds.
Allergic reactions in the form of a runny nose and swelling of the nasal mucosa can occur in response to various irritants, for example, dust, pollen, animal dander, certain foods or medications. You can figure out what exactly causes allergies using tests, based on the results of which an allergist prescribes treatment.
In some cases, they try to treat adenoids or tonsils with medication, but more often surgery to remove them is prescribed. The doctor and parents decide together which way to go.
The relationship between snoring and colds
Weakened immunity leads to the fact that children often catch colds or catch viral infections, especially during the cold season and when visiting institutions with a large number of children.
As a result of the disease, swelling of the nasal mucosa occurs, the nasal passages become clogged with mucous secretions and the child is forced to breathe through the mouth. The throat also becomes inflamed, and the disease is accompanied by coughing and the production of large amounts of sputum, which, combined with fever and general malaise, leads to breathing problems, restless sleep and snoring.
Treatment of snoring with a runny nose
Treatment for snoring caused by a cold involves eliminating symptoms that irritate the respiratory tract.
- Taking antipyretic drugs or rubbing with diluted vinegar or alcohol will help reduce the high temperature. If chills are observed, it is necessary to warm the child with hot tea or an additional blanket.
- To get rid of a runny nose, your doctor will recommend nasal drops that eliminate swelling of the nasal passages and dry mucous membranes.
- Cough and phlegm will be eliminated by taking antitussive syrup or special lozenges that soften the irritated throat as it dissolves.
- Additionally, it would be a good idea to give your child vitamins and immune boosters to strengthen the body’s defenses.
How to get rid of snoring that is not associated with a cold?
If your child does not have a cold, but snoring repeats every night, you can try some ways to get rid of snoring:
- Place a humidifier in the baby's room and ventilate the room more often. This will help the nasopharyngeal mucosa not dry out, and the child will sleep peacefully.
- For the same purposes, it will be useful to rinse the nasal passages with boiled salted water or special pharmaceutical solutions with sea salt.
- Allergic rhinitis will be alleviated by regular wet cleaning of the children's bedroom, frequent changes of bed linen and the use of pillows and blankets with hypoallergenic fillings.
- It is advisable to teach your child to sleep on his side. In this position, snoring practically does not appear. To do this, you can place an additional pillow on the baby’s back, which will prevent him from lying on his back while sleeping.
- It's worth trying to raise the head of the bed a little higher. As a result, the weakened muscles of the nasopharynx are prevented from retracting, and snoring will not occur.
- To relieve noisy breathing, there are many devices and devices. You can buy your child an anti-snoring pacifier or even a CPAP machine. This device is a compressor that pumps air at optimal pressure through a hose attached to a mask worn on the face. This allows oxygen to flow freely into the lungs. This device is especially suitable if the child stops breathing during sleep.
Prevention measures
As a preventive measure, an effective method of training the muscles of the nasopharynx would be a set of exercises:
- The child puts his hand on his chin and tries to move it back and then pull it forward. Repeat the exercise 20 times.
- With your mouth closed, pull your tongue toward your larynx 30 times. You should feel tension under your chin.
- Repeat 30 times how to pronounce the letter “I”. It's better to do this before bed.
Additionally, you should strengthen your child’s immunity. For this purpose, it is useful to carry out hardening procedures, walk more in the fresh air, and do exercises. Walking barefoot on grass or pebbles strengthens a growing body well.
It is also necessary to monitor the child’s weight, since obese people are most often susceptible to breathing problems.
By purposefully working with your child, you can significantly reduce the risk of snoring and eliminate existing loud snoring.
First step
A small child often cannot complain about poor sleep or explain the cause of the discomfort. Therefore, parents should carefully monitor the behavior and well-being of their children, sensitively responding to the first signs of breathing disorder during sleep. Regardless of the severity of the situation and the causes of snoring, you need to start dealing with the problem with a visit to the doctor. You cannot conduct experiments on your own child’s health.
Source: http://hraponetka.ru/hrap-u-detey-prichinyi-i-lechenie/
Snoring in a child: causes, treatment, prevention
There are a sufficient number of reasons why a child may snore. They can be associated with both diseases and anatomical abnormalities. But there is a fact: snoring in childhood is dangerous because the airways are not yet wide enough, and breathing may temporarily stop. But most often, snoring occurs when nasal breathing is difficult and the child has to breathe through the mouth.
Causes of snoring in a child
Like most diseases, the causes of snoring are varied:
- Adenoids. In 80% of cases, they cause snoring in children. An enlarged tonsil partially or completely blocks the gap between the nose and larynx. Nasal breathing is impaired or becomes impossible
- Formation of nasal polyps
- Inflammatory process in the nasopharynx accompanied by edema
- Common runny nose
- Deviated nasal septum
- Congenital or acquired abnormalities in the development of the hard or soft palate
- Narrow structure of the nasopharynx, which is not a pathology
- Unnatural structure of the front bone of the skull
- Sore throat and other infectious diseases
- Thymus enlargement. This is the thymus gland, which is located at the level of the fourth rib in the front, upper part of the chest. It produces a number of hormones and lymphocytes for the blood and is partly responsible for the child's immunity. Too large a thymus is very dangerous for children, as it causes compression of the nerves and blood vessels passing through the chest
- Asthma
- Overweight.
Diagnosis of snoring
If snoring interferes with a child’s normal sleep and causes a short-term cessation of breathing, then treatment is required. Pay immediate attention to the following symptoms in children:
- Absent-mindedness
- Nervous behavior and moodiness
- Fast and frequent fatigue
- Study problems
- Intermittent and restless sleep, during which the child suffocates
- The appearance of enuresis
- Stunting
- Increased sweating during sleep
- Frequent diseases of the respiratory organs.
Polysomnography will help determine how dangerous a child’s snoring is. Before going to bed, sensors are connected to the child, which take readings of the body’s vital functions and monitor the general condition. The main criterion for determining the danger of snoring during sleep is the presence of dissolved oxygen in the blood. The higher its level, the less danger snoring poses to the body.
If problems with the respiratory system are suspected, consultation with an otolaryngologist is necessary. He will be able to determine the exact cause of snoring and recommend treatment options.
Treatment and prevention depending on the diagnosis
Treatment can be medicinal (conservative) and surgical. Surgical methods are resorted to only if drug therapy has not brought benefit.
Allergic rhinitis (rhinitis)
To prevent your child from snoring, you need to eliminate exposure to allergy-causing substances. Carry out wet cleaning more often, review the home menu, get rid of pets and soft toys. Your doctor may prescribe antihistamines. If all recommendations are followed, within a few days the children’s condition improves significantly, and snoring during sleep disappears.
Infectious runny nose (rhinitis)
For viral infections, treatment is prescribed by a doctor. Only he can determine the antiviral drugs, nasal drops or vasoconstrictors needed for children. It is worth remembering that it is dangerous to get carried away with nasal drops as self-medication: over time, addiction occurs, and the result of an overdose of drops is often atrophy of the mucous membrane.
Tonsillitis (tonsillitis)
Leads to enlargement of the tonsils, which makes the child's breathing difficult both during sleep and while awake. Snoring occurs during sleep, and the child may begin to choke and cough. If treated incorrectly or untimely, angina can become chronic. Permanently enlarged tonsils can lead to persistent snoring during sleep. Chronic tonsillitis can also cause other serious complications.
Overgrowth of adenoids
In this case, conservative drug treatment is carried out. Surgical methods for children are used only in the absence of positive dynamics. Most often, this problem is caused by infectious diseases, and it is important to eliminate these causes.
The indication for removal of adenoids is their closure of more than 2/3 of the lumen of the nasopharynx, or complete closure of the opening of the Eustachian tube.
Deviated nasal septum
If a child has a deviated nasal septum (for example, as a result of injury), then the only way to solve the problem is to surgically correct it. But such an operation is permissible only when the bone skeleton is completely formed, that is, after the child leaves adolescence.
Overweight
If the cause of snoring is excess weight, then after consulting a doctor and excluding hormonal, hereditary and other diseases from suspicion, a diet may be prescribed.
Congenital pathologies of the nasopharynx
Treatment of snoring with modern folk remedies
If no pathologies or diseases of the respiratory system are detected in children, then to get rid of snoring you can use the following recommendations:
- Make sure your child sleeps only on a comfortable pillow that provides normal head position
- Teach your child to sleep not on his back or stomach, but on his side. On the back, the head most often falls back, and snoring occurs during sleep. When resting on your stomach, due to an uncomfortable position, breathing may also become difficult.
- Ventilate your bedroom before going to bed to saturate the air with oxygen. Regularly wipe the room, select toys and arrange furniture so that there is as little dust as possible in the room, which can cause snoring in a child
- To moisturize the mucous membrane, use weak saline solutions
- Keep your child busy with singing. It perfectly trains the muscles of the mouth, larynx and develops breathing.
For gymnastics purposes, a child must:
- Repeat vowel sounds several dozen times every day. Pronounce the sound “I” with tense muscles of the mouth and neck. Pronounce the sound “Y” while inhaling, straining your tongue
- Strain the far part of the tongue and try to move it as far as possible towards the throat
- Move your jaw from one side to the other.
In addition, it will be useful to use some tools:
- 3 leaves of regular white cabbage, finely chopped and mixed with one tablespoon of honey. Eat shortly before bed
- For thirty days, give your child a quarter glass of freshly squeezed white cabbage juice mixed with a teaspoon of honey before bedtime.
- Finely chop two small onions and fry in olive oil over low heat. Grate one carrot and mix with fried onions
- Eat one baked carrot 3 times a day, an hour before meals.
But do not forget that the main recommendation when children snore during sleep is and remains to see a doctor.
Source: http://lekhar.ru/simptomy/dyhatelnaya-sistema-cheloveka/xrap-u-rebenka/
Snoring in a child: what parents should know
Snoring during sleep is not considered normal, especially in childhood. If your baby has a cold and snores, there is no need to worry. The snoring will stop as soon as the child recovers. If snoring is constant, and such provoking factors as an uncomfortable pillow and mattress, dry air in the room are excluded, you need to pay close attention to the problem. Snoring indicates the development of a serious illness. Let's figure out why snoring in a child occurs and how to treat it.
Causes of snoring
The mechanism of snoring in adults and children is the same: the soft palate and uvula vibrate as air passes through the respiratory tract, and vibration of the soft tissue is accompanied by specific sounds. This phenomenon may be due to:
- structural abnormalities;
- narrowing of the airway lumen due to a particular disease, excess weight;
- violation of the nervous regulation of the respiratory act, genetic diseases.
Snoring also manifests itself as apnea syndrome - a disorder accompanied by short-term interruptions in breathing during sleep (stops last 10 seconds or longer, and can occur every 1.5 minutes).
Acute bacterial and viral infections
A child with a cold may snore with a runny nose and/or inflammation of the pharynx, tonsils, or larynx. The secretion produced by the nasal mucosa makes breathing difficult. If the mucous membrane of the pharynx and larynx becomes inflamed and swollen, the lumen of the airways narrows, breathing also becomes difficult, and the child begins to snore.
Allergy
A similar situation occurs if the child suffers from allergies. Only inflammation of the mucous membranes is provoked not by viruses or bacteria, but by various allergens - plant pollen, bird fluff or pet hair, synthetic bedding fillers, food. An allergic reaction is accompanied by swelling of the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx and difficulty breathing.
Other ENT diseases
According to statistics, in 80% of cases the cause of snoring in a child is adenoids.
Also, breathing problems and children's snoring are caused by:
- nasal polyps;
- chronic tonsillitis, in which the tissue of the palatine tonsils increases and becomes loose;
- structural abnormalities (deviated nasal septum, narrow nasal passages, long uvula, sagging soft palate, abnormal structure of the skull bones);
- bronchial asthma;
- oropharyngeal tumors.
Malocclusion
When a malocclusion develops:
- the child's mouth is constantly open;
- large distance between teeth;
- the upper jaw hangs over the lower jaw.
If your baby has similar signs, you need to contact an orthodontist, who will recommend the best way to correct the bite - using braces or plates.
Enlarged thymus gland
The thymus gland is an organ of the endocrine system that affects the growth of the child and the processes of immune formation. The enlarged thymus gland compresses nerve endings and large blood vessels. The consequence of this is difficulty in inhaling when breathing.
Rolandic (nocturnal) epilepsy
The disease is most often detected in children aged 2 to 14 years, accompanied by nighttime cramps spreading to one side of the face, pharynx muscles, and tongue. Convulsive activity is accompanied by snoring, which is more like gurgling sounds (as when gargling). Seizures last from a few seconds to 3 minutes.
The difficulty of diagnosis lies in the fact that short convulsive seizures occur at night and last a short time, so parents do not always immediately notice the disorder. The disease is not accompanied by mental and neurological changes and goes away completely by the age of 15–18 years. However, a child with such a pathology should be under constant medical supervision.
Why is snoring dangerous for a child?
If your child snores occasionally, there is no need to worry. But if the baby constantly snores, experiences discomfort from this and does not get enough sleep, you need to consult a doctor and examine the child. A severe form of snoring is accompanied by short-term pauses in breathing during sleep, causing oxygen starvation of the tissues of the brain, heart muscle, and other organs, which leads to serious diseases.
Apnea can be suspected if the child:
- becomes irritable, aggressive, capricious;
- gets tired quickly;
- experiences headaches;
- cannot concentrate, does not remember and assimilate information well, studies worse;
- often wakes up and has nightmares;
- sweats a lot at night;
- lags behind in growth (growth hormone is produced precisely during sleep, and during apnea its production decreases), mental development.
Often, with apnea, children suffer from nocturnal enuresis (urinary incontinence).
If nasal breathing is difficult for some reason, the child begins to breathe through the mouth. As a result, the mucous membranes of the oral cavity and pharynx dry out and do not perform their protective functions. A favorable environment is created in the mouth and throat for the proliferation of infectious microorganisms; the child more often suffers from colds and bacterial inflammation of the ENT organs.
Diagnostics
To establish the exact causes of snoring, the child should be shown to an otolaryngologist. The specialist will make a diagnosis based on the results of such studies:
- visual examination of the nasal passages, pharynx, ears;
- radiography of the paranasal sinuses;
- bacteriological analysis of a smear taken from the nasopharyngeal mucosa;
- laboratory tests of blood and urine.
In addition, the doctor will be able to assess the degree of negative impact of snoring on the child’s body and the likelihood of developing dangerous consequences. For this purpose, polysomnography is performed - a study in which indicators of various body functions are recorded during sleep. The main parameter is the oxygen content in the blood. The lower it is, the more dangerous snoring is for the child’s health.
Based on the diagnosis, the doctor prescribes drug therapy or surgical treatment. If the otorhinolaryngologist does not detect any violations, he will refer the child for examination to specialists of a different profile - an orthodontist, a neurologist.
Drug therapy
It is not snoring that needs to be treated, but the cause that causes it. Drug therapy is carried out if the provoking factor is infectious and inflammatory diseases of the ENT organs or allergies.
If snoring is caused by acute infectious inflammation, the following are prescribed:
- antiviral or antibacterial drugs (depending on the type of pathogen);
- antihistamines – Cetirizine, Zodak (relieve swelling of the mucous membranes);
- solutions for rinsing the nose based on sea salt - Humer, Marimer, Aqua Maris (clean the nasal cavity, moisturize the mucous membrane);
- vasoconstrictor nasal drops - Tizin, Otrivin, Galazolin (reduce swelling of the mucous membrane of the nasal passages, suppress mucus production).
Children should use vasoconstrictor drops with caution: if they overdose, atrophy of the mucous membrane of the nasal passages develops, and addiction occurs.
During treatment, the use of vasoconstrictor drops and saline solutions helps to facilitate breathing, and accordingly the intensity of snoring decreases. Once the child recovers, he will stop snoring completely.
For allergies, the basis of treatment is:
- use of local and systemic antihistamines;
- possibly following a special diet;
- avoiding contact with the allergen.
Surgery
With enlarged adenoids, medication is not always effective, and in this case surgery is performed. Indications for adenotomy (removal of adenoids) are:
- severe disruption of nasal breathing, caused by a strong proliferation of lymphoid tissue (when the lumen of the respiratory tract is almost completely blocked, only a small gap remains through which the child breathes with difficulty);
- lack of positive results from drug treatment.
With chronic tonsillitis, the palatine tonsils swell, enlarge, and become loose, which also provokes snoring. In such a situation, a tonsillectomy is performed - removal of the tonsils. When the tissue of the soft palate is enlarged or the uvula is long, uvulopalatoplasty is performed.
In case of deformation of the nasal septum, other structural abnormalities, or the presence of polyps, surgery is the only way to treat impaired breathing and snoring.
Operations to correct a deformed nasal septum are performed at the age of at least 18 years, when the formation of the bone skeleton is finally completed.
Tips and tricks
If children's snoring is not caused by a disease, following the following recommendations will help eliminate the unpleasant phenomenon.
- It is necessary to ensure that the child sleeps in the most natural position. Orthopedic sleep products cope best with this task. The mattress should not be too soft, and the pillow should not be flat or high (the optimal thickness is 6 cm).
- It is better for a child to fall asleep on his side, since lying on his back increases the likelihood of snoring.
- It is important to maintain cleanliness in the room, optimal temperature and humidity. The children's room needs to be cleaned and ventilated regularly. In rooms with excessively dry air, it is recommended to use humidifiers.
- If your child is overweight, it is important to review his nutritional diet and lifestyle. Sports, active games, regular walks in the air will help cope with the problem.
Snoring in a child may indicate the presence of serious problems. Only a doctor can determine the cause of an unpleasant symptom, so it is necessary to show the baby to an otorhinolaryngologist, dentist, orthodontist, or neurologist. With timely diagnosis and proper treatment, the dangerous consequences of snoring can be avoided.
Source: http://vyspalsa.ru/hrap-u-rebenka-chto-dolzhny-znat-roditeli/
Is your child snoring during sleep normal or a cause for concern?
Most parents, when they first hear their child snoring, do not think about the nature of its origin; they believe that this phenomenon is harmless and does not affect the quality of life of their children.
Causes
Doctors have a different point of view. Snoring is a consequence of changes occurring in the child's body, which may indicate various diseases. The mechanism of snoring.
The air masses inhaled by the child through the nose should freely penetrate the pharynx, and then the trachea and bronchi, saturating the body with oxygen. But sometimes they encounter an obstacle on their way, resulting in a partial disruption of the conductivity of the upper respiratory tract and snoring occurs.
The appearance of such obstacles may be due to factors such as the development of inflammatory processes, allergic swelling of the nose and pharynx, spasm of the glottis, decreased tone of the pharyngeal muscles, congenital or acquired injuries.
Therefore, it is necessary to identify the cause of snoring in a child as quickly as possible, contact a specialist and undergo the prescribed treatment.
Treatment
Inflammatory processes are the main cause of children's snoring. Colds are often accompanied by a runny nose, which leads to the accumulation of mucus in the nasal passages, which in turn can enter the throat and lungs. As a result, snoring appears.
To eliminate it, it is worth visiting an ENT specialist, who will draw up a treatment plan. If this is not possible, you can carry out the following procedures:
- Rinsing the nose with sea water preparations (Aqualor or Aquamaris);
Allergy
Severe snoring can be caused by swelling of the nasal mucosa due to allergic rhinitis. First of all, it is necessary to give the child antihistamines prescribed by a doctor. Take the necessary tests and identify the allergen.
If this is a food product, remove it from the child’s diet, thereby reducing the risk of relapse.
Angina
Snoring with a sore throat in a child is also a common occurrence. This disease is characterized by prolonged swelling of the throat, inflammation of the tonsils or tonsillitis, which results in narrowing of the respiratory lumen.
Sore throat most often develops in children with weak immunity and prone to frequent illnesses. Enlarged tonsils or proliferation of lymphoid tissue is the body’s defense against various infections and viruses from the outside.
Timely treatment of tonsillitis will not only get rid of snoring, but also prevent further development of the disease and its transition to a chronic form.
In the initial stages, the disease is combated with the help of antibacterial agents, as well as repeated gargling. In the chronic form of the disease, the only correct solution is surgery and removal of the tonsils.
Adenoids
Overgrowth of adenoid tissue is also a cause of snoring. Adenoids can appear in both the nose and mouth. As a rule, they cause sufficient discomfort; in advanced cases, the child cannot always close his mouth completely. Adenoids in the nose significantly impede breathing, and they can be removed through surgery.
Overweight
With excess weight, fat accumulates in the tissues of the nasopharynx, as a result of which its lumen decreases, and, consequently, breathing becomes difficult and snoring occurs. Obesity in children, as in adults, is divided into degrees. Therefore, the heavier the child, the more he may snore. Extra pounds have a negative impact on children's overall health.
Therefore, it is necessary to properly prepare a child’s diet, as well as subject the child’s body to physical activity. Excess weight may also indicate problems with the thyroid gland; you should consult an endocrinologist.
Necessary conditions for healthy sleep. Snoring during sleep has a negative impact on a child's health, mood and development.
You can ensure proper rest by following a number of simple steps:
- Maintaining temperature conditions. The children's room should not be too hot or cold. The optimal value of a room thermometer should be 18-23C. It is at this temperature that the child will be able to relax and fall asleep faster;
- Ventilate the children's room several times a day, including before bedtime. In winter, it is enough to open the window for 5 minutes, after taking the child to another room or to the kitchen. In hot summer weather, sleep with the windows open, thereby ensuring an influx of fresh air;
- Maintain air humidity, especially in the cold season. You can do this with a humidifier, a spray bottle, or simply by placing a cup of water on the window. Dry winter air can cause snoring, so to eliminate it, in some cases it is enough to normalize the air humidity in the children's room;
- Using a low orthopedic pillow;
- Teach your child from an early age to sleep on his side rather than on his back.
Children, just like adults, need proper rest. Sleep is one of the components of the development of a healthy and harmonious personality. Snoring in a child, the causes of which are known, is not only treatable, but also indicates possible deviations in the child’s health.
Source: http://vseohrape.ru/lechenie/xrap-u-rebenka.html
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A child snores in his sleep: what is the danger and why you need to help him get rid of snoring
- Health
— 22.08..08.
Many parents periodically notice that their baby snores in his sleep. But they do not consider this a serious problem, hoping that snoring will go away on its own. Parents of some boys generally consider this a sign of the child’s growing up: “the guy is growing up, he’s already started snoring - he’s just like his father!” In fact, even if a child is just snoring in his sleep, this is already a reason to sound the alarm. Why is snoring in a child so dangerous? Let's figure it out.
Children's snoring is a danger signal
Yes, yes, when your five-year-old son starts snoring in his sleep, even just like his daddy, you shouldn’t be touched. Instead, you need to find out as soon as possible why your child snores in his sleep. There are many reasons for snoring, but they all point to some kind of problem that needs to be solved. Because a healthy child should not snore in his sleep; children snore or wheeze only when something is wrong with themselves or with the world around them. So children’s snoring is a reason to think and understand what and how to help the baby.
What unpleasant consequences develop against the background of snoring, especially if it continues for quite a long time?
— chronic fatigue: due to sleep disturbances, restless and intermittent during snoring, the child does not get enough sleep, cannot wake up in the morning, wanders about during the day, lethargic and sleepy;
— decrease in physical activity, development of physical inactivity, tendency to be overweight;
- due to inadequate rest due to sleep disturbances and insufficient oxygen supply to the brain at night due to difficulty breathing - decreased memory function, irritability, tearfulness, inability to concentrate - accordingly, deterioration in learning abilities and developmental delays.
Even these most obvious reasons are enough for you to take the most serious measures to eliminate snoring in children when the first symptoms appear, isn’t it? And to do this, you first need to understand why and when it occurs.
External causes of children's snoring
First of all, let's look at and rule out external causes of snoring. There are three of them: the child is overweight, a foreign object is in his nose, and excessively dry air in the room.
Why does an overweight child snore? Because with obesity (and being overweight, dear mothers, is obesity at one stage or another, sad as it may be), fatty layers also develop in the nasal passages, narrowing them and making it difficult to breathe freely. To eliminate snoring in this case, you need to go to an endocrinologist, nutritionist and cardiologist to choose the best way to lose weight. By solving the problem of your child's physical fitness, you will simultaneously eliminate the cause of snoring.
It’s even easier to eliminate snoring caused by excessively dry air in your baby’s bedroom. Dry air dries out the mucous membranes of the nose, hard crusts form on them, again narrowing the respiratory passages - and the baby begins to snore or snore quite loudly in his sleep. Very often, infants begin to sniffle because of a clogged nose if the mother did not notice that the baby was choking on milk while sucking and did not clear his nose in time.
In such cases, you don’t even need to go to doctors, and you don’t have to do physical exercise. All you need to do is to clean the baby’s nose with a cotton swab soaked in Vaseline or just boiled water before going to bed, and an older child can be taught to rinse his nose with sea water. And of course, make sure that there is sufficiently humid air in the bedroom (and throughout the house). To do this, you can purchase special humidifiers, or simply hang wet sheets or towels on radiators.
Improper development of organs causing children's snoring
Snoring in infants and children under one year of age is often provoked by such reasons as pathological development and overgrowth of the nasal passages and malocclusion. That is, if during the process of growth a child’s upper and lower jaws develop incorrectly, the nasal septum thickens excessively, or curvatures arise that narrow or block the airways, then the child snores in his sleep, and in addition gets a bunch of serious problems associated with breathing and sleep disorders. We will talk seriously about these problems later, after we consider the most common causes of snoring in a child - chronic respiratory diseases.
Signs of abnormal development are, of course, snoring, the mouth constantly open during wakefulness, problems with speech, a protruding or overhanging lower jaw, large gaps between the front teeth. Naturally, parents cannot solve or correct such a problem on their own. What is needed here is a specialist who will surgically or other methods eliminate the threat of improper development of the airways or bite. Nowadays, dentists use special braces and inlays to correct malocclusions even on baby teeth! Having dealt with the main problem, you will simultaneously eliminate the cause of children's snoring.
Diseases that cause snoring in a child
Finally, we move on to the most common cause of snoring. In children, these are diseases of the ENT organs that cause swelling of the nasopharynx and obstruction of the respiratory tract: allergies, rhinitis, sinusitis, flu, acute respiratory infections and sore throats. Separately, we would like to mention the cause of snoring in children, such as adenoids. Or, in scientific terms, adenoid vegetations. Acute, cavitary and chronic sluggish inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx, respiratory tract and nasal passages cause excessive activity of the mucous membranes and thickening of the nasal septum due to edema. The airways become clogged with mucous secretions, sputum, and due to the constant sluggish inflammatory process during adenoid vegetations, the tonsils themselves increase in size and block the airways when breathing during sleep. This is where snoring occurs - in infants and older children. So even a common runny nose can cause a baby to snore loudly.
What are adenoids and how dangerous are they (Komarovsky):
The next problem that children's snoring may indicate is sleep apnea, or apnea syndrome. This is a very serious problem, a topic for a separate conversation. In our article we would like to note that this disorder most often occurs in children who are weakened, born prematurely, sedentary and suffering from decreased immunity - and as a result, they often catch colds and infectious diseases. Sleep apnea has three forms:
- obstructive, caused by narrowing or blockage of the airways due to persistent respiratory tract infections;
- central, associated with delayed development and disruption of the central nervous system (CNS),
- mixed, which combines both the first and second types of disorders.
The main danger of apnea is the sudden cessation of breathing during sleep for a period of thirty seconds to three minutes. Which may recur and may even lead to death. According to pediatricians, it is apnea that causes sudden death of infants in 86 cases out of 100. For reference, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the death during sleep from unknown causes of an apparently healthy child under the age of one year. SIDS is diagnosed when an autopsy cannot determine the cause of death.
Apnea, stopping breathing during a night's sleep, can occur up to 100 times, this is officially established. Moreover, the next morning the baby may not remember at all that he woke up at night. Although every time after breathing stops, the child snores convulsively, wakes up and shudders. Naturally, there can be no talk of any restful sleep. Therefore, over time, children with apnea develop insomnia due to sleep disturbances, as well as other classic symptoms - chronic fatigue, daytime sleepiness and attention disorders. Next come more serious ailments, such as diseases of the cardiovascular system, sudden increases in blood pressure and deterioration of mental abilities due to oxygen starvation. Therefore, if your child constantly wants to sleep during the day and snores at night, it makes sense to monitor him at night. And if you notice moments of convulsive awakenings, be sure to consult a doctor, and also take immediate measures to prevent apnea attacks yourself. We will tell you how to do this later.
Signs of Rolandic epilepsy:
- convulsions affecting only half of the head - the right or left half of the face, tongue and throat. Outwardly they look quite scary - with half of the face the sleeping child seems to be making terrible groves of trees;
- snoring, slightly different in sound from normal. In rolandic epilepsy, it sounds more like a gargling sound because it is caused by saliva entering the child's upper respiratory tract.
Child snoring - which doctor should I contact?
Let's be consistent. First of all, we will eliminate external causes such as dry air in the room and foreign objects in the child’s nasal passages. You should not remove foreign objects on your own, so as not to damage the baby’s mucous membranes, so if the baby actually stuffed something into his nose, it is best to contact a Traumatologist or Otolaryngologist.
If the problem of snoring is associated with diseases of the ENT organs, from a runny nose to sinusitis and adenoids, then you should contact a Therapist and Otolaryngologist. And please, do not delay or start treatment so that the disease does not take on a chronic form! You have probably already gotten the idea that snot itself may not be terrible, but as a cause that causes snoring and associated sleep and developmental disorders, it is a rather serious problem that requires an immediate solution.
Doctor Komarovsky about children's snoring (video):
If the cause of snoring is associated with an incorrect bite, overhang of the lower jaw and pathological development of the nasal passages and septum, you should definitely contact a Dentist, Orthodontist and Therapist. As we have already said, there are special correction methods for children under three years of age and over three years of age, including without surgical intervention.
If overnight observations of a snoring baby reveal signs of respiratory arrest syndrome, apnea, or Rolandic epilepsy, you should immediately contact a Therapist and Neurologist, conduct full-scale studies: do an electroencephalogram, check the motor activity of the eyeball, measure changes in blood concentration during the night period, electromyography. Therefore, in serious cases, the child is usually hospitalized and tested and treated in a clinical setting, primarily by prescribing an oxygen mask. And in milder cases, on the advice of a doctor, they resort to proven ways to get rid of snoring at home, which we will now tell you about.
Tips to help your child stop snoring
- Regular ventilation of the room, fresh and well-humidified air in the bedroom;
- Sleeping on your stomach (by the way, this simple technique can reduce the incidence of sleep apnea by 66 percent!) or on your side. To ensure the correct posture during sleep, a special pillow is placed under the baby’s back or a regular ball or ping pong ball is placed in a pocket sewn on the pajamas in the area of the shoulder blades. Your pediatrician will tell you more about such devices.
- If snoring is caused by an incorrect bite, deviated nasal septum or defects in the development of the nasal passages, special inserts that are inserted into the child’s mouth before bed and correct the degree of protraction of the lower jaw or do not allow him to close his lips tightly, leaving access for mouth breathing, can help. . Thanks to such “gadgets”, the child has the opportunity to breathe fully and sleep peacefully during the night. But they should be recommended to you by a specialist. And of course, they do not cancel the traditional treatment of the main problem.
- If the nasal septum, pharynx and larynx are enlarged due to infection or allergies, antihistamines and antibacterial agents that reduce swelling and fight pathogens, as well as vasoconstrictors, will help you. Moreover, we would advise you not to get carried away with nasal sprays, but to give preference to special children's syrups and mixtures. Yes, they do not give such an immediate effect, but they are less traumatic for the baby’s mucous membranes.
- If you have overcome the disease, but snoring or wheezing, as a result of the softening of the walls of the pharynx and uvula, a decrease in the overall tone of the pharynx remains, special anti-snoring exercises will help you strengthen them. In principle, there are many such exercises, and they are all effective to a greater or lesser extent, so you can read specialized literature or find them on the Internet and create an exercise program to your liking. We offer you several effective tricks that kids will surely like.
- "Show me your tongue!" Together with your baby, standing or sitting opposite each other, stick your tongue out as much as possible and at the same time say louder “Aaaah!”, as if teasing. Moreover, you need to show your tongue for 30 seconds, no less, and repeat this exercise at least 30 times in a row.
- “Balloon behind the cheek”: close your lips tightly, puff out your cheeks and roll a ball of air from one cheek to the other, inflating your cheeks as much as possible in turn. Consider to yourself that you also need to roll the ball thirty times in a row.
- “Let's yawn!”: yawn with all your might, opening your mouth and straining the muscles of the lower jaw and pharynx, while howling ten times in a row.
We hope that our article will help you and your baby safely and promptly get rid of snoring and the causes that caused it. Happiness and health to you, dear children and mothers!
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Childhood apnea is the worst thing, you need to identify the disease in time and urgently go to the doctor.
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