Child Snoring

Snoring is a common symptom, occurring in about 3-12% of children. Snoring is always abnormal in very young children.

Risk factors for snoring include being overweight, having allergies or other causes of nasal obstruction, having enlarged adenoids and/or tonsils, and exposure to second hand smoke.

Also possible is choanal Artesia, a congenital closure of the back of the nose which also requires surgery for correction. Allergies are almost never present in infants. Treatment for these underlying conditions, when found, should help your child snore less often and sleep better.

If your child snores, be alert for signs of obstructive sleep apnea. But sleep apnea is much more subtle in children since true apnea rarely occurs. So parents should be looking for behavioral symptoms which may indicate a sleep disorder. This includes hyperactivity, ADHD, poor school performance, snoring, mouth breathing, and bedwetting.

A study, conducted at the Chinese University in Hong Kong , found that 23% of snoring children had poor academic records compared to 13.5% of those who did not snore. The snorers were more likely to be bad tempered, with 35% having poor temper control, 75% higher than non-snorers.

Snoring and Asthma

Snoring may be an early indicator of asthma in children. It is found that 40% of pre-school children who snored and then developed a nighttime cough were ultimately diagnosed with asthma.

Children with OSAS usually have disrupted sleep with short pauses, snorts, or gasp's in their sleep. Children with OSAS may also have behavioral problems, a short attention span and problems at school.

Child snoring may have the following Symptoms,

* Large tonsils and/or adenoids with frequent mouth breathing, hyponasal speech and nasal obstruction.

* Nasal obstruction is commonly caused by allergies, but can also be caused by having a deviated septum. A cold or upper respiratory tract infection is another common cause of nasal congestion/obstruction, and this is a reason why many children snore only when they have a cold.

* Poor weight gain.

* Being overweight is a well known risk factor for child snoring.

* High blood pressure.

* Children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) snore loudly AND they have shorts periods of time during sleep that they actually stop breathing (apnea). Because sleep is interrupted, children with OSA are usually sleepy during the day, may complain of frequent headaches and sometimes have difficulty in school.

* Poor muscle tone in the muscles of the tongue and throat, which allows the tongue to fall back into the airway. This occurs when a child's muscle tone is very relaxed from sedating medications, for example. It also happens to some children when they relax into the deep stages of sleep.

* An enlarged uvula may dangle into the child's airway.

The noisy sound of snoring occurs when there is a blockage to the flow of air in the back of the mouth or nose. This area is the collapsible part of the airway where the tongue and upper throat meet the soft palate and the uvula. Child snoring occurs when these floppy tissues strike against each other and start to vibrate during breathing.