Your child snores. He is cranky, his breath is offensive. He falls asleep in school and is achievement is below par. He doesn’t seem to have pep and energy. She is irritable: before she snored she was always sweet and laughing.
I have seen hundreds of children with this story. Snoring in a child is not a joke; the entire course of their lives can be affected.
There are dozens of articles on snoring of adults: marriage difficulties, less sex energy, etc. But you must realize that when a child snores from age 4 to 5, that is about 20% of her entire life span; the important part in growing and learning. I think it is rank criminal to say about he snoring child: “Oh, she will eventually outgrow it.” Meanwhile the parents worry, are upset by the snoring and the child remains irritable and a poor achiever. Worse, continued snoring can change the physiology and make snoring worse. For example, obstructive snoring can develop acid reflux.
Occasional snoring form a cold is not a problem. It is the nightly snoring when there is no acute illness. Worse, snoring usually reduces resistance to infection.
I can assure you that the happiest and most satisfied persons I have had in my practice and the parents of the children who no longer snore. As parents they appreciate the sleeping quietly through the night, the pleasant breath, the change from cranky and irritable to regular happy child.
What does the doctor look for in the snoring child? It the breathing blockage nasal? Allergy and sinusitis cause snoring. For children, clearing the allergy with desensitization is best.
For chronic sinusitis, restoring good nasal cilia by Hydro Pulse™ pulsatile irrigation helps not only nasal problems but also is effective to shrink the adenoids. The reason children, as young as five will perform Hydro Pulse™ irrigation is that it makes them feel better, with clear breathing and stops postnasal drip.
Enlarged adenoids are a major factor in childhood snoring. This may be associated with frequent ear infections. The exact approach varies for this. If the child has had several severe ear infections, constant mouth breathing, and little benefit from the antibiotics, surgical adenoidectomy, removing the adenoid tissue that blocks the Eustachian tube to the middle ear has a high rate of success. For the usual enlarged adenoid mass with associated nasal disease, the therapy that I use is pulsatile irrigation.
If enlarged tonsils are a factor in mouth breathing, these can be reduced in size and in my practice, I generally found that leaving the tonsils when the adenoidectomy is done gave a good result. In fact, clearing the adenoid blockage improved the nasal infections and this combined to restore the tonsils to health.
If the child is snoring pre-teen, a careful dental evaluation may show anatomical factors such as the shortened mandible that leaves little room for the tongue. These factors may respond well to dental correction. Often we speak of correcting the child’s bite and appearance, but in fact the snoring is just as much a part of this and is just as important.
Judy age 9 snored, didn’t get good sleep and was set to have sleep apnea testing. When I examined her I found no nasal problem and no adenoid or tonsil blockage to breathing. However her bite was off because of shortened mandible. I referred her to orthodontist for treatment. I saw her age 10 and her snoring was significantly reduced. By age 11, no more snoring, better bite, and much better appearance. Without the orthodonture correction at age 9, Judy might have required major mandibular (jaw) surgery at age eighteen.
If your child snores, it is important to have this corrected. It is never correct to wait until the child outgrows it.