Sweet Dreams?? Are they really??
Oh, don’t you love it when you finally get your little ones into bed at night, wish them sweet dreams and finally get a few hours to yourself to relax? I know I did!
Or maybe you do what my daughter does and races around for a while getting things back in order in what she aptly calls the ‘hour of power’ before you sit down and catch your breath! Whatever your routine is you want (need 😉) your little one to sleep well, stay asleep and get their rest. You already know that they need good sleep to be at their best for what the next day brings.
But what if they don’t get to sleep well, stay asleep and then wake well-rested? The family that has a child who is struggling with airway issues will not function well during the day. That’s right, both the family and the child can be affected! Like the little fellow in this pic, a child who is mouth breathing during the day will most certainly be also doing it at night. See how tired he looks! ☹
Sadly, sleep disorder breathing (SDB) can start in a baby, continue throughout the toddler years and into childhood and adolescence with no one recognising that this is not normal! This is quite different from sleep apnoea where breathing stops altogether for periods of time. Children and adults can have one without the other.
Prominent ENT surgeon Dr. David McIntosh has spent years helping children with SDB and has written an article which parents can use to help discover the symptoms in their own children and then seek help. (You’ll find it below.) Fortunately, here in Townsville, we also have wonderful ENT’s who recognise the functions of the airway in relation to children’s sleep patterns. Referrals for the children who are sent their way with symptoms of SDB are taken seriously. If surgery or other interventions are recommended, the difference it makes to the young child can be enormous.
Parents of a 3-year-old referred off and subsequently found could benefit from surgery recently reported an incredible difference within weeks. The child sleeps better (can now breathe without restriction), sleeps with his mouth closed ( and picks up all the goodies produced in the sinus area that are available when nasal breathing), sleeps longer and does not wake during the night (his little brain is no longer ‘afraid’ of letting him go into a deep sleep), his behaviour is very much improved (he is no longer in a constant state of exhaustion – and you know how tired toddlers behave) and, his eating has improved out of sight (because he can eat, chew and breathe at the same time!) It has been life changing for him and his family. This is not an unusual case, and I see it every week, and every week I arrange referrals. I believe children should be screened for sleep and breathing issues at every dental and health care visit. Parents would never knowingly deprive their children of a decent night’s sleep but are often unaware that what is happening to their child is not normal
What I’ve come to realise after 15 years living in Nth Queensland is that sometimes parents are unaware of the problem because of our lifestyle! Children sleep in their own rooms with the door closed and the air conditioners on. This often drowns out the audible breathing, snoring and grinding, frequent wakening or restlessness that their children are experiencing! Parents will check on their little ones and older children but just to make sure they are still in bed! In areas where air-conditioning or heating is ‘central’ the doors can be left ajar or open, and it often becomes more obvious. I often have parents tell me they only became aware when the family was on holidays or camping and sleeping in the same vicinity as the children.
Parents, please for the sake of your child be observant and note any patterns of disrupted sleep with the information that Dr. McIntosh has provided and seek advice so that investigations can be made. Your little one’s sleep may be depriving their brain and body decent oxygen, adequate deep and REM sleep cycles and physical rest.
From Dr. McIntosh. (with thanks).
Parents- we know that children do not come with an instruction book. We know that you can’t know everything. So we’ve put this list together. It’s a list of things that are NOT normal and should not be ignored when it comes to your child and sleep. These things are signs of a problem. Please don’t ignore the warning signs listed here. Please insist on seeing a specialist that actually knows what all these problems potentially mean. You may need to see more than one specialist to sort these problems out but one of those specialists often will be a paediatric ENT that deals with upper airway obstruction in kids.
Here is the list:
1. Snoring
2. Mouth breathing
3. Stopping breathing when asleep
4. Teeth grinding when asleep
5. Sleep talking
6. Sleep walking
7. Night terrors
8. Bed wetting beyond about 8 years of age, maybe even 5
9. Waking up tired
10. Tired during the day
11. Emotional sensitivity- for example cries at drop of a hat, moody, grumpy, anger management issues
12. Educational problems
13. Behavioural issues
14. Sleeping with the head arched back
15. Restless sleep, tossing and turning
16. The bed is all messed up
17. Sweating at night
18. Chewing on food and spitting certain ones out consistently- especially meat
19. Repeated ear infections
20. Drools on the pillow
21. Wakes up with a headache
22. Gasping or waking with a startle
23. Fidgety during the day, can’t sit still
24. Has symptoms suggestive of ADHD
25. Has to be propped up on a few pillows to sleep
26. Wakes with a dry mouth and/or dry lips
27. Lower jaw sits backwards relative to the upper jaw when viewed from the side
28. A narrow upper jaw, with the roof of the mouth sometimes forming a high arch at the same time
29. When the mouth is wide open, the tongue can not touch the roof of the mouth
30. Has chewing and/or swallowing problems
31. A regular or persistent blocked nose
32. Coughing at night
33. Regular throat clearing
34. Frequent blood noses specifically when asleep.
In getting advice, do not accept the following answers without getting a second opinion because the following answers are often given but are often not substantiated but the research:
1. They will out grow it
2. It’s normal, lots of kids do this
3. It’s just how he/she is
4. It’s only a quite snore so don’t worry about it
5. They just take after their dad/mum
6. If you can hear them breathing that’s ok, it means they are alive
7. Some kids just take a longer time than others to stop wetting the bed
8. It’s just a normal phase they are going through
It is very important to use this list to re-evaluate what you believe and change your perspective completely if you yourself fall into the second list of the way you thought about things in the first list.
And it’s important you attend to things quickly. The research shows that it only takes 6 months of sleep problems to lead to permanent damage. Damage to the brain, damage to the heart. Damage throughout the body. So please act now.
And please- if you just learned something then please help another parent- share this post. There are over half a million children in Australia with these problems right now. We need to find these kids and help them.
If you recognise anything from this list and you would like to speak with someone about it, then we can help! I want all kiddies to blossom and reach their full potential, so too do their teachers, and I bet you do too!
