From snoring to tossing and turning while sleeping to breathing through the mouth, there are several signs that could confirm your child has a sleeping disorder.
Have you noticed that your child is struggling to fall asleep long after his bedtime? Or in the middle of the night, your child comes knocking on the door, complaining that he can’t fall back to sleep? Has there been a dip in your child’s grades or are his teachers reporting that he’s been too restless in class lately? These could be some of the signs that point towards a sleeping disorder. Yes, even infants and children can have sleeping disorders and it affects them physically, mentally and emotionally. In a report created by the Sleep Health Foundation, it was mentioned that more than one-third of school-aged children can struggle with sleep problems.
When your child finds it difficult to get a good night of well-rested sleep, they are unable to wake up the next day feeling refreshed or give their best performance in school. Moreover, it affects the manner in which your child manages his behavior and learning process. Sleeping disorders in children often go unnoticed for a long time, but it can come with a number of problems that affect your child. Apart from affecting your child’s academics and general behavior, it can also make social situations more difficult. It can also jeopardize your child’s weight, according to Stanford Health Care.
A common sleeping disorder that is noticed among children is sleep apnea. If you have noticed that your child is always sleeping with his mouth open, it could be because of sleep apnea, which can even obstruct your child’s growth and cause heart problems.
The reason behind your child’s disturbed sleep could be sleep apnea. This is when something blocks the upper airway and your child cannot breathe while he sleeps. Your child cannot benefit from well-rested sleep because Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) reduces the level of oxygen in your child’s body and interferes with his sleep. Some of the factors that can cause sleep apnea are a family history of OSA, excessive weight, issues with the mouth, jaw or throat that narrow the airway, medical conditions like Down Syndrome or cerebral palsy and others.
Improper breathing interrupts sleep because when the oxygen in your child’s body decreases and the carbon dioxide increases, it can prompt your child to wake up and breathe. This usually happens over a few moments and they drift off to sleep without realizing it. But in the case of sleep apnea, this might happen over and over again during the night and it will stop your child from having the kind of healthy, deep, restful kind of sleep he needs. It is even said that breathing through the mouth can be the start of a sleeping disorder, as it doesn’t supply enough oxygen that your child’s body needs.
Dr. David Dubose, Medical Director at the Children's Hospital of San Antonio Sleep Center, says, “It's a fair percentage of kids that will have obstructive sleep apnea, and the majority of kids that have obstructive sleep apnea are caused because they have big tonsils or adenoids. With these cases, typically you will hear them snoring or pausing while they're sleeping. The second major cause is obesity and obesity in children has become a big problem and it's associated with having obstructed sleep apnea. You gain weight in your belly, you gain weight around your neck and this all can compromise the airway when you're sleeping.”
Some of the signs of sleep apnea you might notice in your child are breathing through the mouth, being restless and tossing and turning while sleeping, prolonged breaks in breathing, and night sweats. Other signs could also include snoring (with snorts, gasps or pauses in between), bedwetting, sleepwalking and feeling sleepy or grouchy during the day.
Sleep is extremely important for your child’s wellbeing. Dr. Kristina Rosbe said in an interview, “They either have to be woken up in the morning, they don't wake up on their own, or when they are awake, they seem tired. Sometimes this is related to fatigue, although some children when they're tired, they're actually hyperactive, so it can carry over and cause some daytime behaviors that can be associated with the lack of good quality sleep.”
Retarded growth, issues with hormones, and metabolism could be some of the severe problems that affect your child due to sleep apnea. American Sleep Apnea Association also talks about studies linking attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with obstructive sleep apnea. About 25 percent of children with an ADHD diagnosis might be struggling with learning and other behavior problems due to chronic fragmented sleep.
Never go for self-diagnosis of your child’s health problems. It’s always best to seek the expert advice of a medical doctor when you notice any of these signs developing in your child. One of the common ways through which sleep apnea is treated in children is by surgically removing the adenoids and tonsils. It generally reduces the symptoms of OSA by 70 to 90 percent unless the case has other complications. In some cases, oral devices are also used to treat symptoms of OSA depending on how further along is the child’s facial growth.
Dr. Todd Otteson, an ENT specialist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, said in a podcast interview, “In the ENT group, the most common surgical procedure for sleep apnea would be to remove adenoids in the very young child, but, most commonly, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (removing tonsils and adenoids). If it’s very severe sleep apnea, then often we’ll consider doing an airway evaluation or an airway scope in the operating room at the time to see if there might be another level that’s obstructed beyond the tonsil level and adenoid level. Those are the mainstay or surgical therapy for sleep apnea.”
Our body is extremely dependent on getting the required number of uninterrupted sleep, especially your children. If you’re noticing that your child has been struggling with this issue, it’s better not to wait much longer. Seek medical advice, find out how you can give your child what he deserves and make sure your child does not have to undergo the long-term effects of disturbed sleep.
References:
https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/pdfs/childrens-sleep-disorders.pdf
https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/sleep/pediatric-sleep-disorders.html
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/apnea.html
https://www.sleepapnea.org/treat/childrens-sleep-apnea/
https://abc30.com/health/sleep-apnea-in-kids-more-than-a-sleep-problem/822685/
https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/interview_rosbe_pediatric_sleep_disorders/
