Snoring 4 year old!!!

[applecrumbleandcream]

My dd has always been really healthy but since starting nursery last September she has been ill quite often and has had about 5 courses of antibiotics for ear & nose infections.

She is well at present which makes me worry even more - her snoring recently is so loud it's unbelieveable. She holds her breath and then has to have a loud snort to breathe in again. She also is restless at night and even lets out a little cry now and again. She goes to bed at 7 till 7 next morning but she is starting to look tired now. I could understand this happening if she has a cold but she is fine at present.

I wondered should I go to the doctors as I don't think this is normal for a 4 year old. Has anyone else had this?

My DS is exactly the same, he has small ear canals and for most of the winter he'll belike this then fine during summer.

Sorry hadnt finished. I think it takes quite a while for the swelling in the ear and nose canals to go down after a cold (so they appear better) and this is what causes it. I was also told that the dry air because of CH causes it to.

I would take her to the doctors and explain about the breath-holding. The snoring and breath-holding/ gasping make me think sleep apnoea. Which would also explain the daytime tiredness as well. I think it can be linked to enlarged tonsils and adenoids - she might have these if she's had lots of infections.

Yes, the breath holding sounds like sleep apnoea. Its not normal for a 4 year old, and can cause tiredness in the day - I would see the GP and maybe ask for an ENT referral. Hopefully, its temporary due to all the ENT viruses she's had this winter - but if she has large tonsils and/or adenoids (they keep growing bigger in relation to the size of a child until about 6yrs old, I was told, then the ratio changes down again!) she may need them out.

FWIW, dd2 had quite bad sleep apnoea, and started eating less, by the age of 2 - she had adenotonsillectomy at 25 months and has been SO much better since: energy, eating, breathing, sleeping all much improved. She still snores a bit, but not in a troublesome way (except when sharing a room with dd1, who complains )

Thank you for all your advice. I am going to make an appointment tomorrow with our GP. Hope it is just temporary due to the all the illnesses she's had lately and she won't need surgery (remember having my tonsils out at 21 and it wasn't very nice).

Elibean - now you come to mention it my dd has been eating a lot less lately. Sorry might seem a daft question - but what would that have to do with enlarged tonsils/adenoids? Does it make it difficult to swallow food?

Hi everybody, just wanted to say that I have encountered this problem with my ds1, his snoring was so bad that I would have to shut his bedroom door turn the monitor right down. He use to have constant bouts of tonsillitis, our GP said he would probably grow out of it by age seven. I could not wait as he was disturbing the whole house at night, was not getting enough sleep as he often fell asleep at school and he was a really picky eater. Got around our GP by seeing a locum and asking for a referral to a specialist. Got an appointment in less than 4 weeks. Specialist took less than 60 seconds to make a diagnosis and said that the tonsils will cause more problems in than having them out. Also said that it would take 3-4 months before we would get an NHS appointment. As it happened it only took 2weeks, I had not realised that he had put ds1 down as an urgent case. Had operation over the summer holidays and recovered quickly( had both tonsils and adenoids out). Sleep is much better now and eating is amazing; we have gone from trying to tempt him with three or four different meals to now trying to stop him eating to much. Ds1 said that once tonsils came out, food was much easier to swallow. Good luck with what ever decision you make.

applecrumble, yes, dd was literally choking on her own tonsils

Just harder to swallow when either your nose or throat are partially blocked.

tbh, I would push for an ENT referral - it can't hurt, they certainly won't over-treat for tonsils/adenoids, if anything they tend to hold back!

Hi thanks for all your advice Elibean and Silverboy (glad to hear your ds is now much better having had his tonsils out).

I have taken dd to GP this afternoon and she said her tonsils are huge!!! practically closed up at the back. I explained about the holding of the breath for 10 seconds or so at night and she reassured me that there is no chance of her 'forgetting' to breathe, felt a bit silly really. She is making an urgent referral to ENT so should hear within 4 weeks (thank goodness).

I dread her having surgery though if it comes to that. I don't even like thinking about it. Is it now done as day surgery Silverboy and what is the post surgery recovery/pain like?

Can I please piggyback on your thread, applecrumble? DS saw the ENT guy today and we're waiting for an appointment for adenotonsillectomy now. I think it's usually a day case but I don't know much more about it than that. Have a bump, and good luck with your DD. :)

My 3 year olds stayed one night when they had this. The "grommets only" kids went home but the tonsils stayed.
It made a MASSIVE difference to the snoring and sleep apnoea and I was so pleased they had had it done.

she may have large adenoids or nasal polyps