Snoring and bad breath in child

[fruitscone]

I read on the beeb news yesterday about snoring in young children being linked behaviour issues and it got me thinking about snoring.

My DD (nearly 5) often snores and we have never really been concerned about it but found it kind of cute.

This BBC article said snoring in children can be caused by enlarged adenoids or tonsils and that made me wonder whether I should be concerned about it. This in turn made me wonder if it could be linked to her having bad breath. Quite often when I am close to her, I notice that her breath doesn't smell fresh. She has just had a dental check up and her teeth are all fine, she has a good and healthy diet and I think she is in good health generally. Now I don't think it is normal for a small child to have bad breath but have only just asked myself if this is linked to the snoring thing.

Has anyone got any experience of this? Thanks a lot!

Yeah mine too (mostly ) and so I am not concerned about the snoring in itself ... unless it is a sign of something untoward going on! Btw she didn't believe she snored so we made her a vid! It's like a hibernating bear we think .

My ds has a distinctive "breath" smell at night when he has an ear infection. Sometimes I can tell he's coming down with one from the smell. He's also more likely to snore at that point too. If he gets any illness it's an ear infection so it's probably just a sign he's stuffed up with cold.

I suspect what the article was meaning is snoring that is bad enough, and frequent enough, to suggest sleep apnoea - my dd2's tonsils and adenoids were so huge that she would stop breathing for a few seconds every few minutes, through the night. That is sleep apnoea, and yes, it can cause such disturbed sleep (and lack of oxygen) that a child's behaviour is affected.

She was lovely too, not a tantrum in sight (and that was aged 2!) but she had black circles under her eyes, and her breathing at night was scary. She had an op aged just 2, and is fine now - but still snores on and off, just not gasping for breath or stopping breathing!

The kind of snoring she does now isn't a problem at the moment

She never had bad breath though, so not sure about that - would think mucous quite likely culprit?

I knew a little girl once who developed bad breath and snoring out of the blue, and it turned out she'd stuck a piece of rubber up her nose and it had stayed there! The doctor pulled it out with tweezers and all was fine, but maybe check...

Thanks for replies. Hmmm I don't think the bad breath is to do with an infection coming on as it seems quite constant. And she doesn't sound bunged up (unless she has a cold). And I'm really not bothered about the snoring as it isn't that dramatic ... just I think the breath thing is v odd and something I would associate with older people with dodgy choppers or other underlying heath issues.

ha ha minty I wondered where that playmobil figure had disappeared to!

Neither issues has developed out the blue - I don't think! I suppose it doesn't seem to merit a doctor's trip as she isn't 'ill' so I need to ask a passing question next time I am at the doc's.

Does she drink enough, my DD gets bad breath if she hasnt had a drink all day at school.

Actually she isn't a big drinker. She drinks at meals and seems to glug loads if she hasn't drunk much throughout the day but doesn't really drink that much away from the table. Must get her to drink more.

lurking.

My DD (5) has foul breath, even when teeth have just been brushed. Of course it doesn't help when she decides to eat parmesan and garlic sausage for breakfast, but that's not the root cause. I wonder from time to time if there is an underlying cause which I should be doing something about.

She does snore, but I have always put it down to general snottiness. DS snores as well (as do I) but DS doesn't have the foul breath

interesting thread
i have a 4 yr old who often has bad breath and who snores terribly.

Stealthsquiggle - same here. Sometimes I wish she used adult toothpaste for a spot of minty freshness!

Obviously it doesn't bother me but I do worry that other children will be unkind if this is a permanent state of affairs.

fruitscone - DD does use minty toothpaste, but it doesn't make a lot of difference. I feel sorry for her teacher listening to her read in the mornings.

Does anyone have any bright ideas what the underlying cause could be? She doesn't seem to have tonsil problems.

my ds snores likd a road drill.has naturally quite large tonsils and death breath when gets up.was told snoring dries out the mouth and causes unsavoury breath so i wouldnt worry OP

I'm not really worried buuuuuuut her bad breath persists all day and is not just a first thing in the morning thing.

Bad breath is definitely connected to having a dry mouth and snoring could cause this.

Dd had very stinky breath and snored like a trooper. I became concerned about the breath issue and the fact that she didn't seem to be improving when she was 7. Also she had a bug and slept n with us for the first time in ages and I noticed that her breathing seemed to stall occasionally during the night.

Got private referral and her consultant said nstantly that the tonsils needed to come out as they were massively enlarged. He was concerned that a bad bout of tonsillitis could cause her throat to obstruct.

Tonsils out 2 weeks later. She obstructed during the anaesthetic induction and he said afterwards that was convinced the op had been right thng to do.

Her sleeping has improved massively. She's put on a bit of weight (maybe slightly too much bu I think it is the contrast betweeen then and no that is noticeable). She seems more robust and generally healthier. Breath lovely. :)

Incidentally, I took her to go when she was well. There wasn't anything wrong with her apart from the bad breath. The apnoea was something I only noticed when I'd already booked the appointment.

My concern about the breath was that I worried that other people at school would comment.

Ds (5) has bad breath sometimes and I think it's linked to not drinking enough, but also possibly to slight mouth breathing/snoring.

He sounds a bit stuffy and slightly nasal all the time - I had enlarged tonsils and adenoids (was a terrible snorer apparently) which were eventually removed aged 14 so I'm keeping an eye on it.

He's not prone to throat/ear infections though and he seems refreshed when he gets up in the morning.