Apnoea or just snoring, in 4 year old

[SavoirFaire]

DS is just 4. He has always snored a bit. But it seems to have got worse. I'm in the kitchen below his room right now and I can clearly hear him through the floor. I have noticed that he breathes through his mouth a lot of the time (when awake as well). I've never really worried about this but suddenly have started wondering if it might be a more significant problem than just a bit of snoring. He is complaining of still being tired in the morning (although this could just be grumpiness at having to get up and go to pre-school as he cheers up quite quickly!). But it is mainly the snoring that bothers me. Is it totally normal and am I being silly or should I take him to GP about it?

Not normal I don't think. It could be a result of enlarged adenoids or an allergy. I would take him to the GP.

Thanks. Will do. He does have eczema/some allergies, although nothing that's affected his airways in any way. Hmm.

My son was exactly the same but had glue ear too. Drs went to remove adenoids and insert grommets. I asked them to look at his tonsils while he was under. They said his tonsils were huge so were glad they took them out. He sleeps so silently now I have to prod him to make sure he is ok!!

Thanks this is useful.

123rd's son is the same as my 4 yr old daughter. She used to snore terribly and if she wasn't snoring her breathing was very loud. She also used to wake up numerous times in the night. It turns out with my DD that the waking was due to sleep apnoea. She had huge tonsils, enlarged adenoids and glue ear. Initially the Dr thought that her enlarged adenoids were allergy related and she did a month course of daily antihistamines and steroid nasal spray every other night which helped a little but not much, so last november she had her tonsils and adenoids removed and grommets inserted and now it's the other extreme - her breathing is so quiet i have to get really close to her to check she's actually breathing lol and she never wakes at night anymore! I would say if he's not waking lots at night then it won't be sleep apnoea but i would still take him to the GP if he is snoring so loudly as there will be a cause for this.