Mouth breathing

[nothappynewyear]

It was mentioned to me on another post that I should be taking my daughter to the doctor because she breathes through her mouth when asleep, and has done since she was a baby. Would really like to hear from anyone who's gone to the docs with their kid for the same thing. Did the GP take this seriously or pass it off as something they'll grow out of? What turned out to be the cause? Did their sleep or behaviour improve if cause was treated?

I'm following with interest as my 12 year old son does this. Took him to the gp once who gave him a nasal spray but it hasn't really helped.

Following, my dd does this too.

I took my DD who is 4 and mouth breathes most of the time. GP took me seriously enough to refer to ENT who had a look and couldn't see any obvious obstructions in nostrils/tonsils but said it could be related to adenoids and referred for a sleep study for apnoea - currently waiting on the results and will go back for a review where they'll also check hearing.

There are various detrimental effects of mouth breathing, behavioural and physical, so it's worth pushing to have it investigated IMO.

A colleague of mine had this with his youngest daughter, she always breathed through her mouth and was forever ill. Went to an ENT specialist and I can't remember all of the words but adenoids and gommets or is it grommets?? Were really enlarged. She had to have an operation and is much better.

I used to breathe through my mouth as a child and ended up having my adenoids taken out when I was 8.
I am now 48 and still breathe through my mouth unless I consciously alter my breathing pattern.

DS was a mouth breather and for almost 12months when he was 18 months old onwards we had a permanent cycle of sinus infections.

It took a lot of pushing but eventually I got an ENT referral and a sleep study.

Turned out his adenoids were too big so they removed those and his tonsils when he was 3!

My son breathes through him mouth a lot and always when he sleeps. For those with kids who have had adenoids removed how invasive is the surgery and what is the recovery like?

DS was bouncing round the ward within 6hrs of coming round - we actually had a hard time keeping him still/relaxed for a week, which was the advice at the time!

My son used to mouth breathe and struggle at nights. It used to be very difficult to wake him up in the mornings and he appeared very tired as well. A sleep study didn't show that he had obstructive sleep apnoea but seeing all the symptoms and the recordings which I had (snoring sounds ) the ENT said that his tonsils and adenoids were the cause for it. A surgery was performed to remove it when we was almost 5 and it made a huge difference. A year post surgery he is again struggling and we are awaiting ent referral. For the pp who asked how recovery is , the first week after surgery is very tough and painful. But children are resilient and they bounce back quickly.

My DD does this and she also holds her breath while awake and then breathes - I’m going to take her to the GP.

Do they have to be a certain age before they will carry out the surgery if adenoids are the issue?

My son has had breath at times, dentist says it's not his teeth so I wondered about the mouth breathing for this too

Look up buteyko breathing

My daughter does this and it interfered with sleep alot. Twice daily anti histamine has really helped as it was thought adenoids inflamed due to allergic rhinitis.

@Seacow87 That's great you found the cause and are able to treat it! Do you know what allergen it is that started it? Could definitely be the case for my daughter as we have a cat and I wondered if it could've been an allergy to that. We've been to the docs recently and she's got a nasal spray to take 4 times a day - not ideal as she hates it

i only breath through my mouth unless i really try hard to do it through my nose. going to the dentist is a nightmare.

Ds1 was a mouth breather.

A high palate, most likely caused by a posterior tongue tie, was restricting his nostril space.

By age 7, he could not get his bottom teeth behind his top teeth.

We got him braces and night time headgear which he wore for 2 years to open everything up. He stopped mouth breathing a couple of months into the orthodontics and his sleeping vastly improved too.

He's 13 now and right as rain.

@nothappynewyear we suspect dust. I have upped my game with hoovering bed and wet dusting. She also has food allergies but we manage to avoid them pretty well.

@mawbroon wow! That's amazing it was all sorted. Was it the dentist/orthodontist that noticed his high palate or the doctor?

Nope, it was me. Docs looked at me blankly, NHS dentist shrugged.

He had a load of other problems too, all related and every single one was resolved with orthodontics and osteopathy.

@mawbroon that figures! Go you for doing the research and sticking with your gut

@Lkbbdg sounds rough! As if the dentist isn't bad enough

This is very interesting. My youngest is a mouth breather, she's had grommets due to chronic glue ear and ear infections. She never sleeps through the night. I've also heard it can affect bone and jaw development?
She's been under ENT for years due to her ears but nothing has ever been picked up or mentioned

Hi, I would like to know what happened with the baby that was a mouth breather. My baby is a mouth breather 80% of the time and doesn t sleep well and I’m afraid it also affects feeding. All the best

Dd was a mouth breather and had sleep apnoea. Had very enlarged tonsils and adenoids out before she was 2.