What happens with sleep apnea in children?

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

I'm getting my 3 year old DD a GO appointment as soon as I can. I'm concerned she has sleep apnea.

For the past 6 months her snoring has gotten worse and worse and is now so loud it wakes the whole house up, she also breathes almost in stages, so a long snore in ... pause ... further in ... pause ... then out.

She tosses and turns all night, falls out of bed with her wriggling where she can't seem to stay asleep. She's exhausted in the day and doesn't eat well, she's often unwell with viruses and ear and throat infections and I think the sleep might be the root cause of it all.
She can breathe well out her nose in the day and doesn't mouth breathe or make a lot of noise when eating.

What should I expect? A referral to ENT or will the GP be able to refer for a sleep study? The great long pauses she takes and then the sudden gasp for breath is scary to watch when she's sleeping and we're all suffering from lack of sleep with the snoring!

You will be referred to the respiratory team to do a sleep study. If needs be you will be prescribed a Cpap or Bipap machine which is an external vent that keeps them breathing properly. My 4 yr old has major problems with apneas and a Bipap machine has been a godsend.

Ps see if you can borrow or buy a sats monitor because then you can sleep without worrying . It will alarm if she stops breathing and sats are too low.
Does she have large tonsils by the way because they can block the airway when asleep.

My eldest is on CPAP (occasionally BIPAP) so that won't be unfamiliar for us.
I do have a SATS monitor so will put that in her tonight when she makes her way downstairs to our bed.
I'm very familiar with the respiratory team locally so that's a relief! Thanks.

My DD (now 11) had exactly the same.
To cut a long story short, I paid privately for her to see an ENT consultant as the wait was long and I was worried. She also had an x ray on the same day which showed no air space in her post nasal area, completely blocked with adenoid tissue.
We had to apply for funding for the op, not sure if this will be a thing in your CCG. Then had to get on the consultants theatre list. Overnight stay, she had tonsils and adenoids out. Since then, her appetite has completely changed, she gained weight she needed, and sleeps soundly.
If you can afford to see the consultant privately, it's worth every penny, and then get on the NHS waiting list for the op.
Hope this helps xxxx

It does thank you. An ENT appointment takes about a year to get here so I will look into private. Do you mind me asking roughly how much is was to be seen?

The consultation and x Ray was just over £100 altogether. This was 3 years ago so it might be more now, but it was worth every penny, I was so worried xxx

I came on tonight to ask about this.

I think my daughter has this. She is 6 and has had issues going on for maybe almost 3 yrs. she was treated for asthma for a long period of time. She has her tonsils out last oct. adenoids were not removed as they were small. Tonsils were small too, but they took them just incase. She was also hospitalised at this time for 2 weeks for a lung infection.

Her breathing during sleep has not got better since. She gasps and struggles all night long. You know as soon as she fell asleep as you hear her. She also on occasion wets the bed. She is a mouth breather the majority of the time and does get breathless quicker than she should. She is not overweight and is not irritable or badly behaved. She has met all development milestones and is doing well in school.

We have a respiratory consultant who has never mentioned that she may have this. But having read online it appears that that is what they have been working towards. I'm just now waiting on an appointment coming through for an overnight sleep study.

Sorry for hijacking. I'm just so worn out with it.

Yes the sleep study will be to assess sleep apneas.It took 2 yrs to get a diaGnostic in the end but as we suspected severe sleep apneas were happening up to 25 times an hour !

GOSH has very good information pages in its website for different paediatric conditions.

@TitsalinaBumSquash I've just been searching Mumsnet and found your post. I wondered if you had gotten an answer yet?

My son sounds exactly the same. His ENT consultant is quite certain he hasn't got sleep apnea but he is being referred for a sleep study 'so he can prove his paediatrician wrong' (his paediatrician referred him)

Thank you.