Sleep apnea toddler

[Char0187]

Hi, does anyone have any experience of this and if so any advice about how to get a doctor to take it seriously?

My 2-year-old hasn't slept through the night since about 18 months. He wakes frequently, has night terrors and recently tiredness has started to affect his behaviour during the day.

Over the winter he's had a few chest infections and upper-respiratory viruses but he's been free of these now for about two months and the last time I took him to the doctor's his chest was clear and his breathing normal. However, he's still showing signs of breathing difficulties at night (sunken chest, heavy breathing, breathing through mouth etc. )

I think this may be sleep apnea and am worried about the potential problems he might have with such disturbed sleep but the doctor dismissed it last time and said it was just left-over symptoms from winter illnesses etc. How can I push this, what should I be asking them to do?

I would ask for his tronsils and adenoids checking. My brother sounded very like this and used to terrify my parents. He had enormous ones that were removed and he stopped having any problems.

It sounds really scary.

My dad has sleep apnea. He snored incredibly loudly, and would stop for a second then jump/snort and back to snoring. He was tired by 9pm and normally be in bed before then. He had a great immune system and rarely had a cold. Does your toddler have either of these symptoms?

My dd had her tonsils removed. Had had a couple of bouts of tonsillitis, but then I noticed that she was having some obstruction at night. Sort of breaks in her breathing - noticed when she’d been a bit under the weather and I slept in her room. GP Referred to ENT (had private med insurance at the time so saw the same ENT on his private list). He straightway said tonsils needed to be removed (adenoids looked st under GA but left in as ok). Consultant said that the tonsils were so enlarged that infection and swelling could be a real problem, and also that when they anaesthetised her the apnoea was clearly evident.

She thrived afterwards. Put on weight, slept well. I remember having a panic in the middle of the night (I slept in her room so could give pain medication according to timetable) when I couldn’t hear her breathing. Was so used to her snoring.

She was 6 I think when she had it done. Needed a fair bit of orthodontistry as having been a bit of a mouth breather that can affect teeth apparently. But that might be conincidence, as I had braces as did dh (and other dcs).

I had this with both mine and as a result they had their tonsils and adenoids removed. No one took me seriously and with my first the Dr dismissed me as an anxious new mum. I recorded him struggling to breathe and snoring while napping and showed this to the Dr, which made him take me seriously (after 18 months of issues). I also took him to children’s A & E because he was having breathing issues and was booked in for non urgent surgery.
With my daughter, she had HUGE tonsils, struggled to swallow and most mornings she was sick with phlegm. I had to push and push for a ‘sleep study’. This finally happened and she was found to have severe obstructive sleep apnea and booked in for the op.

They both had issues from about 12months old and it took us a further 3 years for each of them to get it sorted. If I were you I would try to record your dc and request a sleep study. The NHS really don’t like doing tonsillectomys now but it was an instant cure for all the issues we had.

Good luck

My DD had this at a similar age. Her breathing was terrible at night, it was awful. GP checked her tonsils and they were huge, so we were referred to ENT. We had to do a sleep study (at home). Results showed that she was stopping breathing but not to a level they were concerned about as oxygen levels weren't dropping too low. They were still considering taking her tonsils out, but then she just grew out of it. Her tonsils are still large but as she grew they seemed to move slightly and it was enough not to block her breathing anymore. We were told it could become a problem again as she grew but three years on she's fine.

I think dd’s was perhaps prompted by having already big tonsils but then the tonsillitis she had maybe made them larger. The apnoea was noticed until she was 6 - tho had always been a snorer. The mouth breathing meant she quite often had stinky breath. We didn’t have a sleep study. Think if it hadn’t been private consultant then we would have. Consultant was of the view that they weren’t likely to improve as she grew given her age.

wasn’t

Thanks for the replies. I have noticed pauses in his breathing but this is usually when he wakes up. i.e. he seems to stop breathing then coughs and splutters and wakes himself up.

His breathing has been so bad over the winter that he sleeps in our bed, ideally I'd like him back in his own room but with such disturbed sleep and breathing problems I don't feel comfortable doing that yet. I'll definitely ask about his tonsils though they've never mentioned them when he's been examined.

Well the doctor has dismissed it again. She did say his tonsils were enlarged but not enough for her to be concerned at this stage as he will grow and they'll become less of a problem.

She also said that sleep apnea is not associated with children who wake in the night, but children who get less restful sleep. She said to wait six months and see if his sleep improves but she sees no medical reason for his poor sleep at the minute... so I suppose that's all I can do for now!

Hopefully the Dr is right and he’ll soon grow out of it. Both my dcs didn’t and I had the same response so I’d just end up going back after the 6 months (or before if it was bad) to report the same symptoms, asking ‘I’ve given it six months, it’s the same/worse, now what?’