4yo with worrying breathing pattern at night

[UnicornBoom]

Has anyone else had a young child with sleep apnoea? I've got a GP appointment next week for my 4yo. When he's asleep his breathing becomes shallow, whistley like he's trying to such air through a very narrow space, almost like a slowed down asthma attack (my sister has asthma so I remember the attacks well), he then does a huge gasp and repeats the cycle multiple times a night. He does it in his car seat, in bed, on the sofa, it literally doesn't matter what position he is in, he just can't breathe properly when he's asleep. He's also become extremely irritable during the day, and has gone from being bright and bubbly to knackered and aggravated by the time it reaches 2pm. This is sleep apnoea isn't it? If it is, are they likely to do anything about it? It's very worrying and I have got him in my bed with me for the time being as I hate listening to him from across the hall struggling to breathe.

Bump

Sorry no advice or experience, but I'd make sure you video this and take it to your doctor to show exactly what's happening. Good luck.

My DD had trouble breathing around that age and sometimes she had to be propped up to sleep. It turned out her adenoids were huge and were blocking her breathing (she snored quite badly too). Once she had the operation she was a lot better but not quite. They ended up taking her tonsils out a year later as they had grown huge too and were blocking her airway. After both operations she was fine and only did very quiet snoring. That was 20 yrs ago.

Ask them to check adenoids and tonsils first. And I agree with pp. Video it.

To agree with the pp, my ds was the same. His life changed when he had his huge tonsils and adenoids out. You need to make a nuisance of yourself pushing for it with the gp. He now eats normally too. We didn't realise how much his fussiness with food was linked to struggling with swallowing space.