My baby doesn't sleep due to suspected apnoea..help.

[FruitPoppet]

I believe my LO (7 months) has enlarged adenoids, causing sleep apnoea. She's never been a great sleeper, but the last 7 nights she's had what sounds like a very mucousy, blocked nose (but absolutely no snot or mucous what so ever) and sounds like a warthog when breastfeeding. She keeps snoring herself awake and is struggling to sleep for more than an hour at a time and pretty much attached to my boob or in my arms. It's currently 230am and she's been awake 8 tunes since bedtime.

We have been to the GP who has referred us to paediatrics, but with no clear timeline with how long it could take to get an appointment. But honestly how am I supposed to manage this? She's exhausted from poor sleep and I'm so exhausted trying to facilitate the best sleep possible for her.

Other than the snorting noises she doesn't display any signs of respiratory distress and despite the horrible she noise she makes when breastfeedingz she is still feeding okay. so I dont feel like I can go to a&e out of desperation.

We use Sterimar nasal spray, snuffle babe, cold air humidifier, Calpol plug in, I've proped the mattress an inch, tried nurofen for inflammation, tried steam before bed.

Any help or advice or support welcome, not sure how I'm supposed to proceed here.

Hi op. My short answer is to find whatever money you can to go private asap.

My 1 year old has just had her adenoids out for the same reason. It was brushed off by the NHS GP and then it was a 14 month wait to even get diagnosed by NHS ENT, which we weren’t prepared to wait for.

The main issue you may come across in this country is that most NHS surgeons don’t perform adenoid removal under the age of 3. Even some private ones. So we had to find a specialist private surgeon.

It has helped our DC massively. Though still a shit sleeper.

@Iocanepowderthanks for your response. Can I ask how you went about going private and finding the right surgeon? I don't even know where to begin with something like that...

She needs to see ENT not a paediatrician. Get plenty of videos of her breathing.

I googled private ENT consultants in the area who would see children under 3. I then got an appointment, which you do by contacting their secretary.

That first consultant i saw diagnosed with suspected enlarged adenoids (and tonsils) but said he himself didn’t operate on kids on under 3 and referred me to another consultant he knew who did, which was an hour away. That second consultant then gave us an appointment.

Whereabouts in the country are you?

Does she stop breathing? If she is or you think she is then you need to push and definitely ENT. Ds had it and it was when we realised how often he stopped breathing that they did something. He had his out on the nhs when 3.

@Iocanepowderwere Devon/Cornwall border. If you don't mind me asking what's the ball park you're looking at paying for all consultations and surgery? I'm.on Mat leave and my partner is retraining at college domour funds are very limited. We have lovely family who would help if we needed, so just wanted to see what we would be letting ourselves in for

@mumonthehill she does for around 5 seconds. She doesn't seem to stop for much longer when I'm watching her, but whenever she wakes at night it's with a gasp/sputter and she always coughs and gags in the morning. She sleeps with her mouth wide open and does a few snores, this is what seems to stop her from sleeping as she drifts off and then catches her breath or does a snore and wakes again. She was awake every hour from 10pm..I've been sat up holding her since 5am

The surgery itself was just over £3k. The consultations have been about £150 each, so i think we’ve had 3 of those. It was oxford we went to.

Ask for a hearing test as that is what allowed us swift adenoidectomy but he was over 3.

You could also try antihistamine in case it's an allergic response. It seems to be in my ds.

My son was the same. His adenoids were so large that they were pressing on the tubes to his ears and he has 50% hearing loss, he would drink constantly as he couldn't breathe through his nose properly so was always breathing.through his mouth. There were so many related problems, constantly sick with ear, throat and chest infections. Took me 4 years of fighting to get them removed (adenoids, tonsils and grommets put in), they kept saying "he may grow out of it, we will review in 6 months...". It was life changing. His hearing returned to normal, he slept, his speech improved as he could hear, he stopped getting sick!

If you can afford to go private I would. It will improve quality of life significantly.

Yeah we got put on ths nhs waitlist for a hearing test which was also a few months. The private consultant then had an audiologist ready and waiting during the same consultation.

A PP is right that you need a referral to ENT, not pediatrics. Call your GP to check where the referral is, and then ring the hospital directly to check the waitlist.