Could your child have Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

There are many reasons why a child might be easily distracted, fidgety, restless, and have a hard time focusing.  One of those reasons could be lack of adequate rest.  The Center for Disease Control suggests 11-12 hours of sleep per day for preschoolers and at least 10 hours a day for school-aged children.  

What if a child is having trouble sleeping, and displaying issues like snoring more than half the time while sleeping, “heavy” or loud breathing, occasional bed-wetting, and a pause in breathing (especially those lasting for 10 seconds or more) while sleeping?  According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep-related breathing disorders occur in 2-20% of children and directly impact their health and well-being.  Look for some of these signs during waking hours: forward head posture, dark circles under the eyes, heavy breathing, excessive daytime sleepiness, poor attention span and cognitive skills, and waking un-refreshed in the morning.

Imagine startling awake with your heart pounding with adrenaline!  This is a sad reality for many with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a disorder which reduces or stops airflow to the lungs during deep relaxed sleep stages.  This lack of airflow can reduce oxygen saturation in the bloodstream, interrupt sleep, and could contribute to other issues related to heart health, obesity, diabetes, behavioral disorders and more.  OSA is characterized by the muscles of the throat and tongue relaxing and collapsing the airway.  Studies suggest that as many of 25% of children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity may have symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea and behavior problems can be the result of chronic fragmented sleep.  Enlarged tonsils or need for orthodontic treatment, are a couple causal considerations.

As parents and caregivers, we play a crucial role in helping to provide important clues and information to our children’s health care providers, which enables them to give the best and most informed care to our kids. If you have noticed any symptoms that appear to be a breathing or sleep disorder, please bring it up with your child’s provider, much can be done to ensure that children can get the rest they need to grow and learn.  In particular, orthodontic expansion treatment has been shown in some cases to be a treatment for OSA and can make surgical correction, such as adenotonsillectomy, unnecessary.  Kids definitely need their sleep, so bring up any concerns right away with his or her health care provider!