Sleep apnea in toddler?

[GrowingInGrace]

Does anyone have any idea what I should do about this?

Dd3 is 2 and co-sleeps with us. Dh wants her out of our bed ASAP. He even told me that this morning when I was discussing decorating dd1 and dd2's bedroom.

But, I would say about 5-10 times since dd3 was an infant, she would fall into an irregular breathing pattern. She would start hitching in her sleep, like the kind of breathing you do after you have a crying jag. Except she doesn't cry. I think what's happening is that she'll stop breathing, and then she recovers, but it is out of sync.

The ONLY thing I have found to get her breathing back on track to a regular pattern is nursing. I will wake up to her doing this and when I nurse her, she will "reset" her breathing and I can go back to sleep knowing she's fine.

She did this first at 4 months, and her breathing kept being irregular (before I realized nursing would correct it). I was so scared that she would die in her sleep, because her breathing would stop and then restart around 10 seconds later, or sooner if I gently shook her to wake her up. That night, I slept on the recliner with her nursing because I was so terrified she wouldn't start breathing again. I called the dr the next day, and they told me that if happens again that night, to bring her in. But the next night she didn't. So I called again and said she didn't have that happen again.

She has done that off and on for 2 years now. Somewhere between 5 and 10 times. I can't remember.

Now that dh wants me to move her into her own bed, and hopefully wean her too, I'm afraid I won't be able to know when she does this. I know SIDS isn't supposed to happen after what, a year, but it still worries me that I won't be able to help her if she does it. Sleep apnea is a big deal - my 7 yo nephew just did a sleep study to see if he had sleep apnea, which the neurologist claims does have an impact on our health and cognitive development (sleep apnea does cause some attention problems during the day according to him).

I don't know what I'm looking for here. Has anyone here noticed weird breathing problems in their co-sleeping dc? Did you do anything about it?

[SueQ]

I suggest looking into it. If your mommy instincts tell you she has sleep apnea then get it checked out. Especially since it is in your family. :hug2

[deena]

Oh yes. I have tons of experience with this. Two of my kids had severe cases of this. The first got his tonsills out and the second will be getting them out this summer. It's scary to listen to. It sounds like its the tonsills for your daughter too because when the child breastfeeds their tongue comes forward and the airway opens. Once they're sleeping the tongue/tonsils/airway collapses.

At one point my son's airway was so closed, and he was SO exhausted that I actually gave him mouth-to-nose breathing just to give him some positive pressure. I can't wait til this is over with.

In the mean time I would DEFINITELY not move your daughter to another bed. You want to be able to hear if she's ever in trouble.

Anyway, whatever the cause, you should definitely pursue a cure - no one must live with sleep apnea.

[GrowingInGrace]

That's interesting that you mention the tonsils. For some reason, I got a tonsillectomy when I was a child. I know they did it more often than they do now (I think). I'm going to ask my mom why I got a tonsillectomy. I was only 5 or 6 when they did it, but I don't know why.

Since she's only 2, do I just go through the regular pediatrician? Or do I find some specialist (and who?). My dh's new insurance is a PPO, so I can go to a specialist without having a referral.

Yeah - my mommy instinct definitely tells me to keep her with me. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it's good to be there.

Thank you so much for the input. I was beginning to think no one had any ideas about this.

[Punkie]

We had my ds tonsils checked out for this reason. He ended up growing into them (his head got bigger and they weren't so huge comparatively), but for a while we thought he might need them removed. I would definitely check it out :) There's no harm in just checking, and it could save some problems further down the road :hug

[deena]

ENT - Ear Nose Throat doctors do this. You'll probably need a referral and the most convincing way to get this is to tape record the apnea. Like punkie said, your child will probably grow into them, but I'm of the opinion that it's still worth removing, especially if it's causing apnea. Large tonsils also lead to horrible teeth decay due to all the mouth breathing the kids have to do.

I too am getting my tonsills out soon and while I breathe fine, they are also a nuisance in that at least once a year I get deathly ill with strep throat. So even if your child grows into them and you decide to keep them, you still need to keep an eye on the amount/severity of throat infections.

[Zoesmama]

Yep see an ENT(ear nose throat) Dr. There could be lots of causes for this. I hope you can find a explaination. Has she had strep/tonsilitis at all?


DD's dad had sleep apnea. We never knew how long he had it but I discovered it in many boughts of insomnia while pregnant. He would get really shallow breathing and then kinda make a loud snore that was him catching his breath. Odd thing was during it I could see his chest rising it was very weird. But when I explained it to ENT who he was seeing for chronic tonsilitis he said that is sleep apnea. SO sure enough after a sleep study they found he was stopping breathing 50+ times an hour which is rather servere sleep apnea.

Oh once his tonsils were removed it improved not only his very loud snoring(not completely gone but a lot better) too. The ENT also wanted to remove his uvula(that hangy ball thing) to open up the air way. If you choose not to do any surgery for it they have machines called Cpap or something like that you can use.

[GrowingInGrace]

Thanks for all the ideas here. I will try and keep our video camera handy for those nights. I found out from my sister that her son has huge adenoids, so that's his reason for his sleep apnea.

I will have to wait a while longer - have to find out what doctors we will be going to when our insurance kicks in and all that. Thanks for the input.

[GrowingInGrace]

Thanks for all the ideas here. I will try and keep our video camera handy for those nights. I found out from my sister that her son has huge adenoids, so that's his reason for his sleep apnea.

She's never had strep throat or tonsillitis.

I will have to wait a while longer - have to find out what doctors we will be going to when our insurance kicks in and all that. Thanks for the input.

[deena]

Thanks for all the ideas here. I will try and keep our video camera handy for those nights. I found out from my sister that her son has huge adenoids, so that's his reason for his sleep apnea.



:yes It runs in families. :/