A snoring adult is an unpleasant phenomenon, but, by and large, is quite common. Few of us are surprised if a fellow traveler on a train or a friend who has come to visit with an overnight stay, after a certain amount of alcohol, snores vigorously and persistently until the morning. But baby snoring is something completely incomprehensible. Therefore, parents who notice such a feature in their child often turn to the famous pediatrician and author of books on children's health Evgeny Komarovsky, who in turn tells what night snoring in a child can mean and whether it can be treated.
About the problem
Snoring occurs when there is a mechanical obstruction to the free circulation of air in the respiratory tract. In a person's sleep, all muscles relax, not only the arms and legs, but also the small muscles - the palatine. This septum, the task of which is to prevent food from entering the respiratory system, begins to vibrate in a relaxed state, it is this sound that is called snoring.
Komarovsky on the causes of snoring
Evgeny Komarovsky notes that most often children snore for two reasons:
Adenoids
Accumulation of dried mucus in the airways.
There are other reasons, but they are much less common. So, snoring can be the result of a disturbed bite, children with epilepsy, obesity (not losing weight, namely obesity), babies with some pathologies from the respiratory organs often snore in their sleep.
Snoring in babies
Quite often, the parents of infants turn to complaints that the child snores during sleep. Komarovsky urges not to confuse snoring and puffing. Babies wheeze not because of illness, but because they have a certain physiological distinctive feature - the nasal passages from birth are very narrow. Such puffing is not a pathology; it does not need treatment.
It is nevertheless necessary to help the child. Komarovsky advises creating a sufficiently humidified air, if necessary, irrigate the nasopharynx with saline solutions.
Microclimate
If an older child snores, and he did not do it before, and at 2 or 3 years old began to snore, you should start looking for the cause of the phenomenon by assessing the conditions in which the child sleeps. If a child breathes dusty, dry air, he is put to sleep in a room where there are many "dust collectors" - carpets, soft toys, books, if wet cleaning and airing are done not every day, but once a week, it is not surprising, according to Komarovsky, no snoring. In the respiratory tract, due to this microclimate, mucus dries up, which is produced by the body to protect against viruses and other harmful organisms. Dry mucus becomes a mechanical barrier to normal breathing at night during sleep.
When asked what to do, Komarovsky answers in some detail: to ventilate, wash the floors more often and remove dust, remove all carpets, buy an air humidifier so that the child in the bedroom always has an air humidity of 50-70%, and the air temperature is no more 18-20 degrees. It makes sense to instill a saline solution into the nose, thus moisturizing the mucous membranes. For the same purpose, you need to give the child more to drink.
ENT diseases
Snoring can be a consequence of the transferred sore throat, after this serious illness, swelling of the larynx persists for some time. This condition does not need correction, the snoring will go away. This sound night effect is possible after any respiratory illness in which the respiratory system has suffered.
If a child snores at night and breathes through his mouth, during the daytime there is also difficulty in nasal breathing, adenoids are likely - an overgrowth of the lymphoid tissue of the pharyngeal tonsil. Treatment is prescribed by a doctor, depending on the stage and severity of the disease. In some cases, surgery is indicated.
With systematic snoring, the examination should be started with a visit to the ENT doctor. In addition to adenoids, the doctor may find other reasons for snoring - curvature of the nasal septum, polyps in the nasal passages, foreign small objects that the child could accidentally push into the nose or inhale, laryngitis, or incipient bronchial asthma.
Obesity
With obesity in a child, fat spreads not only to the subcutaneous space, but also to the tissues of the pharynx, which causes a narrowing of the lumen and vibration during relaxation of the soft palate... Such snoring is treated by reducing food intake, diet, exercise, and active play. A dietitian can help you lose weight.
Malocclusion
There are several types of malocclusion in which night snoring can occur. The question why children snore in the absence of a runny nose can be answered by a pediatric orthodontist. Usually, if the lower jaw is poorly developed, displaced back, in a dream, when the muscles relax, the tongue root comes into contact with the uvula. Air passage is impeded. What to do - the orthodontist will decide after examining the child's jaw, usually such pathologies detected at an early age can be successfully corrected without surgery.
The consequences of snoring
If children's snoring is ignored and not looking for the true cause of the violation, the consequences can be unpleasant.
Dry mucus in the oropharynx can cause chronic respiratory problems in children, and neglected adenoids are very difficult to treat.
Snoring can lead to short-term disturbances in pulmonary breathing, respiratory arrest. This condition in medicine is called "Sleep Apnea", it can be deadly. According to statistics, this complication develops in only 2-3% of children suffering from night snoring, but this possibility cannot be ignored.
All snoring children, without exception, sleep worse, and disturbances in the quality of sleep lead to nervous exhaustion, metabolic disorders, to a decrease in concentration, and also to the ability to learn.
Dr. Komarovsky will tell you about the causes of childhood snoring in the video below.
