Snoring in Children: The Causes

Occasional snoring may be normal to children. Recent studies show that 3 to 12 percent of children between the age of 1 and 9 snore. But frequency doesn t mean normality. Habitual snoring may actually be indicative of a more serious medical condition known as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), more commonly known as sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition characterized by loud snoring with periods of breathing interruptions. These interruptions often last between 5 to 30 seconds, and may be short or prolonged. During this period, the child could not get straight sleep. He rouses and moves to another sleeping position, then resumes sleep. He will then begin snoring again after a while. This activity often happens several times during the night, each night. Although this condition rarely appears on children, it is very important that parents should watch out for symptoms that come along with it.

Sleep apnea symptoms include the following:

Poor speech habits. Talking that sounds like words over a mouthful of hot potato. Growth rate is reduced. Children suffering from sleep apnea use more energy in breathing during the night. During meals, they tend to eat slowly since it is hard for them to breathe and chew at the same time. As a result, they have insufficient nutrients needed for growth.

Hyperactivity. Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness on children during the day. In order to cope, some of them act frantically.Poor performance in school. Children who do not get enough sleep during the night tend to perform poorly in school because they are often tired and they lack the concentration needed to focus.

If any of these symptoms are exhibited, take your child to his pediatrician for a proper check up. A child can be happy and smiling when he is brought to the doctor and therefore, it is difficult to diagnose if he really has sleep apnea. Parents are advised to record their child's snoring so that the doctor can analyze the situation in actually.

Sleep apnea is not the only cause of snoring in children. There are other reasons that could cause snoring in children, such as obesity, allergy attacks, asthma, or colds and tonsillitis, resulting in enlarged adenoids and inflamed tonsils.

Swelling in the nasal linings can be caused by allergy attacks and can lead to the enlargement of adenoids. The child will then be unable to breathe normally. Snoring is then likely to happen. The snoring may stop, however, once the allergy attack subsides.

Snoring is also caused by obesity. In fact, 20% and 40% of the obese children snore. This is because fats can form around the throat that can cause constriction and makes the limited airways. Also, fats in the stomach can cause the diaphragm to function irregularly.

Asthma is said to be another cause why children snore. With all the children diagnosed with asthma, 40 percent snore.

Enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis also results to snoring. Although antibiotics and decongestants can cure colds or tonsillitis, surgery might be required to remove enlarged adenoids and inflamed tonsils.

Yet another cause of snoring is the underdevelopment of a child's jaw in the womb. This makes it entire possible that the muscles and nerves are unable to properly control the airway, causing a child to snore.