Sleep Apnea In Children

Sleep apnea in children is unusual but important to have medically assessed if you are concerned about it. Sleep apnea involves lengthy pauses in breathing during sleep. Although it is normal to experience brief stops in breathing, it becomes a problem when those pauses last for 20 seconds or more.

A common kind of apnea in children is obstructive sleep apnea, which is caused by an airway blockage. During sleep, the soft tissues at the back of the throat relax and if combined with enlarged adenoids or tonsils that is common in children, can obstruct the airways, causing breathing stoppages. Up to 3% of generally healthy pre-school aged children have obstructive apnea.

Signs and symptoms of obstructive apnea in children:

• snoring followed by quiet and gasping
• difficult breathing during sleeping
• restless sleep
• sleep in odd positions
• blue color to skin
• morning tiredness
• daytime sleepiness
• attention problems during the day

Apnea can cause a deterioration in school performance and some children with sleep apnea may be misdiagnosed as having attention deficit disorder due to attention problems.

Treating apnea requires opening the airways to assist the flow of air. This could involve surgical removal of the tonsils and/or adenoids. Some children need to use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine during sleep to help maintain breathing during sleep.