All parents are constantly concerned (sometimes consciously and sometimes not so much) that our children may have a health problem and we do not know how to identify the symptoms so that they can get an early diagnosis and be treated as soon as possible.
That's why a mother has decided to share the experience with her son, to warn other parents about the symptom of a disorder that totally altered his son's behavior and that he discovered thanks to a symptom that sometimes we do not give much importance: sleep and breathe with his mouth open.
Those of us who have children, grandchildren or nephews know that when a child is sleepy or has not rested what is necessary, may have mood swings, as well as irritability and even tantrums that could affect your school performance and relationships with family and close friends.
Sometimes, when this happens, it is enough for the child to rest to feel good again, with energy, less irritable and more relaxed. But when you never get adequate rest, this can be something every day, which unfortunately, could be misinterpreted or misdiagnosed, such as a behavioral disorder or misconduct in it, when it could be a sleep disorder.
In Babies and more My son usually snores, does he have a respiratory disorder during sleep?This is what happened to Melody Yazdani, a mother who saw that her son suddenly began to have negative changes in his behavior and that only got worse over time. After months of consulting specialists and psychologists, they finally managed to obtain a correct diagnosis thanks to a symptom that their son presented: he slept and breathed with his mouth open.
Through a post on his Facebook account, Melody shares the story of his son Kian, who is currently 8 years old, in which explains everything that had to happen and how they finally managed to diagnose him correctly to treat him and that everything would return to normal.
"All parents. If they have a child, I'm going to tell them something they should know and probably never heard before. And please share it. There is a huge red flag in the photo that I share with this story. Can you see her?", Melody begins to explain, then point out what is wrong.
CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BREATHE BY THE MOUTH. Neither when they are awake, nor when they are asleep. Never.
If your son:
He falls asleep immediately by putting his head on the pillow
Snore
Grinds his teeth
Wakes up at night
You have night or day "accidents"
You have trouble controlling your impulses
It's hard to understand when he speaks
It has dark circles
Has crooked teeth or misaligned bite
Wakes up too early
It is irritable during the day
Have a bad or poor appetite
After listing these symptoms, he proceeds to explain what happened to Kian, when he was in his first year of preschool. "We begin to have reports of bad behavior. 'Kian pushed such and such', 'Kian is having difficulty controlling his body'.", says Melody. And although there was a little improvement in school when parents and teachers worked as a team, things were going bad at home. Kian was exaggeratedly angry all the time and was upset with very small or simple things and by starting second grade of preschool, things continued to get worse.
In Babies and moreChildren breathing through the mouth and coldUnlike his companions, who seemed to be learning to control their tantrums and emotions, Kian's were more intense and now they were an everyday thing. School reports were getting worse and at home there were tantrums from five in the morning, which included screaming, knocking and throwing objects by Kian. Melody was bewildered, trying to understand what had happened for her son to act like this despite all his efforts to help him.
So began a long way for him, in which he began to go with specialists. First and on the recommendation of his pediatrician, it was with a psychologist, who recommended that he be tested for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Along with all this, Kian had a cough that just did not go, so they also took him with a pulmonologist and an allergist.
As it was expected, each specialist recommended different solutions and medications: more psychological tests, inhalers, different antibiotics and a thousand other things. In a visit to the dentist for a routine cleaning, things were not favorable either, because they discovered that Kian also gritted his teeth at night, but that was something that helped Melody.
While investigating about everything your child presented, He found an article showing the connection between ADHD, sleep disorders and mouth breathing, which is when you breathe only through your mouth. All the symptoms and signs sounded like what Kian had, which made him investigate further.
In Babies and more Childhood sleep apnea syndrome: why it is important to detect and treat it early Finally, they found the light and after visiting a specialist in ear, nose and throat (otolaryngologist), Kian was diagnosed with sleep apnea and sinusitis. After a series of tests, they discovered that their sinuses were 90% blocked and that Kian had headaches every day, but it was so normal for him that he never said anything. After surgery, Kian was able to breathe again through his nose and according to Melody, they could see a total transformation in their behavior.
The results in his sleep studies also changed dramatically showing favorable results, and although he is still in treatment for his sleep apnea, things have been much easier for everyone, especially for Kian.
Melody explains at the end of his post why he decided to share the story and asks that it be shared as much as possible:
No one, in my 12 years as a mother, told me anything about this. All the signs were there in front of us and I had no idea. Kian's pediatrician, whom we love and who we trusted, never said anything. The psychologist had no idea, the pulmonologist, the allergist and even the otolaryngologist and the sleep doctor did not believe me when I insisted that my son should be examined for this invisible health problem. Not even during our regular appointments or during sick appointments. And it wasn't until I carried out tangible evidence with the results of the sleep analysis, that someone believed me. I had to find this, diagnose it and insist on the treatment myself. And how good I did it.
If any of this raises a red flag in your mind, if it sounds similar to your child, if your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, please go to an otolaryngologist and do a sleep study. It could change their lives.
Why is it bad to breathe through the mouth?
Although Melody repeatedly insists on its publication, that she cannot say if a child has the same problem as Kian or not and that it is best to go to the specialist, yes shares important information that he found thanks to the research he did about mouth breathing:
Breathing through the mouth is NOT NORMAL and has long-term health consequences. I repeat it, because it is very important: BREATHING BY THE MOUTH IS NOT NORMAL, NOR DURING THE DAY OR THE NIGHT. When a child breathes through his mouth, his brain and body do not receive enough oxygen. At night, this low oxygen saturation is detrimental to your sleep quality and to your brain's ability to get enough rest.
When the mouth is open, the tongue cannot rest in the right place. With the passage of time, this can lead to an incorrect development of the upper jaw, including a very high palate, cross bite, language problems and misaligned teeth. These reduce the airway and make the problem worse.
When sleeping, in addition to oxygen reduction, the retracted jaw can completely cut off air circulation and contribute to sleep apnea in children. To compensate, the body wakes the child and pushes the jaw forward, resulting in interrupted sleep cycles and bruxism (grinding of the teeth).
Causes of mouth breathing
Mouth breathing is pathological, is not what it should be normal. When you notice resistance to breathing through the nose, the brain orders to open the mouth so that more air flow enters. Do not confuse with children who breathe through the nose, but sleep with their mouths open. The usual causes of oral breathing are:
- Airway blockage (adenoids, enlarged tonsils)
- Deviation of the nasal septum
- Ankyloglossia (short lingual frenulum)
- Allergic rhinitis
- Nasal congestion
- Bad habit acquired
According to the information that Melody collected and that can be observed in studies like this and this, lack of rest in children and ADHD have the same symptoms. There is even a study in which by resolving sleep disorders caused by breathing in children who had been diagnosed with ADHD, most of them stopped having symptoms for the next six months and it was no longer necessary to continue measuring them, as if ADHD had been cured, but in reality, these children had been wrongly diagnosed with ADHD, when they had only one sleep disorder.
What do professionals say about it?
We consult with the otolaryngologist Diana Paz about oral breathing in children, and she tells us that it is indeed not normal, because healthy children should breathe only through the nose.
She reaffirms that mouth breathing is somewhat pathological and may be a signal that indicates that the child may have a problem like the ones we mentioned among the causes of mouth breathing.
However, it also clarifies that do not be alarmed, because in most cases they are usually minor problems and that can be solved by following a treatment, unlike the case of Kian, who suffered from sleep apnea and needed surgery.
His recommendation is that In case of any concern or symptom regarding the breathing of our children, it is extremely important that we take them to review with a specialist, which can be a pediatric pulmonologist or an otolaryngologist, to give us a correct diagnosis and proper treatment.
Childhood sleep disorders: more common than we think
According to information from the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEPED), childhood sleep disorders are a public health problem according to their prevalence, it is estimated that up to 30% of children have chronic sleep disorders.
In Babies and more One of every four children suffers from sleep disorders: how to help our children have a proper restThey also comment that deprivation or poor sleep quality in children It affects your school performance and your mood, besides that the chronic alteration can have physical repercussions, so it is important to detect it in time and perform the appropriate treatment.
Of course, in Babies and more We always recommend going to the doctor and not self-diagnose or self-medicate. We share Melody's testimony because we believe that it is a series of symptoms that could go unnoticed and when they are published, they may help some family that is going through the same thing as her with her son Kian.
Our recommendation will always be to go to an expert who can provide the appropriate diagnosis for each situation, so If you have any questions or think that your child has the same symptoms that Kian's mother shares, such as breathing with his mouth open regularly, it is best to go to the specialist.
