Sleep apnea affects an estimated 18 million Americans, and that's not just limited to adults. Kids can get it too, and the causes, and treatments, are very different. Time Warner Cable News’ Jill Urban looked at sleep apnea in children.
Many people dream of sleeping like a baby, but not all babies or kids sleep soundly. In fact, some parents are surprised to learn that kids can have sleep apnea.
"Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder where a child, during their sleep, will stop breathing - and it’s very different than adult sleep apnea. In adult sleep apnea, the adults will stop breathing for about ten seconds. In kids that time frame is much shorter," explains Dr. Vikash Modi of New York-Presbyterian Komansky Center for Children's Health.
Sleep apnea can have negative impacts on a child’s health and development. Dr. Modi says it usually starts off with heavy loud breathing and then progresses to loud disruptive snoring.
"Snoring should be rhythmic breathing so: ‘cha cha.’ Sleep apnea is when you actually have pauses or breaks in that snoring pattern so it sounds like ‘chaa (pause) chaaa.’
Pediatric Sleep expert Dr. Haviva Veler says each one of those disruptions prevents the child from falling into the deepest and most restful stage of sleep.
"The immediate effects of sleep apnea are daytime sleepiness or hyperactivity, inability to sit in one place, difficulty in concentrating and learning disabilities," says Dr. Veler of Weill Cornell Pediatric Sleep Center.
Untreated, long-term sleep apnea can lead to respiratory and cardiac problems.
The most common cause for sleep apnea in children is extremely large and obstructive tonsils and adenoids.
As for treatment, there are two options. First, many doctors will try medication. They will use an antibiotic and a nasal steroid to try to reduce the size of the tonsils or adenoids. If that does not work, then it is on to surgery. Luckily, these days the surgery is a lot less invasive than it used to be.
“Surgery involves shaving down the tonsils and shaving down the adenoids. We remove 95 percent and by leaving that five percent of tissue behind, most kids really don’t have discomfort. If we do the surgery on Monday, by Wednesday they are usually back to normal," says Dr. Modi.
A few red flag are loud snoring, restless sleep and in some cases, when a child sleeps in an odd position, like with the head tilted back.
If your child is always waking up tired and there is cause for concern, talk to your pediatrician. Getting answers and a game plan may just help put your mind and your child’s sleep problems to rest.