Do you children snore? Keep an eye on them<\/p>\n
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Singapore<\/p>\n
Most parents tend to ignore their snoring children. They are
\nnot aware that snoring is a sign of abnormality. Parents usually
\nconsider it to be a habit. \"Our parents and grandparents also
\nsnore,\" is their most common reason.<\/p>\n
But Christian Guilleminault -- professor of psychiatry and
\nbehavioral sciences at Stanford University and director of
\ntraining at the Stanford University Sleep Disorders Center --
\nwarned parents that snoring was a sign that children were having
\ntrouble breathing due to their upper airway being smaller than
\nnormal.<\/p>\n
\"The small tube in the airway means children are unable to
\nbreathe normally, which causes them to snore,\" he said in a two-
\nday seminar on 'Ear, Nose and Throat Problems in Children, In
\nFocus: Obstructive Sleep Disorders' staged by Mount Elizabeth
\nHospital in Singapore recently.<\/p>\n
\"The causes of noisy breathing during sleep can vary. It may
\nbe related to respiratory allergies, repetitive upper airway
\ninfections or the presence of small anatomic abnormalities of the
\nupper airway during sleep,\" said the guest speaker.<\/p>\n
Guilleminault, dubbed the 'Father of Sleep Apnea', said
\nchronic snoring could be a trigger for nocturnal asthma attacks
\nbut it was mostly a key indicator of abnormal breathing during
\nsleep.<\/p>\n
\"There are many symptoms that can be associated with chronic
\nnoisy breathing, starting from daytime irritability,
\naggressiveness, behavioral difficulties such as shyness, anxiety,
\nrepetitive terrifying nightmares, sleepwalking, bed-wetting,
\ndaytime lethargy, difficulties at school with learning impairment
\nand morning headaches.\"<\/p>\n
The abnormal breathing could lead to an obstructive sleep
\napnea syndrome in adulthood.<\/p>\n
Guilleminault said most abnormal breathing sufferers were
\nobese boys.<\/p>\n
\"Males usually store fat in their neck and stomach. The fat
\nwill surround the upper airway and therefore narrow the tube.
\nPeople breathe like vacuum cleaners. The smaller tube will make
\nchildren unable to breathe during contraction. It will make them
\nuse their mouths to breathe.\"<\/p>\n
When parents find out that their infants snore, it is critical
\nthat they recognize the symptoms.<\/p>\n
\"If not all the causes of the problem are addressed early, it
\nwill affect the children when they grow up. Most importantly, we
\ndon't realize that snoring could lead to obstructive sleep apnea
\nsyndrome in adults. It is more crucial because during sleep the
\ngrowth hormone is secreted. If they have sleep apnea then they
\nwon't grow normally.\"<\/p>\n
Guilleminault said the problem could be exacerbated by the
\nenvironment in which the children lived.<\/p>\n
\"In big cities like Jakarta and Bangkok where there is lots of
\npollution, children receive pollutants which give them swollen
\nthroats.\"<\/p>\n
He also said that even sports activities during the daytime
\nwouldn't help the children.<\/p>\n
\"My study shows that people have different brain mechanisms
\nfor the day time and night time. Therefore, when parents consult
\ntheir pediatrician, which usually happens in the daytime, doctors
\nwill not see the symptoms. Parents themselves must pay attention
\nto their children's behavior during sleep to enable them to
\ndescribe the symptoms to doctors.\"<\/p>\n
Mouth breathing will influence children's facial growth, with
\n60 percent of the adult face structure being determined by the
\nage of four. Sufferers tend to have longer faces and sharper
\nchins with a retracted jaw.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is more pronounced among East Asians compared to
\nCaucasians because they tend to have longer faces anyway,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Guilleminault said that children would search for the best
\nposition to sleep in due to their breathing disorder.<\/p>\n
\"If they lay down, the tongue will fall back and close their
\nupper airway. If they sleep face down, they tend to bend their
\nknees up to their stomachs. The best position is to sleep on
\ntheir side.\"<\/p>\n
\"In certain countries, I see children sleeping on their
\nmothers' backs during the daytime when the mothers are going
\nabout their activities. Actually, that's the ideal position to
\nsleep in.\"<\/p>\n
However, Guilleminault said the condition was completely
\ncurable and many treatments were available but an appropriate
\nanatomic diagnosis was needed.<\/p>\n
The surgical treatments range from tonsillectomy with or
\nwithout adenoidectomy to lateral resection of the palatal walls.<\/p>\n
\"I myself had my son undergo a tonsillectomy at the age of 10
\nmonths. I call on parents and pediatricians to have the surgery
\nas early as possible to avoid fatal consequences for children,\"
\nGuilleminault said.<\/p>\n
For snoring children, Guilleminault called on parents to seek
\northodontic treatment related to the cause of the abnormal sound.
\nHe described his patients having braces on their teeth, which
\nwere meant to pull the jaw forward.<\/p>\n
As for obstructive sleep disorder children, he recommended the
\nuse of nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) or
\nBilevel to help children overcome their breathing problem. CPAP
\nis a mask with a long tube where the oxygen is brought to the
\nchild's nose under pressure.<\/p>\n
Besides those measures, an appropriate interaction between
\npediatricians and orthodontists must occur early to avoid a
\nlatent problem before the end of puberty, which will give rise to
\nan obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in adulthood.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/do-you-children-snore-keep-an-eye-on-them-1447893297",
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