Does My Child Have Sleep Apnea Quiz

Suppose you are wondering or inquisitive on whether Your Child Have Sleep Apnea, well in this guide is everything you need to know about Sleep Apnea and also the “Does My Child Have Sleep Apnea Quiz”.

Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder that causes children to have pauses in their breathing while they sleep. And the two main types of sleep apnea that affects children are the obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea (central apnea).

The other type, central apnea, occurs when the part of the brain responsible for breathing doesn’t function properly. It doesn’t send the breathing muscles the normal signals to breathe.

When referring to sleep apnea, it is not a common thing to think of a child as someone who is typically affected by the disorder. Nonetheless, sleep apnea patients are mostly adults, but these days sleep apnea is increasingly diagnosed in children who are either sleep deprived or observed signs of the disorder by the parent during or after sleep.

Between 7 and 11 percent of children have a nightmare breathing issue, which can be sleep apnea, snoring, or something else. And around 90 percent of them may be undiagnosed.

And according to a review in 2014, obstructive sleep apnea affects 1 to 5 percent of children. And it often beings when they are between the age of 2 and 8 years old (obstructive sleep apnea is significantly more common than central apnea, in both children and adults).

And noting such sign can help seek an early diagnosis and proper treatment. And if left unsolved, sleep apnea can have significant consequences on a child’s growth, well-being, and behavior.

Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea

There are various symptoms of sleep apnea, seeing there is the obstructive and central apnea which are actually similar, with a difference in snoring.

Below are some of the most common symptoms:

• Noisy snoring
• Coughing or choking during sleep
• Halts in breathing
• Inhaling and exhaling through the mouth
• Sleep anxieties
• Bedwetting
• Bad sleeping Postures.

These symptoms are not only obvious at night, though as for children with restless night sleep because of this disorder, daytime symptoms can be fatigue, falling asleep, and finding it hard to wake up in the morning.

But as for Infants and young children with sleep apnea have low chances of snore, especially those with central apnea. Sometimes the only symptom of sleep apnea in this age group is troubled or disturbed sleep.

Effects Of Untreated Sleep Apnea

Having an untreated Sleep Apnea is a risky move, and this led to long periods of disturbed sleep, causing a chronic daytime fatigue (Especially for children)

This can occur in the child having difficulty paying attention in school. And also, they have hyperactivity, causing them to be misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Children with such untreated disorder face difficulty thriving socially, growth delays, mental delays, and heart problems, high blood pressure, high chance of stroke and heart attack in adults.

And If sleep apnea is properly treated, these complications will likely be eradicated or maintained well that it won’t affect the patient/child much as it would untreated.

Causes Of Sleep Apnea and Risk Factors

There are different causes of such disorder, so are their numerous risk factor to it. Which will all be settled in this section of the article.

First, Sleep Apnea causes the muscles in the back of the to eat fails/collapse while the child is sleeping, and this make it difficult for them to breathe.

Risk Factor in children is different from the risk factor for adults.

And obesity is a main factor, mainly because it contributes to obstructive sleep apnea in children, Nonetheless, the condition is commonly causing my enlarged tonsils or adenoids in children.

Other risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea in children can include:

• A (Past) Relative with Sleep Apnea
• Having specific medical disorders, such as:
• Cerebral palsy
• Down syndrome
• Sickle cell disease, etc.

Treatment For Sleep Apnea in Children

There are not really any guidelines pertaining to treating sleep apnea in children. For instance, a doctor might choose not to treat a mild sleep apnea condition without symptoms, at least not immediately.

And some other children are lucky enough to outgrow the disorder, so what the doctor does is to monitor their condition to observe for any improvements. And the benefits of doing this have to be calculated with the risk of long-time complications from untreated disorder.

Here in the section of this guide are some of the treatments for sleep.

Lifestyle changes

This is applicable in the cause of obesity, doctors commonly recommend physical activity and diet to treat sleep apnea, in such circumstance.

Nasal steroids

And nah! This isn’t like the normal steroid men use, Nasal steroids is prescribed to relieve nasal congestion is some cases.

These drugs are usually prescribed for a preliminary period, which often lasts 1-3 months.

Surgery

In cases when the disorder is caused by enlarged tonsils or adenoids, surgical removal is the best way to go about it, to open up the child’s airway.

A study shows that adenoid removal is equally as productive as tonsil and adenoid removal for a child who fulfil the following criteria:

• Below the age of 7
• No childhood Obesity
• Had reasonable, as contradicted to serious, obstructive sleep apnea.
• Had small tonsils.
• Continuous positive airway pressure therapy

Oral appliances

Children wear this appliances, to keep their jaw in a forward position, and keep the tongue in the right place, and also keep the airway open.

And this appliance is more effective, and productive, which is why children rend to tolerate it way better than other, so they’re more likely to utilize them at night.

It is important to note that Oral appliances can’t help every child, but they might be a choice for older children who no longer experience facial bone growth.

Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation Device (NIPPV)

This device works better for children with central apnea. And these machines allow a backup breathing fate to be set, and it ensures that a child does a number of breaths every minute even with a signal from the brain to breath.

Does My Child Have Sleep Apnea Quiz

To know whether or not your child has sleep Apnea, there are symptoms to look out for, before concluding. And below are some quizzes that will help you easily discover if your child has the disorder. And suppose you find any of these symptoms, you must see a doctor.

Quizzes

1.Does your child snore very loudly while sleep?

A. Most of the time

B. Not much

2. Do you see any sudden breathing patterns during your child’s sleep?
A. Most of the time

B. Not much

3. Does your child happen to be lazy and tired for the whole day?
A. Mostly

B. Sometimes

4. Does your child feel irritated, sensitive, or depressed?
A. Sometimes

B. No

5. When your child sla eeps, does your kid have unusual sleep postures or maybe sleepwalk issues?
A. Yes

B. No

6. Does your child bed wet?
A. Sometimes

B. Never

7. Does the child complain of sore throat?
A. Yes

B. No

8. Is there anyone who had the same issue in the family during their childhood?
A. Yes

B. No

9. Is your child overweight?
A. Yes

B. No

10. Does your kid always reject eating food?
A. Most of the time

B. Sometime

And if most of your answers are mostly “Yes”, then go see the doctor immediately, but it’s a 50/50 still reach out to a consultant to confirm.

Conclusion on Does My Child Have Sleep Apnea Quiz

In conclusion to the guide, after reading through the guide it should no longer be any confusion on the decision of whether your child has sleep apnea or not.

And it is important to note that, in every situation don’t assume by better still reach out to a consultant, to be in rhe safe zone. As said earlier in the post, having an untreated sleep apnea can be very dangerous.

So make sure to carefully read through the details in the post to get familiar with important information.

Be sure to shear this guide with friends and family.