Do children need treatment for snoring?

  Children can also snore during sleep, but unlike adults, snoring in children is mainly caused by enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Because of the poor upper whistle tract and nasal congestion, children often snore with open mouth and even hold their breath during sleep, which prevents them from entering deep sleep and affects the secretion of growth hormone, so long-term snoring can affect their growth and development. At the same time, it can cause inattentiveness, reduced learning ability, emotional irritability, hyperactivity and nocturnal enuresis. In addition, due to frequent open mouth whistling during sleep, it can lead to deformed jaw development, shortened upper lip, high arch of hard palate, protruding upper teeth and uneven teeth alignment (medically known as adenoid face). It is also believed that long-term snoring in childhood can lead to jaw-facial deformities and often predispose to obstructive sleep apnea hypoventilation syndrome (OSAHS) in adulthood. To reduce the incidence of OSAHS in adults, we should start from children. Therefore, children who snore and whistle with their mouths open during sleep for more than 2 months must be examined and treated at a hospital. If necessary, sleep monitoring should be performed to objectively check whether there is breath-holding and whether there is a decrease in blood oxygen saturation. As snoring in children is mainly caused by enlarged tonsils and adenoids, removing the enlarged tonsils and adenoids can solve most of the snoring in children.