A 4-year-old child feels like swallowing saliva in his throat when he falls asleep, which may be due to physiological factors such as hot weather, or pathological factors such as gastroesophageal reflux. 1. Physiological factors: due to the hot weather, dry air, sleep too thick quilt and other reasons, resulting in the child’s throat dry and itchy, which led to fall asleep swallowing, so as to relieve the dry and itchy throat. 2. Pathologic factors: children suffer from laryngitis, gastroesophageal reflux and other diseases. Due to bacterial and viral infections, inflammation of the pharynx occurs, localized pharyngeal edema, due to inflammation stimulation, resulting in increased salivation, which leads to the symptom of salivation. At night when sleeping in the flat position, gastroesophageal reflux patients’ stomach acid will reflux along the esophagus, and when the stomach acid refluxes to the mouth, the patients will appear to swallow subconsciously. If a 4-year-old child falls asleep and feels like swallowing saliva in his throat along with other abnormal manifestations, he should go to the hospital in time in order to clarify the cause of the disease and treat the symptoms.