My Baby Done Got The Apnea

I’m convinced CootieBoy has sleep apnea. I’ve known for a while that he has issues, but last night was it for me. I’m taking him to the pediatrician as soon as possible.

Why do I think he has it? Here’s the list of the symptoms he has:

• snoring – loud, squeaky, raspy
• nocturnal snorting, gasping, choking (may wake self up)
• restless sleep
• bad breath
• not growing as fast as other children
• heavy irregular breathing
• excessive perspiring during sleep
• sleeps with mouth open, causing a dry mouth upon awakening
• chest retraction during sleep in young children (chest pulls in)
• excessive irritability
• hyperactive behavior – misbehaving in school

Let’s look at some of those symptoms. Nearly EVERY NIGHT CootieBoy wakes up and comes into our room. The time varies – sometimes 2 a.m., other times 5:30 a.m. So it’s not just a “habit” he’s gotten into. He snores – a LOT, and very loudly. It’s like a low rumble in his chest that moves up and comes out his nose. And last night (around 5:30 a.m. as I lay awake besides him) he would start a snore and then go still for about 4-5 seconds (at some point I started counting) before breathing again. And his breath? During the day it’s normal, but at night, when he’s sleeping with his mouth open, it’s like DEATH. And that’s not an exaggeration. This morning I thought he had diarrhea the smell was so bad, but then I realized it was his breath. I finally had to get up and go sleep in his room because it was that foul. He does occasionally sweat at night – there have been times when I’ve gotten him up in the morning to find his sheets wet from the sweat. While he is growing and healthy, he is shorter than the rest of the kids in his class. And CootieGirl towers over him (although she’s abnormally tall for her age). He does act up in school occasionally – take the biting from last week as a for instance.

So yeah, those are all enough for me to think he’s got sleep apnea. What what cures childhood sleep apnea? A tonsillectomy. Fortunately, from what I’ve read, the kids can go home the day of surgery, so if we do have to do it, I’ll schedule it for a Friday so he’ll have the weekend to be coddled by his mama.

Anything to fix that bad breath. Seriously. It smells like diarrhea and death when he’s asleep.

Update: I’ve made an appointment with our pediatrician for Monday morning at 9:45 a.m. She made the GREAT suggestion of videotaping him while he’s sleeping so that the doctor can see what’s going on at night when he sleeps. I wish I had done that this morning when it was really bad. But you know what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning!!