Hi everyone,

I am searching for anyone who has a child a knows of one that's has had obstructive sleep apnea
Or a similar respiratory problem??

My son who was a placid, very gentle natured , quiet baby and slept through the night had a total turn around at around 4 months of age.
He wont sleep longer then a sleep cycle (45-60) at a time, total change in nature, has had regular episodes where he stops breathing and is then gasping for breath, poor little boy is exhausted along with me and his dad.
It took 9 months to have somebody finally believe us that there was something wrong and we are now on a trial drug for 2 months. Specialist said we should see a change in 2 to 5 days but it's day 15 and he is no better.

Has anyone had a child with this or a similar problem and how did you cope?

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

Sleep apnoea is a very serious medical condition. If I were you I'd be heading to a GP & getting a referal to an Ear Nose & Throat specialist. Or head to your ED if he stops breathing. Do you know what the obstruction is?


Our DD1 had sleep apnoea problems awhile ago due to enlarged adenoids & tonsils. We were referred to an ENT & is on the waiting list to have tonsils & adenoids removed, but she seems to be growing out of it.

We have been to a sleep specialist after 9 months of being told he was fine.
I described what was going on and without looking at him the specialist said he thought it was obstructive sleep apnoea.
They ran some tests and said his adenoids were not as enlarged as first thought so they would try a steroid nasal spray called "avamys" first to see if it helps. I can not see ANY change at all!!

Would an ear nose, throat specialist be better then just a sleep specialist??
Thankyou so much for your reply.

Best of luck with your daughter smile

Thanks smile we're thinking about cancelling the op now since she seems to be growing out of the apnoea by herself (YAY!!)


If he THOUGHT it was obstructive sleep apnoea & gave you steroid spray but it didnt work, I'd be going back to him pretty quick to tell him it didnt work. If he seems slack about figuring out what the problem is, go to someone else. Really it needs an answer.

When we first went to the GP, they took an Xray to check the size of DD1's adenoids, then when we saw the ENT, she had a really good look at her tonsils. Have you checked the size of your toddlers tonsils? They're a common problem for blocking airways. Or it might be the way he holds his tongue while he sleeps or something.


If it IS obstructive sleep apnoea, then there is something in that area physically blocking his airways. An Ear Nose & Throat (ENT) should be able to help you with that.

Thankyou so much. It is great to speak to someone in a similar situation.
I have watched him over the last few days and I am definitely not happy with how things are going and enough is enough.
I am going to contact GP and specialist Monday morning to push for more to be done.

I was worried maybe I'm just being paranoid and need to give it more time but things are definitely not improving and I've researched as much as possible. There has to be other things, tests etc and they need to be done ASAP.

I have heard they can grow out of the apnoea, that would be a great relief for your family, best of luck and thankyou again smile

Hi there,

My ds1 had obstructive sleep apnea from a very young age also. It took a very long time to get to the bottom of his issue. He had behavioral issues, always looked exhausted, and woke a resettled himself up to 10 times a night. He would sleep very awkwardly and mostly on his tummy to help with air entry.

I had a fantastic MCHN who was very persistent on finding the cause of the issues above. We were referred to a ENT specialist who said that he had grossly enlarged tonsils & adenoids, they prescribed him a nasal spray to try and decrease the size of his adenoids until he could put on some weight to have surgery (they like them to be 15kg). Anyway it didn't work, therefore he had his tonsils and adenoids removed 2 weeks later & grommets put in as his hearing was also affected due to fluid levels from the big T's & A's. He was 1 year old when this all happened.

And can I say, that surgery was the best thing ever! His mood, sleep, behavior and speech improved immensely. I hope this helps.

I would be getting a referral to an ENT as soon as possible

Good luck!

Where are you located? I would recomened you get a referal to a peadiatric sleep specialist and have a sleep study done as soon as possible. I cannot beleieve that a specialist only suggested the steroid spray if your child is gasping for air. Not to alarm (but it is so I can't help that) but his gasping is him stopping breathing and oxygen being cut off to his brain. Obviously this means his sleep is completely disturbed and will have consequences on his behaviour and ability to learn. Yes they can grow into their adenoids and things settle down by the time they are 7 but that is a long time to wait in hope and do that to a child. In Sydney some peadiatricians are linked in with the Childrens hospital and have session times as a public patient, which we did with DD2, She has special needs so we got in relatively quickly but it was still a number of months. With DD1 we went to a private peadiatric sleep specialist and had the sleep study results in 2 weeks. The wait for the ENT was a while but the sleep study results helped us get in pretty quick for tonsils and adenoid removal. With DD2 they only did adenoids (same specialist) The specialist we saw was Dr Coundonaris (?spelling) at Kogarah. Surgery was the best thing for DD1. DD2 was only 2 weeks back so things still settling. She is much quieter though.

Hello,

my little boy has some problems along the same line. He was diagnosed with central apnoea, and also with periodic limb movement disorder, when he was 1 year old via a sleep study. They said that the apnoeas were happening for longer and more frequently than normal, but as it was central and not obstructive at that stage they wanted to wait and see if he grew out of it. He didn't, and it got worse, as the severity of his allergies and asthma got worse with time. He developed obstructive apnoea. About 6 months ago his paediatrician sent him to see an ENT, who found that his adenoids were huge, and his turbinates were so inflamed from the allergies that he had no breathing space at all. He removed the adenoids and cauterised the turbinates, and it's made a big difference. I can hear that he's breathing better at night, even during the day, and his nose is drier than it used to be (I lovingly referred to him as my little snotmonster prior to surgery lol).

I see that you have already been to see a sleep specialist - seeing an ENT would be another option, but if his adenoids and tonsils are not that enlarged then an ENT might not really say anything different anyway. Maybe a paediatrician would be a good option for you? That way you could sort of look at the whole picture and work towards a definitive diagnosis. One thing that sort of comes to mind is that it sounds like something my other boy used to do, and it turned out he had reflux. He didn't seem to have the pain that you'd expect with reflux, he'd just stop breathing and then he'd start again with a big gasp. I was surprised by the diagnosis but when we treated it the problem stopped. There were no other symptoms, which made it difficult to diagnose, but once we got there it was an easy fix.

If you're sure it's apnoea, then maybe going back to the sleep specialist (or a different sleep specialist) and asking specifically for a sleep study might be a good idea. They measure his brainwaves and oxygen levels and so forth, so they can see exactly what's happening when he has these episodes.