What causes a child’s heavy breathing?

In general, people believe that snoring is something that only older people experience. However, some parents may find that their baby's breathing is very heavy when sleeping, as if he is snoring. Some parents don't take it seriously and treat it as a joke. In fact, if the baby's breathing is heavy and snoring occurs, parents must pay more attention, because this may be caused by illness or respiratory tract deformity.

1. It is easy to snore when sleeping on your back (facing up) because the root of the tongue falls backwards due to gravity when the face is facing upward, semi-blocking the breathing passage in the throat.

2. The respiratory passages of infants and young children, such as the nostrils, nasal cavity, and oropharynx, are relatively narrow, so they are easily blocked by the slightest secretion or swelling of the mucous membrane. Therefore, babies under six months old often have nasal sounds, nasal congestion or phlegm in the throat, which is caused by this reason.

3. When a cold causes swelling of the throat, inflammation of the tonsils, and increased secretions, it is more likely to cause airflow obstruction and worsen snoring.

4. People with abnormal face and head shapes, such as obese people or children with swollen tonsils, have thicker soft tissue in the oropharynx, which makes the airway in the oropharynx more easily blocked during sleep, so they snore very loudly. In more serious cases, there may even be difficulty breathing and respiratory arrest.

Snoring is very common in infants and young children, which is related to the structural characteristics of their upper respiratory tract. The nose and nasopharynx of infants and young children are relatively short, their nasal passages are narrow, their nasal mucosa is tender and rich in blood vessels. Therefore, when infected, the nasal mucosa becomes congested and swollen, which can easily cause blockage. Their pharynx is relatively narrow and vertical, and rich in lymphoid tissue, including nasopharyngeal tonsils and palatine tonsils. The former is also called adenomatous tonsils, which develop before 6 months of age. If the proliferation is too large, it is called adenomatous tonsil hypertrophy.

When the baby shows symptoms of heavy breathing and snoring, the first thing to do is to check whether the baby has an incorrect sleeping position. If the baby's breathing remains the same after changing the baby's sleeping position, then you need to go to the hospital for some examinations for the child to see if the baby has tonsillitis or hyperplasia. If so, the baby must be treated in time.