Your child sleeping through the night doesn’t mean they’re sleeping well
A child who appears to sleep through the night may still be breathing poorly, with mouth breathing quietly fragmenting their sleep and affecting oxygen delivery.
In many cases, parents don’t realise there is a problem with their child’s breathing because the child appears to be sleeping through the night. But appearing to sleep well and actually sleeping well aren’t the same thing.
Many children who breathe through their mouth at night do so because their nasal passage is blocked, restricting the airway and preventing the nose from filtering and warming air the way it normally would. When this happens, sleep can become fragmented, with children waking up multiple times without realising it, unable to reach the most restorative stages of sleep.
Nasal breathing supports a healthy oxygen and carbon dioxide balance in the body. Sleep-disordered breathing, by contrast, can affect cardiovascular health, growth and cognitive functioning if left untreated, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Chronic mouth breathing has also been linked to changes in facial development, including a narrower upper jaw and misaligned teeth.
Occasional mouth breathing due to a cold or allergies is harmless, but persistent mouth breathing during sleep is worth a closer look. The best step is to seek professional help from a paediatrician, who can assess the root cause, alongside monitoring sleep quality, checking for snoring and keeping the bedroom free of allergens.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/by MIKI Yoshihito
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