Tips for Immediate Sleep Apnea Relief for Toddler?

[sunnygir1]

Cross posted in the Family Bed for maximum exposure.  ; )

My ds had been sleeping horribly at night, up for 3 hours straight every night for 8 days, then most of the next week too.  A couple nights ago, I started thinking he has sleep apnea.

I have a plan to work on it from a health perspective, but I don't know anything about how to deal with it in the mean time.  I am so tired, and he must be too.

The way I broke the cycle with up for 3 hours was to start putting him to bed later, since I was missing out on some solid sleep by not going to bed at 8pm.  I started putting him to bed at 9/9:30 instead of 7/7:30.  It has helped some, but he is still up a lot in the night.

I normally would let him sleep in in the mornings and nap as long as he needed (unless it got too late in the afternoon).  I recently told his daycare to wake him up after 3 hours, but now that I think it's sleep apnea, I'm thinking I should let him sleep whenever he can because he needs the rest, right?

Any tips to help him sleep better?  I have read to keep him on his side or tummy.  I try to do this, but sometimes I just have to let him sleep how he wants because we both need sleep so badly.

I am going to clean the hell out of our bedroom, get a hepa filter for that room, wash all of our bedding, get him an allergy cover for his mattress (I don't think I can afford one for our bed right now, but he naps and spends about half the night in his crib anyway).

Other ideas?  I'm kind of freaked out about this and really want to start making some progress as quickly as possible.  TIA

[kjbrown92]

does he snore? what makes you think he has sleep apnea? does he actually stop breathing? I can tell you from the experience of two of my kids, who were huge snorers, and woke up a lot, that theirs were due to food intolerances. Once those were out of their system, they slep quietly and all night long (and DS's adenoids went down, which had been swollen). Dairy is the most common culprit. Did he have "colic" when he was younger? when did this start? more info please.

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 

does he snore? what makes you think he has sleep apnea? does he actually stop breathing? I can tell you from the experience of two of my kids, who were huge snorers, and woke up a lot, that theirs were due to food intolerances. Once those were out of their system, they slep quietly and all night long (and DS's adenoids went down, which had been swollen). Dairy is the most common culprit. Did he have "colic" when he was younger? when did this start? more info please.

He snores some, but not all the time and not all night.

I think he has sleep apnea because I have been holding him as he tries to fall back asleep and he kept waking up when I tried to lay him down, so I held him while he slept for a while a couple nights in a row.  Both nights, he would take a couple deep open breaths through his mouth, then he would take a few that seemed more restricted, then he would stop breathing for about 5 seconds, then he would stir or startle and take a big loud breath and sometimes grunt or cry out.

The snoring and mouth breathing have been going on all winter, maybe withsome breaks inbetween colds.  He basically has had a cold (or maybe allergy symptoms sometimes?) since I put him in part time daycare in November.  There were two weeks where he wasn't sick at all, but other than that it has been cold or flu one after the other.  He has had swollen lymph nodes in his neck for several months, but they seem to have gone down now.

He did have colic from about 3 weeks until about 4 months.  I was on an elimination diet and ate only about 15 foods during that time.

We are gluten free and he has pretty much always been off dairy, eggs, and tomatoes because they have given him a rash.  I do occasionally let him have small amounts of these since the rashes have subsided.  He does eat goat cheese and yogurt.  I have recently tightened down on making sure to eliminate all trace amounts of gluten and dairy from his diet.

He is still breastfeeding, and I eat some dairy.
 

[kjbrown92]

so if he's still bfing, then he's still getting dairy, through you. I'd eliminate it and see if that's the cause. I'd also bring him to a doctor to get evaluated for sleep apnea.

[sunnygir1]

Thank you.

I took him to the doctor.  He doesn't think it's sleep apnea.  He thinks it is normal baby/toddler breathing patterns coupled with stuffy nose/post nasal drip/big tonsils.  Family doc is not concerned.

Still, he is not sleeping.  We were up from 1:20am-6:00am this morning.  Bleh.

He was sick a couple weeks ago, and the dr yesterday said he has fluid behind both ear drums, so may well have had an ear infection, and he's getting his last eye tooth and it's swollen and red around it, and we've just passed a huge, beautiful, full moon, so maybe these are the explanations for no sleep.

I am going to do some allergy stuff (mattress cover, air filter, cleaning, complete elimination of gluten and dairy) and take him to a new chiropractor.  If he is still sick all summer (when it's not cold and flu season) I might take him to an allergy clinic to see if we can figure something out.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and response.

[marie113]

Hmm. I know you trust the doc, but stuffy nose, big tonsils.. it can cause problems with breathing still.  If its still going on try to elevate the head part of the bed, maybe get a wedge.. (you can buy them online).. The more upright position can help if he is having difficulty breathing. I've been in sleep for 8+ years and it is possible he could have breathing issues... we do see kids for a variety of reasons.

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by marie113 

Hmm. I know you trust the doc, but stuffy nose, big tonsils.. it can cause problems with breathing still.  If its still going on try to elevate the head part of the bed, maybe get a wedge.. (you can buy them online).. The more upright position can help if he is having difficulty breathing. I've been in sleep for 8+ years and it is possible he could have breathing issues... we do see kids for a variety of reasons.

Thank you for your reply.  I contacted my doctor again a few weeks ago because things weren't improving, and we have an appointment with the sleep doctor in a month (I was disappointed that the appointment was six weeks out).  He is actually doing much better the last couple weeks.

We started seeing a new chiropractor 6 or 8 weeks ago who has been adjusting his C-1 vertebra (which he says was so off it could have been keeping things from draining properly in his ears and sinuses.  He has us massaging the sides of his neck (eustacian tubes and lymph, I think).

We also started a new supplement for sinus called Sinupret 3-4 weeks ago.  And despite getting a cold last week ds has been breathing and sleeping so much better.  He barely snores and we are all sleeping much more soundly.

[marie113]

Cool. As a sleep tech I couldn't ignore your msg. Tonsils can be a problem, but I think its better to be safe than sorry. When my sweetie was really stuffy a few months ago I always propped him at an incline.. just out of paranoia in part..

Try to prep your sweetie by telling them about all the wires that will be hooked up on them like a robot. Not to mention there will be a oxegyn type sensor in his nose to monitor breathing. That is always the hardest to keep on with the kids. We will tell them that its a microphone so they can talk to us. They will also probably put a pulse ox on a finger but all of ours glow.. We usually tell kids its like E.T. but so many kids now don't know the referance... Ha.

They will have you stay, and we also find with some kids it helps to put a few "stickers" on mom or dad too, or let the kids stick one or two on themselves.. just to "help".