[sunnygir1]

Dr. Sears,

I am preparing for visits with an ear, nose, and throat doctor and a sleep specialist because I think my 22 month old might be experiencing sleep apnea. I already know from our family doctor that he has pretty large tonsils. I am afraid that surgery might be the recommendation. I understand that it has been found to be an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea in children, but I am generally against surgery. I would much rather address the root of the problem.

Here's what we've done so far:

-allergy cover for his mattress (but not ours -- we bed share part of the night)

-HEPA filter for the bedroom (we have a dog)

-he has always been fed gluten-free because I am gluten intolerant

-he is also off cow dairy, eggs, tomatoes, and chocolate because they give him diaper rash (I do give him goat and sheep dairy)

-I have recently removed the above things from my diet because he is breastfed

I haven't been able to find any resources in support of keeping the body intact. Can you point me to any?

Thank you for considering my question and responding.

 

[DrBobSears]

I like that you've addressed allergies, but if that doesn't help, I haven't come across any type of approach to shrink the tonsils and/or adenoids besides the surgery. The next step would probably be to get a sleep study.

 

[homeschool244]

Hi,

My son had grade 4 adenoids. He got colds and then would develop to infection. Long term breastfed. We tried all these natural things. Healthy diet, rinsing nose with salt water. At wits end we were almost ready to do surgery cause he wasn't sleeping well snoring etc.. and we are not into antibiotics then we went to a holistic Dr. that does Nutrition Response Testing. The results were nothing short of amazing. Nutrition response testers find exactly what works for the particular person. It can come across a little weird at first but it works. He has not had a problem in a year and a half and now he hardly takes any supplements even. For him I noticed granola and white flour can stuff his nose. Consider raw goat milk. Cow milk doesn't bother him but my older son doesn't do well with cow so we do raw goat milk. Good luck.

Lisa