Toddler severe mouth breathing

[davidgraham]

My 4 year old has large adenoids. For the last year & half she has been severe chronic mouth breathing due to large adenoids which is really impacting her physical health. Doctors suggesting adenotonsillectomy

Symptoms include

Swollen glands
Unable to breathe through nose
Sleep apnea
Chronic upper respiratory infections
Pale skin due to poor sleep
Bags under eyes

I asked on a children's health group and few parents said toddlers can grow out of these in some situations.

Surgery is last resort as I don't want my 4 year under surgery general anaesthetic etc but does anyone know anything that might help at all?

If I can get some improvement somehow it might by me some time for her to hopefully grow out of it.

Any thoughts welcome

 

[purple pill]

I used to put some hydrogen peroxide in a humidifier in my daughters room while sleeping when she had breathing problems, this was when she had a bad cold or something though, not quite as serious. Sure it used to help but can't be sure on the absolute safety of this, she was also a bit older I believe... hopefully others will chime in, just throwing it out there.

 

[Disrupt It All]

My 4 year old has large adenoids. For the last year & half she has been severe chronic mouth breathing due to large adenoids which is really impacting her physical health. Doctors suggesting adenotonsillectomy

Symptoms include

Swollen glands
Unable to breathe through nose
Sleep apnea
Chronic upper respiratory infections
Pale skin due to poor sleep
Bags under eyes

I asked on a children's health group and few parents said toddlers can grow out of these in some situations.

Surgery is last resort as I don't want my 4 year under surgery general anaesthetic etc but does anyone know anything that might help at all?

If I can get some improvement somehow it might by me some time for her to hopefully grow out of it.

Any thoughts welcome

Hi Dave, I would find a Myofunctional Therapist near you. They will tell you if there’s anything that can be done or if having the adenoids removed is the way to go. Apart from that I’d look at all the ways possible to raise Co2. I think Ray thought anything related to tonsils & adenoids was usually hypothyroidism so that’s also something to explore. Maybe check temperature & pulse and go from there.

 

[Sphagnum]

My son had the same general issue, mouth breathing due to enlarged adenoids. I also got the same feedback, where the doc at the hospital wanted to jump straight to removal of the glands, while resources online mentioned that they can grow out of it. I was staunchly opposed to the surgery, as I felt removing part of the immune system was drastic and misguided.

There were two main things I did which ended up correcting his issues.

1) First he was tested for allergens. The only allergy response that the hospital testing showed was for dust. That made sense since it was his breathing being affected. I then researched how to attempt to eliminate dust from the home.

We had thick wall to wall carpeting, which I fully removed. I also made it a habit to enhance my cleaning. I washed his sheets more often. I washed the curtains more often. I vacuumed the cloth furniture, and then sprayed a mist of either hydrogen peroxide or eucalyptus essential oil dissolved in alcohol. (Dust allergy is actually a reaction to a protein found in dust mite excrement. The peroxide helps to break down some of this waste, as well as any remaining “food” that the vacuuming missed. The eucalyptus oil help keep the mite population down.)
I also put a small air purifier with a HEPA filter in his room.
While we do not have any pets, a large amount of the info I found online suggested that mammalian pets (dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, etc) can also be a big factor in inflammation of the breathing channels even when the child doesn’t display a noticeable allergy.

All of this helped, however the issue was fully resolved just yet.

2) I began looking into myofunctional therapy to help retrain his breathing. This included exercises that aim to fix the posture of the tongue, and make nasal breathing the norm again. I also became interested in the use of a myobrace. When I looked up resources to get one, I found an orthodontist who was licensed to distribute them.
The first thing she told me was that the majority of mouth breathing issues she sees come from food intolerances, and that most have been able to eliminate the problem simply by cutting out gluten and dairy. She suggested that if that didn’t work, I should find a credible food intolerance test which she could suggest a resource for. I took him off all wheat (the only gluten source he had.) Having another child that is allergic to standard dairy, I knew that the trigger here is in the casein’s amino chain, and that he would likely be okay using A2A2 dairy, whether that be from genetically tested cows or from goats. It turned out, thankfully, that the elimination of wheat and store bought dairy was enough. We all still enjoy A2A2 dairy, which I have access to living in Pennsylvania.

His adenoid inflammation cleared, but he was still mouth breathing because the issue hadn’t been picked up on for so long that he had the habit still. That’s where the myofunctional training helped to fix things.
At 4, I don’t think your child would need retraining but you never know. It’s not difficult stuff at all, so it’s worth doing either way. There are lots of videos, specifically the ones by Dr. Mike Mew, that go very in depth.

If you have any follow up questions then feel free to reply, or message me directly. I really hope this helps.

 

[chrstn4o]

My 4 year old has large adenoids. For the last year & half she has been severe chronic mouth breathing due to large adenoids which is really impacting her physical health. Doctors suggesting adenotonsillectomy

Symptoms include

Swollen glands
Unable to breathe through nose
Sleep apnea
Chronic upper respiratory infections
Pale skin due to poor sleep
Bags under eyes

I asked on a children's health group and few parents said toddlers can grow out of these in some situations.

Surgery is last resort as I don't want my 4 year under surgery general anaesthetic etc but does anyone know anything that might help at all?

If I can get some improvement somehow it might by me some time for her to hopefully grow out of it.

Any thoughts welcome

I studied Buteyko breathing with the renowned breathing expert Patrick McKeown. He's done some great work. Search for him on my Children's Health Podcast to hear more. Honestly, if I recall correctly, if the buteyko exercises can't resolve the mouth breathing, surgery may need to be resorted to. Check out his MyoTape product to help with breathing retraining during the day. It is important to get the child to start breathing through the nose ASAP. If it were me, I would probably begrudgingly opt for the surgery, given what I know about how deleterious mouth breathing is.

 

[Miggie]

Considering she is only 4 years old she can easily be fixed. She probably has a narrow maxilla which causes the tongue to fall back. Go to an orthodontist who is specialized in expansion. Perhaps something as easy as myobraces can help.

Breathing techniques are the finishing touch. if the mechanics are off(skeletal issue) you can never function correctly.