What if we told you there was a cheap, easy, and non-invasive way to reduce snoring and breathing difficulties in children? Would you try it out?
We sure would!
A recent study led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found that a saline (salt water) nasal spray was just as effective as an anti-inflammatory steroid nasal spray at easing sleep disordered breathing in children.
Nasal sprays work by cleaning the nose and work to reduce inflammation both in the nose and down the back of the throat, all the way down to the adenoids and tissues around the tonsils.
Whilst a tonsillectomy is the most common paediatric elective surgery for children in Australia and is commonly used to treat children’s snoring, it can be both costly and painful.
The study found that the use of saline spray significantly reduced the number of children needing to get their tonsils removed.
Snoring and heavy breathing is a sign that your child is struggling to breathe during sleep and may not be getting good quality sleep.
Research shows that poor sleep can contribute to a wider range of issues including changes to a child’s developing brain, impacting their ability to concentrate, their behavior and potentially their ability to learn and potentially thrive.
With snoring and breathing difficulties affecting about 12 percent of children, it’s a no-brainer to try a nasal spray today!
NOTE
If your child is struggling with sleep, it may be important to visit your general practitioner or seek further advice from an ENT.
A speech pathologist may then be recommended to support your child in learning new positive habits relating to their oral resting posture and swallowing which may have been impacted by sleep disordered breathing.
Speech pathologists who are also trained as orofacial myologists can effectively treat children with sleep-disordered breathing.
Heavy, open mouth breathing can change the position of a child’s jaw and dentition ad lead to turbulent and noisy airflow.
Orofacial myologists work on improving a child’s (or adult’s!) resting oral posture and teach them how to position their oral muscles to improve breathing, both during the daytime and night-time.
There’s nothing like a good night of sleep!
Reference:
