My child snores: should I be worried?

You walked past the bedroom, and you heard it: your child is snoring. A soft breath, sometimes a louder noise. The first reaction is usually worry. Good news: when a child snores a little, from time to time, it is common and most often nothing serious.

Most of the time it is a question of a blocked nose. A cold, slightly dry air in the bedroom, a sleeping position, and the air passes less well. The snoring often goes away on its own once the nose clears.

That said, there are cases where it is better not to stay alone with your questions. In this article we explain simply why a child snores, how to tell the difference between passing snoring and snoring that comes back every night, and above all which signals should lead you to talk to your doctor or your paediatrician.

Why does a child snore?

Snoring is a noise that comes from the air. When your child breathes during their sleep, the air passes through the nose and the throat. If the passage is slightly narrowed, the air vibrates, and it makes that noise everyone knows.

In children, there are a few very common reasons for this narrowing. The most frequent one is still a congested nose. A cold, an allergy that stings, some dust, and the nose blocks up. The child then breathes more through their mouth, and the snoring starts.

• A nose blocked by a cold or an allergy.
• A bedroom that is too dry or too warm, which irritates the nose.
• The sleeping position: on the back, the tongue and the throat relax a little more.
• Very deep sleep, where the whole body is nicely relaxed.
• Sometimes large tonsils or adenoids, which the doctor knows how to spot.

Passing snoring or snoring every night?

This is the most useful question to ask yourself. Passing snoring comes and goes. It appears when your child has a cold, then it disappears once the nose is clear. It is fairly light, it does not break up their sleep, and the child wakes up feeling well. This type of snoring is very common and reassuring.

Loud, constant snoring is another matter. Here the child snores noisily almost every night, even without a cold, for several weeks. This is not a reason to panic, but it is a good reason to talk it over with a health professional, calmly.

To help you see things clearly, ask yourself these simple questions: does it only happen when they have a cold, or all the time? Is it light, or really loud? Does your child sleep peacefully alongside that noise, or do they seem to be fighting to breathe?

The signals that should take you to the doctor

There are situations where the pillow, the bedroom or home tips have nothing to do with it. These are signals that deserve the opinion of a doctor or a paediatrician. We set them out clearly, without dramatising: the point is simply that you know when to ask for help.

If you recognise one or more of these signs, book an appointment. It is not for a pillow to sort this out, and nobody on the internet can do it in place of a real examination.

• Your child snores loudly almost every night, and has done for several weeks.
• You notice pauses in their breathing during sleep, followed by a noisy restart.
• They seem to breathe with a lot of difficulty, mouth wide open, as if they were struggling.
• They are very tired during the day, grumpy, or they fall asleep at unusual times.
• You feel, as a parent, that something is not right with their sleep.

What the doctor may look at

If you do go, there is nothing to worry about in how it goes: it is a simple appointment. The doctor will ask questions about your child’s sleep, about their days, about their snoring. They will look at their nose, their throat, their tonsils.

Depending on what they see, they will reassure you, or they will suggest going a little further. Sometimes a child simply has large tonsils or adenoids, and the doctor knows what to do. What matters is that a professional casts an eye over the situation. They are the one with the answers, not a blog article.

Small things that help day to day

Apart from the cases that call for a doctor, there are simple, pleasant things that often help your child to have a more peaceful night. Careful: these are not treatments, and they never replace medical advice. This is comfort, plain and simple.

Many parents tell us that these small habits change the mood of their nights, without promising anything magical. It is up to you to try what suits your child.

And what about the pillow in all this?

We are often asked, so let us be clear. A pillow does not cure snoring and never replaces a doctor. What it does is help with comfort, by holding the child’s head at a height that suits them as they grow.

Often it is not the child who sleeps badly, nor their bed: it is their adult pillow, too big and too soft for their small neck. A head sunk too deep or twisted all night long is not comfortable. A pillow in their size, flatter, keeps the neck in a more natural line.

Many parents tell us that with a suitable pillow, their child seems to sleep more calmly and move less. We promise you nothing more than that: comfort, for a well placed head. For a real breathing concern, it is the doctor, always.