My grandson is a bright, well-adjusted 3 year old. One night while babysitting, he fell asleep while I was holding him and I noticed 3 times in about 2 hours when he stopped breathing. He is almost always congested and gets fever often, but always fights it off without antibiotics (as per his pediatrician's recommendation). His father had a lot of congestion as a baby and just outgrew it. That's why my daughter doesn't want to rush him to the doctor. We are trying to zero in on food allergies. So far, milk does not seem to make a difference. We are getting ready to try gluten-free products. Has anyone dealt with this? Thanks.
Could be asthma and should see a doctor regardless. If its something that is noticed daily he could have sleep apnia and should be diagnosed by a doctor.
My daughter has the exact same thing. Her Ped. said she has enlarged tonsils and adenoids. She told us to try allergy medicine for her and allergy testing. We just got back the allergy tests and they are all negative, so now we have to see what the doctor wants to do next. I would have them just go through the doctor, it will save a lot of time, and it doesn't mean that they have to get them removed.
it is possible he has sleep apnea getting common in kids is he overweight too ?
Sounds like allergies. Has he been to an allergist or are you just trying to limit things in his diet and see what happens?
If he hasn't been to an allergist, I suggest going. They can do a blood test and test against all sorts of environmental and foods at one time.
My son used to get HIGH fevers, then earaches every 3weeks for over a year. It became a regular pattern. I was able to narrow it down to 3 foods. Took him to the allergist had him tested and one food he broke out in hives immediately. We removed that fruit and the fruit's juice from his diet and the fevers and earaches stopped!
Hugs
M.
He needs to see a doctor. There are SO many things that could be going on. My daughter had really bad congestion and it turned out her adenoids were enlarged. She had them removed and things were much better. Constantly giving kids antibiotics for congestion and fever isn't necessarily the best route to go. Too many antibiotics and we develop an immunity to them. They also suppress the immune system so it doesn't work as well. Constant antibiotics is a very old school approach. Personally, I think they need to see an ENT. It sounds to me, in my unprofessional opinion, he might be dealing with enlarged adenoids and possibly tonsils.
sleep apnea? I would check with his pediatrician.
I have a 15-month old and he is congested a lot too. When he was about 4 months old he had RSV and we spent 4 days in the hospital - shortly before we had to take him to the hospital for it our pediatrician prescribed him a nebulizer for us to keep at home 'permanently'. When he starts getting really congested (which, unfortunately is somewhat often...) we give him a breathing treatment and it seems to help a lot.
I know you said he doesn't usually take antibiotics, but maybe a nebulizer would help (at least during the times that his congestion gets really bad)?
Maybe his tonsils are enlarged. My 3 year old had to have his tonsils and adnoids out for this very reason and there were no problems with breathing during sleeping after.
There can be sleep apnea issues so ask for a sleep study. Don't go to Montefiore, though - go to Columbia Presbyterian - or Mt. Sinai - find out who your doctor thinks best.
