Airway Fit 4 Life
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This is one of the most important questions for a parent to ask when a child is consistently waking during the night one or more times on a regular basis. Do they wake, then have trouble putting themselves back to sleep? There can be a number of reasons, one of which is that the child has not yet learned to put themself back to sleep after waking.

There could be other causes and it is important to learn why your child is waking.  Was it a micro arousal where instead of drifting back to sleep unawares, they wake instead? Do daytime worries impact nighttime rest? Did an underlying medical issue cause them to wake? Best to explore this with a qualified health professional. 

Many children go through a phase of being too scared because their imagination has ignited and ‘monsters’, which are not real to us, may feel very real to them. It is important not to expose kids to age-inappropriate TV shows or media that may exacerbate these fears. Spend time talking about those fears, to help them understand what might be real and what might be imagination without being dismissive of those fears. If simple strategies don’t help seek out a child psychologist who has skills with young children.

An emotionally charged household or big life transitions can also lead to sleep onset anxiety. 

Further, poor night time breathing & other sleep challenges that consistently disrupt sleep can also create anxiety in children going to bedtime. It's important to see professional expertise for any persistent problems. 

Snoring is never ok. Anything but silent breathing indicates that there is  some  resistance or obstruction interfering with easy silent breathing. It’s important to understand the cause. Being over tired or having a cold can explain it. The only time to ignore it is if it occurs on rare or unusual occasions.  If noisy breathing is a more regular feature of sleep,  find the cause and a way to fix it, asap. You may need experts-health professionals who understand ‘airway health and dysfunctions’ to help you unravel the underlying cause: sleep specialist, dentist, allied health professional who can guide your child to breathe well night and day.

In some cultures, co-sleeping is the norm. In others it is not. Either way, it is a parental-family decision to make that suits your family and your values. It’s also wise to consider,  (if you are co-sleeping), that you are not disrupting each others’ sleep. For this reason some families who choose to co-sleep have a mattress next to the parent’s bed so you are close together but not ‘literally’ in the same bed.  Medical advice is against co-sleeping with infants under 12 months, due to risk of SIDS. 

If you have set up your child’s sleep environment well, and  established routines that you follow each day & each night before bed, it should take ~ 2 weeks or in some cases days  for sleep to improve. Any longer? Start looking for other reasons that may be disrupting your child’s precious sleep. 

There is a lot of talk amongst adult communities about lip taping at night to ensure better breathing. This usually follows a common sense approach to improving day time dysfunctional breathing first and that all other possible of mouth breathing have been ruled out.  Many adults find lip taping can help to kick start their night-time nose breathing habit, once day time breathing is under control.

With little ones, the most important focus is to work with qualified health professionals so that firstly, a child is nose breathing consistently during the day before contemplating any night-time strategy. You may need medical, dental, or allied health support. Taping a child’s mouth if they are under 5 years of age is not recommended. 

A congested nose disrupts sleep. Yet, nose blowing is not always easy for little people. Something that seems easy for us, may be tricky for little people. There are ways to teach it and nose blowing along with other nose clearing methods will get the nose clear!

If your infants, toddlers or waddlers cannot blow their nose and are prone to congestion, try using a nasal aspirator. Saline nasal rinses also really help, talk to your pharmacist about saline rinses recommended for little people.  There are also ‘nose clearing’ exercises that open out the nose and yes, kids can learn how to blow their nose-sometimes it starts with feathers!  Check out our lessons on Airway FIt 4 Life. If these things do not clear the congestion, see your GP or specialist. 

Yes! Your child’s airway is a system of bones & soft tissues. Just like the muscles in your body, the muscles in the face, mouth and throat need to be ‘fit for purpose’. Check out our ‘Airway FIt 4 Life Muscles conditioning strategies. That can help to keep the airway healthy, and the bones strong and help them grow!

• If you have difficulty setting up  your child’s sleep environment and routines, reach out for help from an expert  like specially trained early childhood sleep-trained  nurse 
• If you have successfully set up a great sleep environment and routines and  your child’s sleep problem persists, seek expert medical support to unravel the cause 
• If your child is consistently not getting the hours of sleep recommended for age, seek help
• If your child is getting good hours of sleep but is waking unrefreshed and difficult to rouse in the mornings, seek help
• If your child shows day-time symptoms of poor sleep: lack of focused attention, hyperactive behaviour, poor emotional regulation beyond that expected for their age and stage of development, seek help until the problem is resolved
• If there are growth delays or your child gets sick frequently, seek help until the problem is resolved

There are lots of reasons to reach out and seek help.  Sign up for our course Sleep Fit 4 Life to learn more.

Here are some key questions that parents can ask professionals: 

• How can I help my child breathe better? 
• How can I help my child eat better? 
• How can I help my child sleep better?  

‘It’s not just that we do those things, but how that matters.’

If your child needs help in any of these things, you most likely need the support of a multidisciplinary team.

A range of professionals provide support for the many faces of children’s sleep and breathing challenges.  

• Child-health Nurse
• Paediatric
• Psychologist
• Paediatric sleep specialist 
• ENT
• Gastro-Enterologist
• Dentist
• Allied health professional
• Myofunctional Therapist
• GP and others
  

For more information, visit:

Children’s Airway First Foundation (CAFF) 

Children's Airway First Foundation Facebook