Child Is Snoring, Pauses To Catch Breath, Tired, Talking Strangely Through Nose. Does He Need An ENT?

Posted on Fri, 31 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 Answered on

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : My 3 year old starting snoring loud this past week. He has no snot, boogers or is sick. He pauses to catch his breath and seems tired. I also noticed about the same time the snoring started that he was talking strange through his nose. It is almost has if he has a high pallet in his mouth or a "hot potato" sound. I think these two things are connected, and we need to know if he needs to see an ENT.

Answered by Dr. Rajiv K Khandelwal (4 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query on XXXXXXX

You mentioned that your child pauses to catch breath and seems tired. This observation makes me feel that your child needs a thorough examination by a pediatrician to rule out allergic manifestations of the respiratory tract, such as asthma which can make a child breathless.

At this age the tonsils and adenoids do get enlarged and snoring may be one of the earliest manifestation.

It is better to get an examination done before jumping to any conclusion and hopefully everything should come to be normal.

Hope this answers your query. Let me know if you have follow-up enquiries.

Wishing your child a healthy life.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad