Hoarseness, or more broadly termed voice disorder, can affect children for a myriad of reasons. Common viral croup and laryngitis are easy to both recognize and deal with. Because the causes of hoarseness can be so varied, I will break them down into types and attempt to present the most common in some semblance of order. This is more detail than you probably need, but this is a good review for me as well. Congenital causes The most common cause of noisy or hoarse breathing in newborns is laryngomalacia, discussed elsewhere.
Laryngeal webs are webs of tissue within the larynx which partially block the air channel.
Laryngeal cysts are mucus or fluid-filled cysts that arise in the larynx, often associated with a history of intubation. Genetic causes of hoarseness or stridor which are manifested at birth include Cri du chat syndrome, and Down syndrome. This is by rather strange reason of anatomy. Part of the laryngeal nerve courses down into the chest, loops around the aorta, and courses back up to the larynx. Infectious causes Most infection-caused hoarseness is due to viral infection.