Talking about sleep disorders and today we are talking about obstructive sleep apnea or OSA, as it's known. Now whilst obstructive sleep apnea is actually a medical condition and what we do with sleep-nanny are behavioral things, it's also really helpful for parents to be able to spot this kind of thing or at least know what the signs might be because if you're working on your child sleep from a behavioral angle but you have an underlying medical condition in there as well, you're only going to make so much progress and that medical condition is going to continue to hinder or prevent you getting any further. So whilst you can help a child with obstructive sleep apnea from a behavioral perspective, absolutely you can but it's also really good to know if there's a possibility they do have OSA and what to do about it. So let's talk about that a little bit today. The signs to look for, just to if you're wondering what curious or think your child could have obstructive sleep apnea, number one is audible mouth breathing and by audible I mean you can hear your child breathing in and out through the mouth. This is very different to just an open mouth because there's actually quite natural and you see people on trains and planes and whatever and when the jaw drops and you're like are we talking about you know catching flies. It is actually very natural when you go to sleep that the muscles relax and the jaw drops. So you can get and you know it's usually sitting up and when you're sitting up as well but you can get an open mouth but the breathing is still going in through the nose that can happen. So don't mistake that from mouth breathing you need to get close have a listen and if the breath is going in and out through the mouth you can usually hear it and that audible mouth breathing and this is day and night as well. So maybe your child's I don't know watching a kitty TV show and they stood there and they're staring at the screen and they're like and it's just a jar of fader sounds going on and that's the kind of thing I mean when I say audible mouth breathing. It's like they have a stuffy nose like they have a terrible cold and can only breathe through their mouth except they don't have a cold. That's the extent of mouth breathing I'm talking about. With that you often get the second one I want to tell you which is snoring snoring is another sign or potential sign of obstructive Papnea but again because of the narrowing of the airways it can often cause that snoring you know if things are narrow or clogged up then you get snoring just like you sometimes do when you have a cold. The third one may seem a little odd actually and not related so much to the sounds we've just been talking about but it's sweating sometimes little ones with OSA actually do sweat. Now I would not use this as a standalone symptom. I have one of my children in particular is a really hot seeper and he sweats a lot right before going to sleep. Always has and it's he doesn't have a obstructive seepapnea he's just very warm seeper he likes to actually have an ice pack in bed. I know most of us like to be warm and cozy but it can be an accompanying sign so if you have these other signs you're like yep yep oh yep and you know you're taking them off then it could be another red flag. And the fourth one to look out for is if your child seems to be very tired and there's no real obvious reason so perhaps they're getting enough day time sleep or that's if maybe that's not relevant anymore but if it is then they're getting enough they're getting to bed at a sensible time falling asleep at a sensible time sleeping at the ideal amount of hours at night for their age waking up at a sensible time you know if everything looks in check with the sleep and yet they still seem to be you know unexplainably tired in the day then it could be because the sleep is disturbed and they don't really know why and you haven't spotted why either so that could be a reason. If you have any concerns or doubts or you're thinking yeah this sounds like my child particularly the mouth breathing and the snoring if these things are ringing true then my suggestion is that you get an appointment with an ENT specialist and have them check usually what they're looking for is enlarged tonsils or adenoids and that will give them an indication as to whether or not OSA obstructive sleep apnea is a possible factor and the medical experts will look at that and they will check and they will diagnose that and at least then you can get some answers and get the help you need and it can be managed. It's nothing to be afraid of if videos happening it's just far better to know about it and be able to deal with it and people wonder and I said earlier you know can you can you work with a child who has OSA can you help them from a behavioral front and yes you can if there are behavioral aspects going on with the sleep then you can absolutely work on those and it might be that you get really far along with those and then once the OSA is in check then it all comes together but you'll only get so far if there's an underlying medical condition so it's great to spot those I am not a doctor I am not here to help you with OSA but I'm giving you some tips as a parent and as a sleep expert so you can have a look at whether that could be playing a part for you in your child and then you know what to go and do about that so I hope this helps you and don't forget you can subscribe to the Sleepnanny show and you'll get notifications when we release new episodes and also if you become a Sleepnanny insider it's completely free you can get lots of free tips and guides and cheat sheets from us we're always sending out really useful stuff to help you get the best sleep from your little ones.