Breathing Problems In Children

February 7, 2012

Interview with Nina Shapiro, M.D., author of the book Take a Deep Breath: Clear the Air for the Health of Your Child

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Mike Carruthers:
Breathing problems in children are common and one of the things that concerns parents the most is snoring.

Dr. Nina Shapiro:
A little bit of snoring is normal most kids do have some snoring at night that comes and goes and certainly if they’re sick it becomes a little bit worse.
 

Dr. Nina Shapiro, author of the book Take a Deep Breath...

But if there’s any snoring where you can hear it in the next room, where your child seems to be struggling to breathe at night in those kids, most commonly the reason for snoring in kids is large tonsils and adenoids. And if these are causing such severe breathing problems we usually recommend that kids get them out.

Asthma is always a concern for parents and Dr. Shapiro says the number of cases of asthma continues to grow.

There have actually been some studies that have shown that going to daycare and being exposed to lots of respiratory illnesses has actually shown to be associated with a reduction in asthma in the future.

There is some good news for adults and children and that is that air quality has gotten significantly better in the last 10 to 20 years.

We did a study looking at the incidence of ear infections, which are actually considered a respiratory illness, related to the improvement in the air quality and it was correlated. So with the improvement of air quality came reduction in the frequency of ear infections in kids.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.