5 Year Old Gaggling, Yawning

Updated on July 10, 2012
K.M. asks from Irvine, CA
5 answers

Hello,

When my son was born He was diagnosed colicky baby. For his first 2 years of life He seemed always upset, crying all the time, voracious about food, constantly eating, empty my breast milk at 4 months.. As he reached 2 years I felt like this nightmare of constant waking-up, not able to going back to sleep ended but it only got worst.

My son now is 5 years old and although He seems totally healthy,a very active boy who literally is been outdoors and playgrounds since early age, I know at night He has so many difficulties. He falls asleep and minutes later seems to wake-up chocking with his saliva or some type of liquid. He yawns a lot and seem tired but takes awile for him to going back to sleep.

He saids he gets cold, he is hungry, so I feed him and sometimes He will go back to sleep. There was a period of time I felt He had improved because he was at least sleeping through the night regardless of his yawning, waking-up, etc. Now for the past month He has developed a cough at night that happens right after he falls asleep. He wake-up coughing with pleghm and spasm on chest and gets little better after coughing or trowing-up. He used to only gaggle while sleeping almost like if he acumulated so much saliva without passing it that He would have to cough and sit-up in order to contiinue sleeping.

I have always believe he had problems with his stomach acid. We changed his diet, we feed him 3 hours before bed, we have done anything we could believe will make his Acidic levels more normal but now he went totally Alkiline. I am going nuts!! What I still not know is if his symptoms are from overproducing gastric acid or underproducing it?. I read that even if it look like you are producing lots of acid you can be lacking of it.

I am very exhausted, frustrated and sad to see my son not having a good night sleep since He was baby. I had visited so many alternative, pediatrician and we still have not solved it. We have a Specialist GI appointment next month but as per right now He woke-up because the cough, He seems totally awake and very alert, no signs of fever, weakness in despite his trowin-up and not sleeping. Anyone has experienced something like this? I feel like I am dealing with more than his stomach now because the cough and I even wonder if he has developed allergies/Asthma like...

Thank you,

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So What Happened?

Thanks for the feedback. So, "Loving life" your diagnose was " air hunger"? What where the meds for? What was the Doctor's opinion as per what was causing you not to sleep well? Did you get the acid reflux as a consequence of not getting enough air in your lungs? Which one came first?. I am glad the apple vinegar helped you and that you feel better. How long did you have to struggle with such a condition?

I am more of Natural Medicine believer so we have always treated my son with herbs, vitamins and natural remedies. I actually did the apple vinegar 2 nights ago before every meal and Friday night He fall asleep without the cough, well... at least for 4 hours and woke-up coughing again and with lots of energy like if He had all the rest he need it. We did not go back to sleep till Saturday morning from 6 till 10 am. When He woke-up on Friday night, He asked me for food so I gave him some banana, papaya and a glass of milk which made him cough again. It was not cow's milk was rice milk. Anyhow, Yesterday we did the same vinegar treatment plus some enzymes that a naturopath recommended and my son slept from 8 p.m til 8 a.m without coughing!!.

I am just amazed because we do not know what the feeling of seeing him soundly sleep was.. In the morning He started sneezing and coughing again, so I am assuming his acid production started again but I believe also He is balancing his acid and that is why during the night He was able to sleep without gaggling or coughing.

My husband and I will kep him on this treatment that the Naturopathic doctor recomended for 2 or 3 weeks.. We also were using clear lungs for helping his lungs to clear the mucus. I will keep you posted on what continues happening.

Thank you again for sharing..

More Answers

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J.☯.

answers from Springfield on

I would never presume to make a diagnosis, but that sounds a lot like the symptoms I had before my doctor told me I had GERD (or acid reflux). For me, it's not about producing too much acid or too little acid. Rather, the muscles above my stomach do not completely block the acid from going back up into my throat. It is really annoying and can be painful at times. And it can certainly disrupt sleep.

My doctor put me on Prevacid, and it was like a miracle. I've used a couple other meds since then (insurance companies can be picky) and now take Pepcid.

Good luck. I hope you get some answers soon.

2 moms found this helpful
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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

My first thought was allergies or asthma, especially allergies because it doesn't happen until he goes to bed. I just wonder if there is something in his room that he's allegic to or perhaps one of the materials of his bedding or pillow.

I think I would try having him sleep somewhere other than his bed for a night or two and with a pillow made of different stuff, if possible, and see if things get any better.

Also, try having his head elevated when he sleeps to help with phlegm (sp?) build-up.

Finally, I have heard that putting Vicks Vapor Rub on your feet and then putting on socks when you go to bed will stop nighttime coughing. I would try that also.

I hope you find something to help your poor LO. There is nothing worse than not being able to sleep. He's so used to it, he probably doesn't even realize how much better he could feel if he could sleep!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.M.

answers from San Francisco on

That's great that the vitamins & enzymes helped but even tho you like going the homeopathic way, I'd still recommend going to the GI appointment in the hopes they could exray &/or other tests to rule out anything intestinal. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.M.

answers from Houston on

This is me almost to a T. I never threw up, but yes to everything else, especially the yawning. That is due to 'air hunger'--the feeling of not being able to get enough air in the lungs, or to get a satisfying breath in. It felt like spasms too. I couldn't lay down or it would make it so much worse! I now sleep with my bed elevated by bricks underneath the top posts. I hate going out if town and sleeping on a flat bed, it's miserable! Even now that im 'cured', i still need my bed elevated. Please read this article, and DO NOT get meds (Nexium, etc.) for your son. (I didn't have H. Pylori OR a hernia.) I was on meds for many years and had a good long period where they worked for me. But the reflux came back. I would follow the 'diet' perfectly, and the reflux always came back. I'd try a higher dosage, a different Rx, a combination of two Rx's, yet still, it wouldn't get resolved. Finally I started receiving Dr. Mercolas newsletters (my mom thought I'd be interested) & came across this information that turned it all around for me.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/0...
I also read other ways to increase stomach acid & found some info on Apple Cider Vinegar. (I thought it was from Dr. M but it wasn't...)
I weaned myself off the meds & started taking apple cider vinegar. I got the organic kind with the 'mother' (from HEB, it will say 'with mother' on the bottle). It was so disgusting I could barely drink it, but I forced myself to because I was so miserable. Then, I tried it with baking soda, and it was so much better!!!!!!!! I thought it would make it taste worse, but I was so wrong! ;) I drank that for about 10 days, about twice a day, then cut back to once a day and then every few days. It has been a WHILE since I did that & I feel so good! I also changed my diet and quit eating all grains, beans, potatoes (The Primal/Paleo diet), but even if your son doesn't do that, I know the vinegar will help. Please have him drink it, it's only a tiny amount (2T of ACV + 2t baking soda and abour 2T of water, but maybe your son won't need that much). When i cheat on the diet i have to take a dose of the ACV again, but one dose is all i need. The meds won't cure him, but I really think the ACV will. Have the doctor check him for H. Pylori, and for a hernia, but get started on the ACV right away. Good luck! Let us know how he does :)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.D.

answers from Modesto on

For some reason the other responses are not coming up so I'm not sure what others said. Sounds like you have has some success with what was tried. I would aso highly recommend elevating the head of his bed. This helped my mother when she developed reflux problems. It is also good for children with earaches. Keeps everything draining downward properly instead of coming up.

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