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It's hard not to notice when your spouse does it, but when kids snore, doctors are now saying parents need to take notice.
After a long day of play, evening brings restful noise to the Stapert household.
"They get that deep sleep, heavy, cute snoring where they breath in a little deeper level. Its always a good feeling because they're at peace, they're peaceful,"said Kara Stapert, mother of two and a nurse practitioner in Rapid City.
"It's not cute, something that needs to be looked into," said Neurologist Dr. Robert Finley.
While about 10% of all children snore, Doctors say only about 1-3% can experience behavioral issues at school as a result.
Snoring can be the result of obstructed airways, also known as sleep apnea.
"If you notice they're falling asleep in class, it's definitely a big issue with attention span, they're more irritable, and it effects their whole pattern of how they participate and interact with teacher because they're tired," said Stapert.
"Children can be sleepy in school, irritable, hard to get along with. It can be bad enough that there's a failure to thrive," said Dr. Finley.
While having tonsils removed, or even losing weight can help, doctors advise treating the condition with your pediatrician early on.
"With kids, if you can change how they're thinking, you can change basically what they're going to be when they grow up," said Dr. Finley.
"You can use monitoring devices, you can hear their sleeping patterns and you can catch it early, then you yourself can get a better night sleep," said Stapert.
Doctors also caution that sleep apnea is strongly genetic, so parents may want to be aware of any family history of the condition.
Dr. Finley advises concerned parents to talk to their pediatrician about overnight sleep monitoring at a sleep center.
