Why is My Child Sleeping with Their Mouth Open?
TL;DR: Seeing your child sleeping with mouth open occasionally may simply be due to a cold, allergies, or temporary nasal congestion. However, frequent mouth breathing can signal difficulty breathing comfortably through the nose and may affect your child’s oral health, sleep, and developing smile.
- Persistent mouth breathing can contribute to dry mouth, bad breath, tooth decay, gum irritation, snoring, and disrupted sleep.
- Common causes include nasal congestion, allergies, enlarged tonsils or adenoids, and certain nasal, dental, or jaw-related concerns.
- If a baby or toddler regularly sleeps with their mouth open, especially when they aren’t sick, discuss it with their healthcare provider.
- The means to stopping mouth breathing depends on the underlying cause—not simply teaching a child to keep their mouth closed.
- A pediatric dentist can evaluate your child’s oral health, bite, and jaw development and recommend additional care when appropriate.
Open-mouth breathing is breathing through the mouth instead of the nose. In children, open-mouth breathing is most common at night, but it can also occur during the day.
While most of the time, mouth breathing occurs because your child is sick or has allergies, it can occur due to more severe issues. If mouth breathing never resolves during childhood, your child can be at risk of developing several serious medical conditions.
Occasionally sleeping with mouth open isn’t necessarily a problem, particularly when your child has a cold or stuffy nose. Persistent mouth breathing when your child isn’t sick, however, is worth discussing with their pediatric dentist or healthcare provider.
Is It Bad for Kids to Sleep with Their Mouth Open?
In most cases, mouth breathing in children usually occurs when the child suffers from congestion or allergies. This typically clears up on its own.
When children continuously breathe through their mouths, you may notice symptoms such as irritability, cracked lips, and excessive crying in younger children.
Other signs of mouth breathing can include waking with a dry mouth, bad breath, snoring, restless sleep, and frequently keeping the mouth open during the day.
When children display frequent open-mouth breathing, it can cause numerous dental health concerns. These dental health concerns include:
- Enlarged tonsils
- Enlarged adenoids
- Temporomandibular disorder of the jaw
- Erosion of the teeth
- Teeth grinding
- Myofascial pain
- Periodontal disease
- Impacted teeth
- Malocclusion
- Tooth decay
- Chronic bad breath
Persistent mouth breathing can also cause dry mouth. Because saliva helps wash away food particles, neutralize acids, and protect the teeth and gums, a consistently dry mouth may increase the risk of cavities and other oral health problems.
In addition to dental health concerns and concerns about dry mouth, open mouth breathing can cause other overall health issues. Your child may also experience these health concerns if they display frequent open-mouth breathing.
- Drowsiness during the day
- Headaches
- Sleep deprivation
- Restless sleep
- Poor ability to focus or poor memory
- Snoring
Child mouth breathing typically occurs at night when the child is sleeping, often indicating a problem in the nasal passages.
If your child is not sick, your child must see their pediatric dentist to help resolve why your child experiences child mouth breathing at night. Children, as well as adults, usually don’t intend on open-mouth breathing. They do it unintentionally because they cannot breathe properly through their nose.
Why Is My Child Breathing Through Their Mouth?
Your child most likely experiences open-mouth breathing because there is an obstruction in their nasal passage. Some common underlying issues your child may breathe through their mouth include:
- Deviated septum
- Enlarged vessels, bones, or tissue in their nasal passage
- Tongue tie or other oral-function concerns that may require professional evaluation
- Allergies or chronic nasal congestion
- Enlarged tonsils or adenoids
If your child is mouth breathing and does not have a blocked nasal passage, then it could be due to problems with their bite and mouth structure. The shape of your child’s jaw
May prevent them from correctly closing their mouths.
Therefore, they breathe out of the mouth because it cannot shut properly.
If you notice your baby sleeping with mouth open or your toddler sleeping with mouth open frequently, mention it to their pediatrician or pediatric dentist. An occasional open mouth during a cold may be temporary, but frequent mouth breathing deserves a closer look to determine what is making nasal breathing difficult.
How Do You Fix a Child’s Mouth Breathing?
When learning how to stop mouth breathing in a child, you should make an appointment with their pediatric dentist to be evaluated for possible orthodontia. Depending on the suspected cause, your child may also need evaluation by their pediatrician or an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist.
There isn’t one universal way to stop mouth breathing. Treatment should focus on the underlying cause rather than simply trying to make your child keep their mouth closed.
Your child may need to be evaluated for:
- Throat or nasal obstruction
- Allergies
- Sinus and nasal issues
- Tongue tie
- Appropriate weight for their height, as an increased weight can contribute to open mouth breathing
Can Mouth Breathing Cause Behavior Problems?
Open-mouth breathing may occur alongside sleep problems that can contribute to an inability to focus, irritability, and lack of sleep.
Poor or disrupted sleep can affect a child’s attention, mood, and daytime behavior. However, mouth breathing alone does not mean that a child has ADHD, ADD, or another behavioral or developmental condition.
Concerns about significant changes in attention or behavior should be discussed with your child’s pediatrician.
What Age Can Open Mouth Breathing Begin?
Open-mouth breathing can occur in babies as young as three to four months old, as they do not develop the reflex to breathe through their mouth until that point. If your baby or young child is mouth breathing at night, it can become a regular habit even when they are awake.
Because babies normally rely heavily on nasal breathing, persistent mouth breathing in an infant should be discussed with their pediatrician. If a baby is struggling to breathe or showing signs of respiratory distress, parents should seek immediate medical attention.
How Do You Treat Mouth Breathing in Children?
Once you notice symptoms of mouth breathing in your child, make an appointment with their pediatric dentist. The pediatric dentist may need to refer your child to another professional to diagnose why they are breathing through the mouth properly. Some treatment options for mouth breathing in children include:
- Allergy management
- Breathing training when recommended by an appropriate provider
- Surgery to remove enlarged tonsils, adenoids, tongue tie, or deviated septum
- Weaning of thumb sucking
- Orthodontic treatment to guide teeth and jaw movements when indicated
Can Mouth Breathing Affect a Toddler’s Speech?
If your child breathes through their mouth most of the time, it can affect their speech. Your child is likely to struggle with certain speech sounds or develop a lisp. Their speech may also be affected by differences in tongue position or a tongue-thrust swallowing pattern.
Mouth breathing does not automatically cause speech problems, however.
If your child has persistent difficulty with speech or swallowing, their dentist or pediatrician may recommend an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist or another appropriate specialist.
Final Thoughts
Open-mouth breathing in children can be reversed, but it is essential to take steps to prevent it from happening. If you notice that your child breathes through their mouth, and they are not sick, make an appointment at The Super Dentists to help determine the cause.
If you regularly notice your child sleeping with mouth open, identifying the underlying cause can help determine the right next steps for their oral health, sleep, and overall well-being.
Learn more about our Pediatric Dental Services at The Super Dentists. Schedule an appointment today and bring your family to a Super Dentists location near you!
