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Children's Asthma - Problems When Sleeping
by Chris Le Roy
The majority of children have some difficulty during the night. To wake a couple
of hours after going to sleep with a nasty cough is common. As is snoring, bed-
wetting, and restless sleeping [thrashing about and waking often].
There is a simple explanation, and a direct solution. Remember the simple lesson
of the mouse and the elephant. The only way to cause asthma is by breathing like
a big ... elephant. One of the easiest ways to breath like an elephant is to
sleep on your back. In this position there is no resistance to huge deep
breaths. Turning on your side makes it physically more difficult to breathe so
deeply your body pushes down on your lungs more.
The other problem with being asleep is that your mouth will usually open this
allows us to breathe even more deeply. On top of this our breathing gets deeper
as our sleep gets deeper. When we are in our deepest sleep, our breathing is at
its deepest very deep indeed if we are on lying on our backs with our mouths
open! Too deep.
This elephantine breathing cause loss of more CO2 than we produce, the level
gets dangerously low, and various defenses including spasm of smooth muscle and
increased mucus production kick into gear. So your child starts coughing,
snoring or wheezing, or the constriction of the smooth muscle around the bladder
causes it to feel very full and bed wetting occurs. [Snoring is just your throat
closing a little to try to stop you breathing like an elephant.]
The answer to this is to keep your mouth closed when you are asleep. The Manual
contains a full section on this, but in brief, use surgical tape to keep your
child’s mouth closed. Do this only on children over five years. It has been used on
younger children, and the reason I suggest this age is to ensure that the child
has the ability to pull the tape off him if needed.
Before you write this idea off as absurd and dangerous listen to the instructions.
The goal is to have just enough sticking power on the tape for it to stay on,
and keep the lips together.
The tape recommended is called surgical or paper tape about 1 inch wide,
available from a pharmacist. Tear off a strip about 2 inches [5 cms].
Fold a small tab on each end, so that it is easy to grip. Then repeatedly put
the tape onto your palm and tear it off. Do this until it is hardly sticky at all.
It does not need much power to keep your lips together. Ensure your mouth is
closed, as you can breathe through this tape, and gently place in lengthways
along your lips. I suggest you do this on yourself first to show your child that
you are also doing it. [It will greatly improve your sleep quality if you
actually wear it in bed.]
Have a practice during the day with the tape so there is less if any drama at
bedtime. Check on the child around 3.30 am to check he has not pulled it off.
Re-apply it if necessary.
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