MUM'S WARNING
If your child breathes through their MOUTH while asleep it could cause facial deformities
Breathing through the mouth has also been linked to sleep problems, which is often mistaken for ADHD
THERE is no end to the list of things you worry about as a parent.
Most mums and dads are guilty of obsessively checking their little ones are breathing when they're fast asleep.
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But have you ever stopped to consider how they are breathing?
Chances are you haven't until now, after one mum warned on Facebook it can cause serious health problems including facial deformities.
Melody Yazdani was told several times that her son, Kian was suffering ADHD.
But it turns out the youngster was breathing through his mouth - a sign he was actually plagued by sleep apnoea and sinus problems, which was stopping him falling into a deep sleep and causing him to act up.
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If your baby or child sleeps with their mouth wide open, it could be a warning sign for a whole host of health problems, Melody reveals.
At three to four months a baby will develop the reflex that allows them to breathe through their mouth.
And of course, there will be times when your baby has to breathe through their mouth - when they're bunged up and full of cold, for example.
But if it's happening all the time, it might be worth checking it with your GP.
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When the mouth is open the tongue doesn't rest in the right place, which can cause deformities in the mouth and jaw.
"Over time, breathing through the mouth instead of the nose can lead to abnormal facial growth and development," according to doctors at the
"Long-term, chronic mouth-breathing in kids can cause an elongated face, misalignment or crowding of the teeth, tooth grinding and clenching, dental decay, gum disease, throat infections, poor sleep quality, stunted growth and development, behavioural problems, and even trouble in school.
"If your child looks to have an ongoing problem breathing through their nose, especially during sleep, make an appointment to see a paediatrician.
"It is possible to intervene early and prevent side effects that can affect your child’s health and well-being in both the present and future."
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Sleeping with their mouth wide open can also be a sign your child is suffering sleep apnoea.
It's a relatively common condition where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing, according to the NHS.
This can lead to a bad night's sleep, which can have a big impact on quality of life, and increase the risk of other health problems.
Disrupted sleep can lead to a whole range of behavioural problems in children and is often mistaken for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Melody Yazdani had no idea her son Kian's, now eight, behavioural problems could actually be linked to breathing difficulties.
Melody, from Washington, shared her story in a Facebook post: "First grade rolled around, and we started getting behaviour reports, 'Kian pushed so and so' 'Kian is having a hard time controlling his body'.
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Parent teacher conferences, new reward system in place, and it seems to improve. But at home it did anything but. When Kian gets angry, he gets ANGRY. He gets fixated on little things, his fuse gets shorter and shorter, and he's a picky eater.
"Second grade rolls around, and oh boy. While other kids are outgrowing their tantrums, Kian's intensify and turn into daily spectacles, triggered by the smallest thing."
Kian's tantrums continued to get worse until he was referred to a therapist by a paediatrician.
He was eventually recommended testing for ADHD.
Kian also had a persistent cough that wouldn't go away, so Melody took him to see a specialist.
"Each doctor is recommending more and more medications - two inhalers for the cough, an antibiotic for the postnasal drip, a steroid, and it goes on and on.
"The therapist is dancing around ADHD, pushing us in that direction. At a cleaning, Kian's dentist makes an offhand comment about his teeth - they were ground almost half way down, he's grinding his teeth at night.
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";And then lightening struck, right at the perfect time. I stumbled upon an article that changed our life.
"The article was about the connection between ADHD, sleep disordered breathing, and mouth breathing. Every word in this article sounded like Kian."
Immediately Melody started doing her own research online and discovered several articles explaining that mouth breathing isn't normal.
She also discovered the link between sleep deprivation and ADHD - the two exhibit the same symptoms.
Several studies have found a link between the two conditions.
Karen Bonuck, a professor of family and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, conducted a study on 11,000 that found those with snoring, mouth breathing or sleep apnea were 40-100 per cent more likely to have behaviour resembling ADHD than those without sleep problems.
Her study was published in the journal Paediatrics in 2012.
MORE ON SLEEP
Research presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Conference in Paris last year found people's circadian rhythm (the internal body clock) may also play a role.
It found people with ADHD experienced spikes in the sleep hormone melatonin later at night, which mean their sleep was disrupted, according to the
When your sleep is disrupted so is everything else in your natural rhythm which can lead to similar symptoms of ADHD.
For Melody, her story had a happy ending.
Kian saw an ear, nose and throat specialist who diagnosed with with sleep apnoea and sinusitis.
He had his tonsils and adenoids removed and was immediately able to breathe through his nose.
Since then, Melody has notice a "complete 180" in his behaviour - there's no more tantrums or bad behaviour reports from school.
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