Read minnie's article about this condition and wonder if this what my son has.
As I've said on other threads his problems are:

normal breathing apart from when he breathes in deelpy, eg when he is crying hard, yawning or exerting himself. It sounds rattly in his throat (but not squeaky or high pitched as the article says)

Worse after drinking milk and during eating. Sounds like he needs to cough hard to clear his throat.

On occasions when he is crying hard his breath in sounds like stridor
Does sound hoarse on occasions when he cries.


terribly disturbed sleep .does sleep on tummy though and does not sound worse on his back,( so that bit doesn't fit)

Has clear chest xrays in the past and does not respond to asthma drugs

Does anyone else think their little one has this condition. if so, what have you guys noticed.
My son's rattly breathing started around 4 mths. before that he was just very snuffly.

Love beth

Beth,
Laryngomalacia is very loud.
With Eric it sounded like he was snoring even while he was awake. It can come and go, but not hourly or daily.exsample
Eric's breathing sounded better at around 2 months and it lasted a good 3 weeks or so and then it came back then it went away again around 6 months and stayed away until around 9 months but came back with noticeable improvement. Now it's seems to be completely gone.
It would sound worse after crying and eating, and while on his back, and would quiet when he was on his belly, but it was always there.
Eric's GI said "No, I doubt it. Laryngomalacia sounds like this." and then breathed very loudly like a snore for me. Then I had to explain that "YES!" that's exactly like he used to sound. He couldn't even pass his hearing tests because his breathing was so loud.


What you are describing sounds like reflux to me. (especially with the timing of when it happens) This is what Eric does now and the noisy snoring thing is gone (unless he's had a really hard refluxy night).

The reason I found the article so important to me was that there was a link with Laryngomalacia and stubborn GERD because of the muscles in there having to work against each other in oder for him to breath/eat. That and I think there was mention of LPR induced Laryngomalacia when I researched, and that would have fit the bill with Eric too.
I don't know, it just gave me hope that he could still outgrow his GERD, and the only reason why it's lingering is because of the Laryngomalacia giving him such a hard time for so long, and his muscles having to work harder.
That and he sounded so terrible. I always thought "My poor baby. HIs reflux is tearing him up in there." but now I know that it may have just SOUNDED terrible. Not that his GERD isn't hurting him breathing wise, but just not as bad as what I pictured in my head for so long.

If you still think that it could be Laryngomalacia definitely talk to your pedi or GI about it. There isn't much they can do for it, unless it's a life threatening case, then they do surgery, but it should be noted in his records.
Diagnoses is usually made just by listening, so no tests need to be done unless it worsens or becomes a serious health issue.

HTH

Oh and I thought more on the sound might help


It sounded like major congestion. Like a really bad cold that doesn't go away. I was obsessed with the nasal aspirators and I bought like 10 of them thinking "It must not work. I'll buy a different one."
because nothing ever came out. How could he be THAT stuffed up and have nothing come out his nose?
A few times I checked with a mirror to see if he was able to breath through his nose while he ate, and every time I could see breath from both nostrils on the mirror. I was baffled and was always told is was newborn congestion and then as time went on they said reflux breathing.

It sounded like major congestion. Like a really bad cold that doesn't go away. I was obsessed with the nasal aspirators and I bought like 10 of them thinking "It must not work. I'll buy a different one."
because nothing ever came out. How could he be THAT stuffed up and have nothing come out his nose?
A few times I checked with a mirror to see if he was able to breath through his nose while he ate, and every time I could see breath from both nostrils on the mirror. I was baffled and was always told is was newborn congestion and then as time went on they said reflux breathing.

I think I also have 10 of those little nose suckers at my house. I could never get anything out so like you, I bought a million of them.

One thing the drs found in Sam was that his cricophryngeal muscle is enlarged so he has problems swallowing (cricophryngeal muscle is the upper esophageal sphincter just above the epiglottis) This causes him to choke on his food and not allow him to eat properly. It also allows the food/liquids/saliva to pool there and make him soulnd congested. According to our SLP he also pools in his pharynx's (there are multiple types) also making him sound like he is congested. This also makes him sound like he is snoring very loudly (I can usually hear him across the room) esp if he is on his back.

I don't know anything about Laryngomalacia, but your son sounds very simaler to my son (except that Sebastain is FINAlY sleeping pretty well). I have always assumed that it was just another reflux thing. He has not had any testing done yet. We will be seeing the GI for the first time at the end of this month and I hope she will have some answeres about the coughing and stuffy nose. I hope that maybe a PPI will help. Is you son on any reflux meds?

I think I also have 10 of those little nose suckers at my house. I could never get anything out so like you, I bought a million of them.

One thing the drs found in Sam was that his cricophryngeal muscle is enlarged so he has problems swallowing (cricophryngeal muscle is the upper esophageal sphincter just above the epiglottis) This causes him to choke on his food and not allow him to eat properly. It also allows the food/liquids/saliva to pool there and make him soulnd congested. According to our SLP he also pools in his pharynx's (there are multiple types) also making him sound like he is congested. This also makes him sound like he is snoring very loudly (I can usually hear him across the room) esp if he is on his back.


Wow
Sarah!
Who helped you find all this out? What kinda of tests were done to help diagnose? An ENT/head and neck specialist person that I can't pronounce or spell (starts with an O)? LOL
a pulminologist, or what?
Do you think feeding therapy helps?

We found this out from a swallow study. Our ped didn't thick Sam needed one, but I went to my sister's ped about 1 hour away and he said definalty there I something wrong and to start there. He said that he would refer us if we needed otherwise to refer ourselved if we could. The first one we had done came back normal - it wasn't done at a childrens hospital so I think this is why. They didn't even tell me that Sam was aspirating there. It was kind of interesting cause they did a third upper GI while we were there and it wasn't scheduled, however the radiologist didn't think that Sam was "normal" either. Somehow he ended up holding Sam and he could feel the gurgling in his chest when he held him so he wanted the upper GI agian. Somehow his concern was put to the wayside though. In the mean time I decided that there was definatly something wrong with Sam's breathing so I self-referred to a pulmonologist at childrens hospital in MN. This was after 12 chest x-ray, two bouts with pneumonia, bronchiolitis and bronchitis (he was only 9months old). He looked over everything and wanted a second swallow study done cause he didn't believe that Sam was not aspirating for how awful he sounded. He set up the second one for me. This is where we found out all this stuff. How come the first one missed it???

Our ped did refer us to birth to three (early intervention) for PT and OT, but not speech therapy. I was so confused when birth to 3 called and wanted an SLP to come and look at Sam as this is not what our dr told us was happening. So by mistake, the SLP came and helped us a ton - espically when he was younger. She also suggested the second swallow study and wanted to come to it with us, but she couldn't make it. I was very happy that the SLP we saw at childrens during the swallow study actaully called Sam's SLP here and talked to her about the reuslts (after I signed the release form of course).

You cannot see this enlargement on an upper GI since it was done when Sam was laying on his back and the formation is on the back of his throat. You can see it in a swallow study as this is done on profile and you can see the enlargment very well.

We have to go get a third swallow study done now as he is starting to be real gurgly again and we have to see if the muscle has thinned out yet (this is what they expect to happen). We want to see if he is aspirating again or what.

If you have any other quesitons, let me know!!

Sarah,
I wonder if my son has a special little place where "stuff" is becoming stuck or pooling too? Basically his breathing does sound normal most of the time but I've noticed after drinking or eating he sounds really phlemy/mucousy/rattly/gurgly in the throat, as if he needs to cough to clear it. Sometimes he does cough but it doesn't clear. When he's crying, yawning or breathing heavily from running around or something, I can hear it too, but only when he breathes in. Most people look at him and can't see or hear anything wrong, but there's definitely a strange sound going on. Does any of this sound familiar or not?

Nights are just hideous. he is soooooooo restless. How could this be due to this problem? What discomfort could it cause do you think?

Seeing paed tomorrow. What do you think I should ask that they do? How would they see if there was a problem with the structure of the throat so to speak?

Or may be it is just due to reflux and acidity aggravating the throat. In which case I suppose a PH probe would be the way forward.
I know it's not up to me to tell the doc what to do, but feel I need to be a little more assertive this time or else they just seem to send you on your way.
Thanks for listening
beth

Sam sleeps really well at night so there may be something else going on. Just my thoughts. Sam sounds rattly/gurgly all the time, but more so just after eating/drinking and it gets worse when he is teething.

Like I said earlier - his was found during the swallow study as it is in the back side of the throat. They couldn't see it on an upper GI because of that. The positioning is really how we found it. Swallow study is done on a profile, with the kiddo more upright and the upper gi's he had were done while he layed on his back.

Sorry I am not more help for you. The only suggestion I have is if he is refluxing and is laying down, maybe it is getting into his throat area and it is pooling there???? I know long stretch, but a possibility?

Rachel has Laryngomalacia. They at first thought it was Treachamalacia. They are about the same except that there is excess skin I guess you could say. It is nothing serious. We call Rachel Miss Piggy. She only makes the noise when she cries or has been playing a lot or when she is really tired. They say they out grow it and they do. Rachel was diagnosed with it when she was about 3 weeks old. At that time she sounded like she was gasping for air, which scared John and I, but now we hardley ever hear it. Hope that helps.

We call Rachel Miss Piggy.

Sam is the perculator - that is the name our ped dubbed him - Miss Piggy is real cute though!!