Causes of laryngeal malacia
Laryngomalacia is a congenital disease, also known as laryngeal malacia. According to the hospital director, the cause of the disease is the immature development of baby thyroid cartilage. Once the laryngeal tissue structure can't support the cartilage, when the baby breathes (especially inhales), the epiglottic cartilage may fall into the trachea, or the thyroid cartilage collapses to cause obstruction, which may lead to wheezing. The epiglottis is excessively bent, and the two sides almost fit together. When the baby inhales, the surrounding laryngeal tissue will also fall into the trachea, which will not only cause breathing, but also affect the smooth breathing. In the past, it was generally believed that chondromalacia was caused by too soft cartilage, but now it tends to cause problems in some links of sensory nerve, brain stem and motor nerve. At the time of birth check-up, most of them could not be detected, and most of them were discovered after the baby was born because of the different breathing sounds, and the doctor further diagnosed them.
Symptoms of laryngeal malacia
About 60% newborns will suffer from laryngeal malacia, and most babies with this disease can be found within one week to one month after birth. The most obvious clinical symptom is wheezing when breathing (similar to snoring). When nursing, crying, fidgeting or lying on your back, wheezing will get worse, but when the baby is prone or sleeping, the symptoms will improve; However, once the symptoms are serious, the baby may even have respiratory arrest.
The doctor pointed out that the baby suffering from laryngomalacia will not have a fever or other symptoms, so many parents will think that there is phlegm in the baby's lungs, which will cause a long cough. Therefore, when parents find that the baby's breathing is abnormal, the sternum is sunken when inhaling, and the diet is poor, they must see a doctor to confirm whether it is infantile laryngeal malacia.
Harm of laryngeal malacia
In addition to the typical wheezing, infants with mild symptoms may also have problems such as choking on milk, frequent interruption when drinking milk, depressed sternum, hoarseness and so on. But their growth and development are not much worse than that of ordinary children, and there will be no serious sequelae such as hypoxia.
However, the doctor said that it is difficult for people with severe symptoms to coordinate swallowing and breathing, so it will be particularly difficult for babies to drink milk and inhale, and it may also be complicated with gastroesophageal reflux, which will affect their willingness to drink milk.
Problems such as weight loss and growth retardation will affect the baby's development at this time. At this time, it is necessary to rely on surgery to restore the baby's normal lifestyle.
Treatment of laryngeal malacia
Clinical diagnosis mode:
The doctor pointed out that in the clinical diagnosis of pediatrics, it is usually through the physical examination of the baby and the medical history provided by the parents to diagnose whether it has laryngeal malacia. With the growth and development of the baby, the cartilage will become stronger and stronger, and most of the laryngeal malacia can recover slowly after 6 months. Children with an average age of/kloc-0 are no different from ordinary children. They can improve as early as 2 years old, and very few people need to go to the otolaryngology department for laser treatment. Basically, pediatricians will ask parents whether the baby's milk quantity is reduced in the clinic. If it leads to weight loss, they will first refer the baby to the otolaryngology department for simple basic treatment. When mom and dad take the baby to the otolaryngology department, the otolaryngologist will also use bronchoscope or laryngoscope to check whether the cartilage collapses and other related problems for the baby, and laryngitis is a relatively mild disease, so generally speaking, you don't have to worry too much.
Severe treatment:
Patients with severe laryngeal malacia need surgery. In the past, the commonly used method was to perform local carbon dioxide laser surgery with rigid endoscope to remove redundant tissues that hinder breathing and perform supraglottic region plasty. However, this method requires intubation in the baby's trachea, and the operation time is long, which may be a great burden for the caregiver. About 90% babies can be cured successfully after operation, and a few patients who cannot be cured or relapse need tracheotomy for follow-up treatment.
Nursing care of laryngeal malacia
Laryngomalacia will not threaten the baby's life. As long as the baby grows up, it will almost recover naturally. But when the beloved baby is breathing, it always snores, and parents will feel uncomfortable listening. Therefore, parents may wish to adjust from some small practices in life to make the baby in a more comfortable state.
The doctor said that when the baby is lying flat, crying or catching a cold, it will aggravate the wheezing symptoms. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid letting the baby appear these phenomena too frequently, take a prone position at the right time, or raise the neck to make it look up, and don't feed too much milk at a time;
But prone position is only suitable for children after 6 months. Before the baby is 6 months old, prone position is still not recommended to avoid the danger of suffocation and sudden death.
Laryngomalacia is easily regarded as a minor cold by parents, so some babies take cold medicine unintentionally for a long time, which is not only useless, but even harmful.
The doctor reminded that no matter whether the baby really has a cold or not, once the baby breathes and coughs for too long, it means that there may be other problems in the body. If parents notice that something is wrong, they must take their baby to pediatrics or otolaryngology first, so that doctors can diagnose with professional experience and instruments to achieve the purpose of prescribing the right medicine.