5yr old clearing throat bad habit

Our 5 year old girl has a nasal drip according to our dr. which would have been triggered by a virus, so she trialed a nasal spray for a month but no difference. She regularly clears her throat huhmmm at various times of the day or night. I cannot see that there is a time where she does it more or less for any particular reason. Nor a food that triggeres it nor any excercise.

A friend mentioned it could be asthma or it could be a bad habit.

My local pharmacist said she has seen it happen with children of around the same age. It's not uncommon.

Can anyone shed some light, give some advice?

Emma used to have the exact same thing. Along with the nasal drip she had a very bad night time cough which for a long time we thought was asthma. We tried the nasal spray and also used ventolin for a long time. We final found a doctor that sent us for nasal x-rays and it was discovered that she had abnormally large adenoids (about 3 times the size they should have been!!). We were referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and she had adenoids & tonsils removed and grommets put in. This was done in November last year (when Emma was nearly 8 after living with the problem for almost 4 years!) and the change has been outstanding!!!

We no longer have the night time cough (except when she has a cold!) and no more runny noses or clearing of throats. The change in her voice has been amazing too! I never realised how nasal she sounded until she had the operation and then we watched a video of her taken just before she had the op.

I don't know how you feel about getting a referal to a specialist, as I know some people who feel they want to try other methods before seeking out this option but my advice would be to try and investigate it further. At least if they rue out a physical reason for the problem you can begin to try and change the learnt behaviour.

I wish you all the best and hope that you get some answers soon. Good luck in your quest!!!

Cheers

I am not a kid but I have a post nasal drip which bugs me and has done since I was a kid. I work in a dental surgery and we work closely with ENT's and naturopaths and what we have found is that most kids who have breathing/ nasal problems are latcose sensitive. Maybe try taking your child off Dairy for a week or so and see how you go maybe? I know I have basically no posta nasal drip when I havn't had any dairy.

It may work and perhaps even save a trip to the ENT?

Awahini,

Unfortunately I can't help, but I just wanted to welcome you to BB. I hope that you find the site useful and informative! Our members are really friendly, and I look forward to getting to know you.

Cheers,