For many parents, there is nothing happier than the day when they met their children for the first time. For some parents however, birthing or later complications can turn the experience into a nightmare as they seek treatment for their children. These are some of the most common complications in babies and young children that if treated early will have little to no impact on their adult lives.
Ears
By their third birthday, nearly 83% of children will experience at least one ear infection that, left untreated, can result in hearing lost. For the most part, genes are responsible for 50-60% of children who suffer from hearing loss. There are 30% of babies with hearing loss that resulted from infections during pregnancy, environmental causes, and birth complications. The good news is that new innovations in medical technology can offer solutions to hearing loss from hearing aids to other technologies that can enable the deaf to hear again.
Nose
Breathing complications can prevent your child from getting the sleep they need while others can even put your child at fatal risk. Nearly one out of every ten children snore regularly with 2-4% being diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Sometimes the child’s adenoid in the back of the mouth is to blame for breathing obstructions. A adenoidectomy can correct the adenoids in children over one year in age. Adenoidectomy is 1.5 times more common in boys than girls, however a similar tonsillectomy is nearly twice as high is girls than boys.
Mouth
Nearly 2,650 babies are born in the United States with a cleft palate and 4,440 born with a cleft lip or with no palate. Children with cleft palates struggle with feeding, speech, and breathing difficulties their whole lives if left untreated. Cleft palate repair surgery is recommended in the first few months of life and ideally no later than 18 months if possible. If done early enough, cleft palate repair surgeries can leave little to no scaring. Many people have difficulty telling that someone who underwent early surgery had an cleft palate at all.
