9 yr old son in occasionally gurgling as if choking on his tongue and is in a deep state of sleep

[annthomas99]

I sometimes sleep by my son - per request - and on a few occasions I've been woken up to the sound of gurgling - as if his tongue is making him choke – it’s a rythmic sound as though he's trying to get a breath but can't because his throat is obstructed. I try and wake him up from this and he's is a deep state of sleep so last night when this happened and I gently shrugged him over and again and called his name and asked if he was ok he moved to his side and I got a nonsensical response of acknowledgement but not with a clear ok. I've been by him when this has happened about 3 or 4 times before. It kind of freaks me out and I'm wondering if this has a "name" or is something I can research? Thanks in advance for comments...

[National Jewish]

You should observe him closely while he is asleep to see if his breathing actually ceases and, if so, for how long, counting by the second hand on your watch.  If his breathing actually stops, see if it resumes with a quick, sharp inhalation.  There is a strong possibility that he has a sleep disturbance, most likely obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and will require a sleep study, to confirm the nature of it.  At his age, this could be caused by abnormally enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids (adenoids).

[Candie801]

A related discussion, Gurgling was started.