Breathing Easy: Understanding Your Baby’s Noisy Stridor

A Parent’s Guide to Laryngomalacia

Introduction
Having a baby who has noisy breathing can be unsettling. When you hear a soft whoosh or a squeaky sound each time your little one inhales, it might be congenital laryngomalacia. This condition is the most frequent cause of persistent noisy breathing in infants. In laryngomalacia, floppy tissue above the vocal cords momentarily collapses into the airway when your baby breathes in. Though it sounds alarming, most infants grow out of it naturally. Understanding what to listen for, how doctors confirm the diagnosis, and which treatments help can ease your mind and guide you through this phase.

What Is Laryngomalacia?
Laryngomalacia refers to an unusually soft and floppy upper airway in newborns. The term itself comes from “laryngo” meaning the voice box and “malacia” meaning softness. Unlike older children and adults, a baby’s laryngeal cartilage is immature and flexible. In many infants with laryngomalacia, that flexibility becomes so pronounced that certain tissues buckle inward during inspiration. The resulting stridor, a high-pitched noise on the inhale, is the hallmark of this condition. You may not always notice it at first, but it often becomes more apparent as the weeks pass.

How Common Is It?
This condition accounts for roughly half of all infants referred to ear nose and throat specialists for chronic noisy breathing. Clinically significant cases occur in about three to four out of every ten thousand live births and it appears more often among boys than girls. Babies born prematurely or those with certain genetic or neuromuscular conditions can have a higher likelihood of laryngomalacia. Still, many otherwise healthy infants develop it without any other underlying issues.