As a parent, it’s your job to take the best possible care of your child — that much goes without saying for most parents. But the fact is that sometimes, there are issues that you can do nothing to prevent. What you can do is have them treated. For many parents, problems like these are even more stressful for adults than they are for the children suffering from them. These are the kinds of problems that aren’t life-threatening, but are life-altering. They can provide irritations for your children, or slow them down. In some cases, they can become more serious as the child in question grows up. It’s not unusual for parents to feel great amounts of guilt over these problems — problems that no parent is responsible for. In cases like these, it’s your responsibility to be brave for your child; and that can be difficult. Luckily, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Caring doctors can do amazing things — and even if your child’s problem seems unique to you, chances are that there is a doctor out there who has successfully treated it dozens of times. Be proactive. Don’t hesitate to take your child to a specialist. Children bounce back remarkably quickly, and the sooner you have your child’s medical issue treated, the faster he or she will grow up treated, and very likely, with few to no memories of having it in the first place. Without further ado, let’s look at some of the childhood health problems you can have treated.

1. Sleep Disordered Breathing

Sleep disordered breathing is an extremely common issue among young children — and for parents, it’s terrifying to see. Many a parent has rushed their child to the hospital because the child didn’t seem to be “breathing right” in his or her sleep. The child, of course, isn’t even aware of their own breathing problems. Luckily, this issue can be treated, even if it’s sometimes difficult to diagnose, as many breathing difficulties are. The fact is that one to 3% of all children suffer not only from snoring, but sleep disordered breathing. At times, sleep disordered breathing can be connected to adenoiditis and adenoid hypertrophy. Although it’s unlikely that sleep disordered breathing is life-threatening to your child at a young age, it can progress into something more serious as they grow older, and can obstruct their ability to sleep properly. Enlarged tonsils are often the sources of this problem, as children with enlarged tonsils are 3.7 times more likely to develop sleep disordered breathing. Therefore, a common treatment is a tonsillectomy. The younger your child is when the surgery is done, the less traumatic it will be physically and psychologically — though most children recover quickly at any age, as it’s a minor surgery.

2. Hearing Loss

Hearing loss doesn’t necessarily mean total deafness — at any point in your child’s loss. But it’s still terrifying for a parent to think about. It’s also more common than most people would imagine. Congenital abnormalities of the ear are remarkably common and widespread, and therefore very often treatable. Usually, genes are responsible for the hearing loss in 50 to 60% of children suffering from it. It can also be connected to infections that occurred during pregnancy, and in some cases recurring ear infections. As hearing loss very often only affects one ear, some parents choose not to interfere as long as their child has decent hearing. Others choose the option of external or internal hearing aids. There are many options — including in some cases surgery on the eardrum, which has a success rate of 85 to 90%.

3. Cleft Palate

In many cases, a cleft palate’s physical effects are minor, with the aesthetic being the main concern. But that’s a valid concern, especially for young children. Luckily, cleft palates are now very commonly repaired through surgery. This surgery can even be done on infants, and has a very high success rate.