BOSTON -- According to doctors, sleep apnea is a growing problem among children.

NewsCenter 5’s Heather Unruh reported Wednesday on a newer procedure that is helping children breathe easier and feel better faster.

“She would just stop breathing. It was making bedtime a really scary time for her,” said Alison Birmingham, mother of 3-year-old Liza.

The little girl has had trouble sleeping and eating since she was an infant. It wasn't until she was 3-years-old that her parents found out why.

“She would wake up may be three or four times a night crying, and finally we figured out she had sleep apnea. And that wasn't going to go away unless we did something about her tonsils,” said Birmingham.

Dr. Christopher Hartnick of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary said Liza needed her tonsils smaller to help her breathe better. Hartnick recommended a newer surgery called a tonsillotomy.

“You don't have to remove 100 percent of the tonsil here -- you just have to open up the airway,” said Hartnick, a pediatric otolaryngologist.

Because doctors don't remove all of the tonsils like they do with a tonsillectomy, Hartnick said patients experience less pain.

“With the tonsillotomy the experience has been maybe two days or three days of pain by the fifth day, they're getting back to their normal activities much faster,” he said.

The surgery worked wonders for Liza.

“Now she sleeps through the night, which she's never done for three and a half years,” Birmingham said.