Babies born with tracheomalacia may have other health issues like a heart defect, reflux or developmental delay.

[citation needed] Symptoms inside the lung include noisy breathing that may get better when you change your baby's position or while he or she is asleep.

[4] There is no standardized, defined set of diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of tracheomalacia, mainly due to the nonspecific symptoms associated with it.

[5] Current diagnostic approaches include pulmonary function testing which shows a characteristic reduction in peak expiratory flow (PEF), physical examination, and imaging such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FB) is considered the best diagnostic method because an inserted camera down the throat shows a direct view of the airways and lungs, detecting changes in the size or appearance of the trachea's lumen and mucosa and any signs of inflammation, fistulas, or external compressions to precisely determine the location and severity of the malacia.

[6] Cross-sectional radiological images are important in detecting mediastinal structures involved in TM prior to surgery.

Bronchography provides an accurate measurement of the airway lumen with a dynamic and morphological evaluation of the tracheobronchial tree.

Current recommendations for mild to moderate non-life-threatening tracheomalacia focuses on symptom management.

These range from medical management over mechanical ventilation (both continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)[8] or bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP)[9][10]), to inserting a tracheal stent[8] and surgery.