Breath Holding Spells - Gardner,MA

My now almost three year old did this until she was almost 2.5. Its hard but the best thing to do was to ignore it just so long as she wasn't going to be hurt if she fell. She did pass out once in front of her bedroom door so we couldn't get in her room that was scary but shes fine. If that is what it is it will most definitly happen again my pedi said it was the sign of a strong willed child which can really be a good thing in the long run. I've know a couple other people whos toddlers have done the same thing and everyone gave the same advice the more attention you give it the more often it will happen.

My son would do this after he would fall and hurt himself when he was younger (he's 4 1/2 now). It was only when he was in pain from a bump, and he would cry so hard that he would turn blue and pass out. It was traumatic for us, because suddenly, his eyes would roll back and then he was a rag doll in our arms. Once he did it after falling from the chair at dinner, and we called 911 because we weren't sure if he had something in his mouth and would choke. (He was fine)

We had a long discussion with our son's doctor. There is a time frame when kids can go through this behavior, (1-3 years old, I think) and then they grow out of it, as long as they don't decide that it is great to get that kind of attention.
My son never got into the attention side of this behavior, and it happened during that time when he was into climbing, but not as aware of his limits, and occasionally fell and got hurt. He is EXTREMELY active.
I felt great having my doctor listen and talk to me about this kind of behavior-- I had no idea it was as common as it is.
Still, whenever one of my kids take that deep breath before a big cry, I get all tense, hoping to hear the cry.
This only happened a handful of times with my son, and we haven't had a problem in over a year. I hope this helps.

Hi Lily,

My daughter who is now 4 had one of these when she was 2. She was running in the backyard and fell close to a tree stump and literally scared the breath right out of her and she passed out eyes rolling into her head and everything. I rushed her to the hospital because at the time i did not know about breath holding. After checking her out they told me that it was a breath holding spell. They said that some children have this and usually they grow out of it by the time they start school. they said that kids do this as a reaction to anger or fear but do not realize it. In my daughters case it was fear. The doctor said that once they pass out the body takes over and breathes again. My daughter has had one other and i could tell it was coming so i was prepared. All you can do is make sure that they are not somewhere that they could be in danger if they start to get upset.

It scared me to death i will tell you that.

C.

You didn't mention if this was your 2 or 4 year old. Try looking on webmd. Search Vagal nerve. It sounds like your son has a sensitive one (me too) and will grow out of this. You should watch him, not panic, to keep him safe from falling if this happens often. Call the pedi and make an appt to be safe.

Hi Lily,
I personally have not experienced this, but a good friend of mine has...she ended up bringing her son to the ER by ambulance thinking it was a seizure also. It turns out, it was him holding his breath. They recommended next time this happens to tickle him to get him to breath again before he passes out. I don't know if it will happen again, but it only happened once with them. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi Lily -
Our daughter had several seizures from holding her breath when she was around 18 months. All of them happened when she was sick, so our belief is that it was Febrile seizures. She had a EEG which was normal, but not a fun test to go through. It can be very scary. Talk to your Ped, but if all else is normal, he should grow out of it. Just watch him if he has an episode. The most dangerous part is hitting their head when they are in the episode. We have been seizure free for a year and a half now.

Good Luck!
S.

My 14 month old has febrile seizures that the doctors thought might be breath holding spells. They suggested that we look up breath holding spells and febrile seizures on you tube and after watching videos of the two we all agreed it was seizures. My advice would be to watch a few videos as hard as that might be, after watching you should definitely be able to tell the difference and figure out what is really going on.
I know how scary it must have been so hopefully it won't happen again. Good Luck!

If he wasn't intentionally holding his breath maybe the best thing would be to call his doctor. Maybe if he was crying hard he might have had trouble getting enough air in. I know we have all cried at some point so hard that when you go to breath in you freak out because you feel like you can't get air. I have also heard that it is very common for children to hold their breath as an intention getter. I asked my doctor about this and she said let them do it. The worst that happens is they pass out for a second but their body takes over and starts breathing soon as they pass out. Once they realize this is not the way to get your attention they stop doing it.

My son used to do this and it scared me to death and caused me to react, until my wise old Nana laughed and told me .."He has you right where he wants you".." she explained the human body will not allow even the most stubborn child to "suffocate himself".."that EVEN if he could make himself pass out (which few can) he will continue to breath regardless...If you don't respond to this they'll stop. They do what works to get what they want. They can do it "unintentionally if they get themselves worked up enough but I promise it will stop. Next time you see the doc have him/her check to reassure you just the same.

Hi Lily,
My youngest, next door neighbor, held her breath for attention when we were growing up. She would hold it so long she would pass out and of course start breathing again. She was trying to get attention from the big kids and it worked at first. It passed as she realized she was no longer getting attention. Try some one on one game or reading time when the others are napping. He may be feeling left out.
Good luck.
D. C

Our son did/does this too. He has had four episodes: the first when he was 3, the next two when he was 4 and the most recent, now that he is 5. All episodes occured after our son had some form of injury (the first two he ran into other children in the course of playing tag and the last one he hurt his finger)and he was crying. Lucily for all but the last incident, we were holding him to comfort him so when he passed out he did not fall. The last incident we were not so lucky. I guess since the first 3 came relatively close in time and we had no incident for close to a year, we did not expect it to occur.

The first time it happened, my husband and I thought he was choking because his lips turned blue. Our pedi at the time said not to worry. After the second episode, we had a new pedi who said he absolutely should be looked at to make sure he is okay. After the third incident, we felt confident it was breath holding and that he was okay. Just something to keep in mind- you need to let all caregivers know about this. Our son had his third incident at pre-school. Luckily, they were aware of the situation and were able to handle it just fine. Also, after the first incident, we started telling our son to breath when he was crying. We tried to make him cognizant of his breathing.

My favorite thing about this is when you read about it (try googling "episodic apnea"), you are told not to react to it because it can become a learned behavior. I find it funny to think that someone would not react to their child's lips turning blue, eyes rolling back in their head and falling to the ground!

Good luck!

Take the child to the doctor and see what they tell you. I saw something similar on the discovery channel. Make sure it isn't anything else other than a seizure.