Breath Holding Spells - Boise,ID

My mother-in-law told me that my husband had done this as a child. She saw a doctor about it and he told her just to let him do it. Which she did (instead of trying to stop it as she had done before). He passed out, but hadn't did it again afterwards.

It is common and even more so in older kids. The best thing to do is ignore it and he will stop. My daughter did the same thing and I was worried about her passing out. The dr said if she passes out her brain automatically makes her start breathing. She stopped after a few times.

A.,
My nephew held his breath until he passed out a lot as a baby/little child. But it was mostly when he was angry. He would get crying so hard and hold his breath, turn blue, pass out and then start breathing again. When he was really little and doing this, we'd just blow in his face and he'd resume breathing again, for a second then he'd resume his antics. It doesn't sound like your baby is doing this out of anger or frustration like my nephew... but maybe blowing gently in his face will startle him into breathing again for you?

My nephew is now a healthy smart mouthed 13 year old, so he turned out okay!!

V.

Lay him on the floor & sit there watching him to make sure he doesn't start choking or something. If he does hold his breath til he passes out, his body will start breathing once he does. Sounds awful, huh? Just make sure you stay close in case it's something more than just a fit.

my son use to do it all the time it really freaked me out! then my mom told me to just lightly blow in his face. which caused him to breath.

My son started doing this at an even earlier age, maybe 7 months or so? He would make himself pass out and everything! Sometimes he would do it if he got hurt, but most of the time it was just when he was mad. He did it for at least a year after that, maybe longer. The best thing to do is not make a big deal about it. I'm not sure if they really know what they're doing so young... sometimes it seemed involuntary, like he just couldn't catch his breath. Even so, if you make a big deal about it then later on they might start doing it on purpose to get attention and get your focus off of whatever the problem was to begin with. Just hold on to him so he doesn't hurt himself and wait for it to pass. Tell other people about it too, so they don't get scared if it happens around them. Hope this helps!

My little boy had this also. He started around 10 months. It happened a lot because he had an "out of control" temper. I just made sure he was always on a hard surface when he did it because once he was with his dad when he did it and his dad laid him on a bed and the baby's tongue covered his airway. The baby went into what I thought was a seizure and I was so scared!! He should grow out of it. You might call your pediatrician and just mention it because he/she knows the medical history of the child better than anyone. Good luck!

Is he holding his breath when he is mad? Or when he is sleeping? If is during sleep it is sleep apnea and you need to take him to an ENT. They are genetically wired to get their breath and breathe again, I cannot say I have expereienced either of my kids holding their breath just for fun but if he is getting a reaction out of you for it, try and ignore it. My son had times in sleep he wasn't breathing well, took him in and they removed his adnoids, that helped tremendously. I believe it is common and a phase because a new trick has been learned, the less you put into acknowledging it if it is a phase then the novelty will wear off? Sorry not much help. If he is doing it while pitching a fit, find a distraction before he gets to that point to calm him down, remove him from the situation and distract him. He is too young for punishment, just use distraction to help him learn to calm himself down.

I dont know what to do either. I have an 11 month old girl who has been doing this daily for almost a month. When she is sick of doing something (in high chair, in car seat, in grocery car, in stroller) she puffs her chest out, holds her breath and sometimes holds her hands up in the air. I thought it was her saying "I hate being in arm restraints". So I stopped restraining her in the high chair and stroller but of course have to buckle her up in the car seat. She will sometimes hold her breath the whole car trip! Feeding her is a pain because she holds her breath, but I can still get her to eat some food thankfullly. I dont understand. I had a happy, healthy easy going baby and now she holds her breath!!!???!!! I've tried everything from feeding her on my lap, lowering the high chair, taking out the tray, putting her in a real chair, putting her on the floor, turning the TV on, radio, playing with toys in front of her, distracting her, not paying attention to...etc, etc...I've tried everything.But still, 9 out of 10 timesI feed her, she holds her breath real tight and arches her back, puffs her chest out. I read the comments and will try the water bottle thing and take her to her doctor. I hope she outgrows it and its not serious.

It is common, but we had friends whose daughter did this and ended up having a seizure and my husband had to do CPR until paramedics arrived. They thought it was nothing (which it usually is) until that day. Turns out there was more to it, and when they mentioned it to the doctor, the cat scan ended up in a diagnosis. I don't remember what she had, or what the treatment was, but the girl is a healthy, happy 4 yo today, due to following up with their doctor. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it, but would definitely bring it up to the doctor if it gets funny, or regular, just to be safe. One of our kids did it, too, and we never stressed over it, even after the previous babysitting experience. I can honestly say it's nothing to worry about, but is something to watch to make sure it isn't more serious. I'm not sure what the signs were leading up to our exciting night, but there were things that the parents saw in retrospect. As long as it's just passing out, you're fine. GL! I hope I worded this okay so it didn't totally freak you out. I tried hard to.

One of my girls used to do this and still does from time to time. But the doctor said there's nothing you can do about it. Rarely she will pass out but the body does this to force them to breathe. If I see that she's about to do it, I'll just make sure she's laying down so she doesn't fall and hurt herself but there's not much to worry about. Some kids just do it.

Although I don't have experience with this issue, a friend's son that did this when he was much younger, he is now 10+, she would keep a spray bottle loaded with just plain water and mist his face when he did it. The cold water got him to breathe again. Good luck!

My second son Aidan started breath holding at about 10 months. He would start to cry and I always knew when he was going to do it because there would never be a second cry. He would hold his mouth open and then his body would stiffen & arch, eyes roll back and pass out. He would wake up shortly and be sweaty and dazed. He did it regularly, sometimes more than once a day and we got used to it, just layed him on his side. Then he had a seizure during a breath holding spell and we rushed him to the ER. We had talked to our Dr about it before but the seizure freaked me out, after a second seizure we had all the tests run. They did an EEG while he was sleeping and an echo on his heart and found nothing abnormal. He continued breath holding until he was about 3 (with no more seizures), although less and less, and eventually just stopped. He's 6 now and is happy and healthy. If he's having seizure like movements most or all the time when he passes out I would definitely have them run some tests, for your peace of mind. It is scary and I had never heard of it until mine started doing it. Hope this helps!
J.
PS We tried water and blowing and it didn't work for us. May work for some but not our strong-willed child. :)