Breath Holding

If it's nothing medical, leave the room whenever you realize the child is about to cry, it will suppress the spell.

My daughter does the same thing. SCARES THE C^&%$ OUTTA ME!!! And yes, I called 911 the first time too. They have her on an iron supplement twice a day but she sometimes turns blue and sometimes white (Palid Breath Holding).

Each doctor in the er and her regular pediatrician asked if it was because she was upset, NO. Apparently some kids do this when startled, which is what Anna does. But there are other kids that do it for attention. Anna does this when she stubs her toe, falls down and skins her knee, bops her head or one of her brothers comes around the corner and yells "boo". Other than that she is perfectly normal. I figure she is just delicate, and I have to keep a more careful eye on her.

I pick her up and lay her on the sofa and sit with her because I had to do cpr on her once, apparently not normal. Because she passes out and gets very stiff, they are finally doing an EEG to rule out epilepsy. When she doesn't pass out it takes about 20 to 30 minutes for her to recover, and if she passes out about 45 minutes to an hour.

You may want to take a cpr class, can't hurt. Also, keep in mind, 50% of the drs graduated in the bottom half of their class. Take your own notes and learn as much as you can so you can share with the dr what you have learned. I found this one to make a lot of sense. http://www.drgreene.com/21_1039.html

Ask about the iron, seems to be a contoversy between doctors on if it works or not, but I figure it can't hurt. Also, if he does it more than once, take him back to the dr. I wanted the dr to have a record of each time she passed out so they could justify any extra tests she may need to the insurance company.

I was also told it's hereditary, and most kids outgrow it by 5 or 6 years old. You may want to check with the inlaws to see if they know anyone else that does this and what the outcome was.

If you find out anything let me know, I would love to figure out what is going on with this. It is the craziest thing I have seen a child do.

You didn't say if any of the other instances where he held his breath resulted in turning blue or if it was just the instance where you think he fell and may have got the wind knocked out of him. I can't imagine that any child, especially at that age, would go thru such an extreme measure to get attention. If he hasn't turned blue from the other times he held his breath, then I would definitely discipline him when he did it to let him know it is unacceptable. Definitely DON'T give him special treatment when he acts up because if he's smart enough to realize that it gets him attention, he'll keep doing it and then you'll have a real nightmare on your hands! I would either just ignore him when he holds his breath to see if he stops or I would scold him for doing it and see what happens. Good luck.

Hi K., I understand the concern you and your husband have with your child holding his breath when he becomes upset. I have three children and when my youngest daughter was small she would get so upset set when she would cry that she too would stop breathing when she cried. The doctor told me to make sure to hold her when she would cry so as not to hit her head or cause other injury allow her to pass out and she would resume a regular breathing pattern. She would have her lips turn a little blue, no noise would come out and then she would calm down. I would just hold onto her through it and then when she resumed her normal breathing pattern I would pick her up and comfort her. At first it would really scar me until I talked with the doc about it. What concerned me the most was her loosing oxygen, but the doctor reassured me that it was only a couple of seconds to resume normal breathing and that would not affect her. After awhile I wasn't affected with fear of it I just embraced it and dealt with it for what it was. It does get better when they learn more communication skills however. My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD later on and I wonder if that was part of it at the time. My mom was like your husband and it would scar her for my daughter to pass out. Stay calm through it and embrace your son and you will be fine. You are not alone with the experience. God Bless!

Hi K.,

To be sure, I would suggest asking your doctor to order an awake and sleep routine EEG. It is a simple test to do, but to your 1 yr old it won't be. It requires that he be a bit sleep deprived to insure he sleeps during the recording of his brain waves. He wil have approximately 28 electrodes attached to his head after the tech measures, marks and then cleans each electrode site with qtips and a gritty cleaning solution. Some techsI wrap each childs head in a stretchy gauze bandange so the electrodes stay secure and mom can still hold or nurse the child and allow the child to turn on side or tummy. The recording of awake and sleep brain waves, the doctor can see if there are any areas that show sharp or irregular waves, indicating an irritated or "active" spot which might predispose your child to having seizures. If nothing like this happens again, well, great, you probably don't need and EEG. But if it has occured more than once, then it's time for the test which can be ordered by your pediatrician or a Neurologist who would order it. Feel free to contact me if you like. I am a mom of two girls, just 4 & 9 and currently I am in the chocolate business as well as a registered EEG Technologist (x28 yrs). I love my jobs!

P.S.