Breath holding

Has anyone had any experience with breath holding? Last night i got the fright of my life. As i was dressing DS (11mths), hes a wriggler so you have to be quick dressing him and when his arm went down his sleeve i accidently caught his finger and he started to cry. As he cried he did that breath holding thing they do where they make that noise as they wind up before they take a breath.............only DS never caught his breath. I watched his lips go blue then he went all floppy and lost conciousness and would have been out for about a minute. I swear, i really thought he was gone. I ran and rang 000 and then he came around and started screaming. They sent the ambulance out to check him because he had lost conciousness and the paramedic said what he did isnt normal and it requires further investigation. He thinks he had some kind of seizure also.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience (though i hope none of you have cos i wouldnt wish it on anyone).

The daughter of a friend of mine used to do this regularly - my friend would pinch her arm to 'shock' her into breathing again, and all would be okay. She had some scans but it was just a quirk of hers, and she's since grown out of it. Horrible to watch though!

My DD2 did it every time she got hurt, not just little ouches but head bangs and such, The first time it scared the living daylights out of me... then sad to say i kind of got used to it, she would take the deep breath to scream then just not let it out and pass out, I took her to the Dr and he was blase "yep some babies do that". i would talk to her and blow on her face when she held the breath to long which would get her going again. It was worst between 1 and 2 i think, has not happened in 6 months or so now.
She was never out as long as a minute though... may have felt like forever but in reality i would say she way out 10-15 secs on occasion.

Friends of ours have a little boy who passes out from holding his breath when he gets really upset. He's 3 now. Apparently the paed said it's quite common and they just outgrow it. It wouldn't hurt to get him checked out anyway :hug:

Hi kristi, breath holding is quite common in young children, although it is generally behavioural and 11 months is quite young. It is more common in children around the age of 2 who hold their breath when they are frustrated or upset. It usually gets a pretty big reaction from mum and dad when they faint and so is a pretty effective technique! Are you certain that your DS was unconscious for a minute? That is far too long and highly unlikely to be related to breath holding. Having said that, it seems like an eternity when your child is unconscious and 10 seconds can easily seem like a minute. If a child holds their breath, as soon as they lose consciousness (due to a lack of oxygen to the brain) they will begin to breathe again and regain consciousness very quickly. Think about what you did during the time your DS was unconscious - had you just picked up the phone, had you just called 000 by the time he was awake again, had you completed the phone call. This will give you an idea of how long the loss of consciousness lasted.

Why did the paramedic believe that your DS had a seizure? When he was unconscious, was he shaking and jerking or was he still? When he regained consciousness, was he a bit lethargic and dopey for a while or did he quickly return to a normal, active state? Has he been unwell lately or had a temperature? If the paramedic did believe your DS had a seizure then he should have transported you to hospital! Which from reading your post I assume he didn't.

I hope your DS is ok today, you must have had a huge fright!

Yes my DS1 did this - from about 10/11 months to maybe 2. when he got upset he would do that 'silent' cry thing - hold his breath and pass out... he would be a bit lethargic afterwards. its awful to watch isnt it.
I had it thoroughly checked out and he was fine, it is a behavioural thing and my paed told me not to give it much attention - to talk to him to caslm him down before it reached that pt if i could and just to blow on his face to try to get him to take a breath if i could. he said it woul dhave no long term impact and that he would growe out of it - but some kids do it until they are a lot older.
DS hasnt done it in at least 18 months - sometimes looks like he might but it doesnt happen.

that said, there was never any talk of a seizure - so if this has occurred i would get it checked out (and also if he was unconscious for 1 min, DS would be 'back' within a second or 2)

good luck, i know how awful this is - i also posted about it here i think under 'blue attacks'

Thanks for all your responses, its much appreciated. I have a drs appt in about an hour. I initially thought breath holding was common too, but both paramedics said they have never known a child to react the way he did..........like length of time he was out, his symptoms etc.........that its uncommon to react like that and requires further investigation.

He was most definitely out for more than 10 seconds, he passed out in my arms in his bedroom which is at the back of the house, so i had to run through the house to get to the phone and he didnt regain consciousness till after i got through to 000 (also the phone didnt work the first time i tried so i had to hang up and try again before getting through to 000). He had blue lips and around and his eyes were open and fixed and his body was limp, which is why the paramedics said seizure as well as apnea episode.

Hes not unwell they checked his temp and oxygen, all good. He was very quiet and pale afterwards, just wanted to go to bed (though it was bedtime so hard to know if he was tired from what had happened or not). About 30 mins later he perked up.

They suggested transporting us to hospital but because at that point in time he presented ok (temp, oxygen, breathing ok) and they saw we have 6 other kids to organise, they said we could get them sorted first and take him or take him to my gp today but it had to be seen to sooner rather than later.

I dont know, im hoping its nothing as has been suggested, i really do. So very scary though, i need strategies on how to deal with it if he does it again.

I will let you know what the dr says.

Hi kristi, seizure activity usually presents with stiffening and then jerking (a tonic clonic seizure) although it can also be shaking and jerking of one body part such as a foot or an arm (focal fitting) or epileptics sometimes suffer absence seizures where they look normal but won't respond ie. the lights are on but nobody's home! If your DS was limp in your arms, it is unlikely that he was seizing. It sounds like your DS was unconscious for a prolonged period of time and so may not be related to the breath holding at all.

How did you go at the doctor?

Hi Kristi, Just checking in to see how things went with Roman at the GP yesterday. Hope that everything is O.K.

My boo did this, as did my older sister. Sister used to pass out as well and mums doctor said the good thing about that is they start breathing then, but didn't make mum feel any better. My brother looked it up for me and the advice was to blow in their face. It works by startling them. Did work with boo most of the time.

Hope your boy will be okay.