Breath-Holding Spells
 

My daugher is 14 months old. For the last month or so she has been passing out from crying so hard. It is brought on by her being upset. She starts crying and then she is crying so loud that no sound comes out. She starts holding her breath and her lips turn blue and she passes out for a split second. I took her to the doctor and he said it is normal. He said to ignore her when she is just upset and not hurt or I will reinforce her behavior. She usually does this once or twice a week. Just wondering if any of your kids do this and how do you handle it??

My daughter has done this before. I've done a few things.

When she's really bad, I'd hold her really tight, trying to get her head on my heart. I'd hold her like this until she fell asleep or stopped crying.

The other thing I've done is put her in a coldish shower. As soon as she stopped crying I'd warm up the water and let her bathe. I know this sounds cruel, but I used it to almost "shock" her out of crying. Afterwards, she was very calm.

My sister used to do this when we were kids all the time..my mom took her to the doc too and he said it was normal that as soon as she passed out her body took over and would breathe again.

Have you tried blowing in her face when she does it? I do that with DS when he gets into one of those holding his breath cries and it usually makes him catch his breath.

She wont stop breathing long enough to hurt herself. I would not give her any attention for the fits either(negative or positive...if she gets attention even negative then she will think that this is an approriate way to get your attention). What I would try is to figure out what is upsetting her and either avoid it, distract from it or offer alternatives.

I wanted to clarify that with my daughter, she'd cry for HOURS if I didn't intervene. She only did this a few times.

ignoring her crying is not how i would ever handle a situation with my children. ignoring in my opinion is laziness on a parents part, when you ignore unacceptable behavior your re-inforcing that you aren't bothered by that behavior. if your kid did something really fantastic like write their name for the first time...would you ignore it...NO. you would get all excited, hug em, kiss em, tell them how proud. same goes for teaching kids how NOT to behave. how will she know how to act if you don't tell her? sounds like a classic case of her trying to learn her boundries. kids understand (yes...even as young as 14 mos.). passing out is scary to me and i would say not normal either regardless of what an MD says. all my opinion of course. :)

ooops...clarify for me...why is she crying for so long. the discipline part of this may not apply. is she colic or does she have health issues that are causing the crying. is it just when she's tired, etc?

I guess I'm lazy then *shrug*

Regardless of what you end up doing, as I'm sure you already know, the key is consistency. If you're consistent, she'll get the message.

No health issues. It isn't that she is crying for a long period of time. She gets upset about something it can be her sister pushed her, took a toy from her, upset that I am not holding her or giving attention to her sister, falling and getting hurt...it is a number of different things. She only crys for maybe 5 minutes then she turns blue around the mouth from holding her breath and passes out (just for a split second). Does that make any sense??

I have so advice, but just wanted to send some (((((((hugs)))))))))! It must be scary even if it is normal!

Oh, wow, that is freaky! I have heard its normal, too, but frankly, it would freak me out. I have no advice though, just hope she grows out of it fast. My son did bite himself when he gets frustrated. Its improved a lot and is rare now, but he still will. I have tried everything to make him stop. He does it until his hands are raw. So I do understand at least.

My DD does this too. She started around 8 months and is now 23 months old. The doctor said it is normal in some children and that she will grow out of it. I have never let it get to the point where she passes out. I just can't. Too heart-wrenching for me.

So what works for me is to NOT pick her up or give her what she wants. I squat down right beside her and usually she throws her arms around me and then starts to breathe while she cries. I just straight up tell her, "You're fine, you don't need to cry, tell me with words what's wrong." I've always said that, even when she was 8 months old. Silly, I know, because it's not like she would talk, but she *would* say "Mama" over and over again.

Now that she's starting to talk, it's not as bad, but I DEFINITELY understand where you are coming from.

so she just gets sooo upset that she can't breathe. goodness! hugs!! hope you get some more good advice!!

My son does this. He turns 3 next week and has been doing it for a while now. I just hold him as he passes out until he comes back to. I try not to coddle him extra when he does it, but I just can't bring myself to lay him down and just let him be there. As he has gotten older, he doesn't do it as frequently, but it looks more violent when he passes out.