My 19 month old gave us a pretty good scare the other day when we assume he choked on a sandwich one of the twins left in his reach after lunch 3 Fridays ago. He turned blue, and went limp in my arms after he tripped and fell. He did not bump his head or really fall very hard, but none the less after he cried he went silent and then couldn't get his breath. After blowing in his face, patting him on the back and jiggling him, my husband had to do the hymelich on him to get him breathing, but nothing came up so we are not certain this is what happened. We did take him to the ER and everything checked out fine. We figured this was an isolated case until the next Wednesday. Fortunately, this episode was not as extreme. He did not pass out this time, but he was starting to turn blue. Being a little calmer this time, we decided to watch him over the night and take him to his pediatrician the next morning to have him really checked over. His regular doctor was not in that day so we got to see another doctor that really upset us because he had no concern for our situation and basically told us he was holding his breath and that we should just let him do it because once he passed out his organs would start back up again and he would be fine. I told him that was fine for him being a doctor to sit there and tell me that, but as his mother it was NOT fine to see my baby turn blue. It was quite obvious that we were just a number to him and he was more concerned about telling us statistically he would be alright. He did at least order some tests for safe measure. So, he had bloodwork and an EKG that night, and we had to come back the next day for a disphasia study. When those 3 tests came back normal, I called our normal pediatrician, and had him check him over in which case he discovered an ear infection so told us it was a good chance excess mucus was causing him to choke easier. Not a word about him holding his breath. We got the ear infection cleared up, and then this morning, he did it again and this time I know there was no food around. So, if he is going to be one of those children who hold their breath, this really freaks me out. I am told not to do anything for him, but how do you sit back and watch your child pass out from not breathing and do nothing? How do I know that this particular time he really isn't choking and that I have just wasted that time thinking he would recover on his own instead of helping him breath again? I am just really beside myself with all this. I have called all over the place trying to recertify myself for CPR so I at least have that under my belt, but I don't know how to take all this. I am hoping there area other mothers who have been through this and can give me some pointers. Do I assume it is a phase like the first doctor mentioned and he will outgrow it, or could it be something else. How should I really be handling these episodes? It really has my husband and I worried. We are worried about correcting him, the other kids getting to rough, everytime he eats anything. All these things that worry us could have negative effects too. I really need advice.
Oh my! I have no advice for you but I just wanted to tell you how bad I feel for you- I couldn't imagine one of mine doing that- I have a 17 yr. old girl, 29 month old twins and a 16 month old son- I am also a stay at home mom.
Please keep me updated.
my niece holds her breath a lot, my brother and his wife actually were both like that when they were little. They also took her to her ped and they were told she was doing it for attention but just to almost basically ignore her when she did it. One day at my house (before they took her to the doctor) she barely and I mean barely bumped her head on my wall and held her breath and passed out and after 30 seconds, I called 911, you CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL!!! Now my daughter had acid reflux when she was born and she actualy quit breathing totally it's hard to tell the difference and you just need to do what you think is best. Good luck.
Keep looking for answers. Don't stop.
I'm no doctor but from what you described I'm wondering if this could be some type of a seizure. Like a type of apniea only while awake.
Does your boy seem panicked when it's happening? Usually choking on something will scare one pretty good. If he seems calm then it could be his body is doing it and he's not aware it's happening, like a sort of seizure or he might be doing this for attention. No bad marks to you, but I noticed you have a very full plate. If this seems to happen when you are dealing with another child, then a 19 month old is old enough to be told that what he's doing isn't funny and that it's scaring you. That he will get his "mommy time" in a moment. Being the youngest he's used to being the center of attention because he's been a baby and has needed you. Now that he's older and can do thing for himself and you are doing less for him this may be a reaction to that. Just an idea.
I wish you the best.
My husband has cousins who's son did something very similar. He would hold his breath if he got hurt or upset & eventually he'd turn blue & pass out. The first time he did it, he didn't start breathing again after he passed out. His parents rushed him to the ER. They were told it's fairly common & he'd grow out of it. They were also told to wait until he was unconcious for 5 mintues & still not breathing before calling 911! No one was happy about that since they live 15 miles from the nearest hospital & it takes an ambulance quite a while to get to their house. I seem to remember them loading him up & heading to the hospital more than once but he'd be fine before they'd get there.
He was pretty young when these spells started, maybe the same age as your son. If I remember right, he grew out of them before he turned 3. He did it at church because he was mad & our uncle grabbed him up & ran outside with him. It was cold that night & the cold air shocked him awake.
He's six years old now & completely normal!
my daughter "held her breath" until she was in 6th grade. When she would get upset, had a cold, had to take medicine, cried. Every now and then it was bad enough she would go into sezuires and they would test her all over again.
My daughter was a "blue baby" (didn't breath right away when she was born). Finally at six, we were able to "cause" her "pass out". The doc put a paper towel in front of her face and made her blow until she was hyperventilated. Actually, what happened was some where in the exercise she stopped breathing and had a seizure. He said what was wrong with her was that she would "forget to breath". Yes, she was holding her breath but it turned out not to be an intentional thing. She underwent what they called "behavior modification" classes and has been fine ever since.
I can't remember now what kind of Doc she went to. NOT a reg. pediatrician. It might have been a neurologist. That i don't remember now!
Hi L.,
What you are describing sounds just like what my 17 month old did last Wed he nit his head on the corner/arm of the couch then started screaming and when i picked him up he took in a breath then stopped screaming,breathing and turned blue so i started blowing in his face/patting his back then he passed out and went limp. I freaked out and while dad was doing cpr i called 911. He was only not breathing for like a minute but it was the scariest time of my life. The ER doctor said he had a "Breath holding spell" and gave me some hand outs. I did some research and it said that when they are having one to lay them flat so the blood flow continues to the brain and you can also put a cold rag on their head. My son had another one this morning but he didn't pass out again i held him flat and kept telling him to breathe while he was crying. I also read that in some children it could be related to iron deficiency anemia so i'm gonna have his doctor check when he goes back i'm calling tomorrow for a appt. Sorry this is so long just want to let you know i understand how scary it is. Wish i had more answers for you. Good luck!
My cousin Eric used to hold her breath and pass out, turned blus the whole thing. My grandmother broke her of it by picking her up and putting her head under the cold water faucet. Sounds mean but it only took two times and she never did it again.
One of my DH's co-worker's has a granddaughter that will pass out when she cries. The co-worker's wife was telling me about it but I can't remember what it was called or all the exact details. Basically when the granddaughter cries, she takes a deep breath, her lungs fill with air and the lungs press on something that then causes her to pass out. This problem has also caused her to go into seizures on occasion.
I guess the parents were told that it is a fairly common thing and she should hopefully outgrow it.
hi, i am not sure if this might help, but a little boy i use to babysit, was doing things similar to this. not sure if it is exactly the same, and not sure what your child has actually been tested for. but little garrett is now being tested for epilepsy(sp??). they are now testing him by sending him home with one of those eeg? brain wave monitors) on. because the tests they were running at children's were all coming back normal, they wanted to check things over a 24/48 hour period.
good luck with things and i sure hope your little one doesn't have anything serious.
take care,
C.
My 7 month old does this too, breath holding episodes are pretty common, and very harmless. Google them online and you will find a lot of information. They definitely are scary when you don't realize what is happening; but once you know they're coming, they are a little easier to deal with.
Not to frighten you anymore. Passing out is also tied to blood pressure. My daughter is being evaluated for orthostatic intolerance where her blood pressure just drops. SHe has never passed out but others with this diagnosis have. It is a condition that is treatable. It is hard to diagnose and is sometimes diagnosed as anxiety. I would be like you not stopping until I get to the bottom of this. My daughter has had this condition for a while and I have been questioning the dr's for years. They thought I was an overprotective mom but mom's instinctively know when there is something wrong with their kids. The dr's listen to me now.
If you want to take a CPR class you can call Nationwide Childrens Hospital Education Department and they will be glad to fit you into a class. I am an instructor with them and love to teach CPR. Call ###-###-####. Classes are held at the hospital or if you want to get a group together (6) we can come to your home or church. Also have you tried to have your child checked out at Childrens? They are the best. Rated in the top of Hospitals. Linnea ###-###-####)
My oldest daughter used to do that. Whenever she would cry hard, she would take a deep breath, open her mouth to scream, no sound would come out and her eyes would roll back in her head, she'd go limp and fall down. After a few seconds, she'd be fine. I had never seen a child do this before she did and it was scary the first time. My MIL says that my hubby did this as a child. I knew what was happening at the time becuase there was couple down the road with a child who did this. My husband is and EMT on the fire dept. and they would always call the squad. By the time they got to the house the kid was fine of course. It happened so many times that I knew the address just from hearing it on the scanner. So when it happened to us, I didn't freak too much. I talked to her dr. about it and he told me to just ignore it and she would grow out of it. They don't do it on purpose, it is a tightening of muscles that doesn't allow them to breathe, when they pass out they relax and they are able to breathe again. As she got older, I was able to sometimes snap her out of it by yelling her name in her face. She would look at me and the focus would change. She finally out grew it when she was about 3. My second daughter did this once or twice, but that was it. #3 daughter has only done it once so far. Hubby was there with me and when I saw it coming, I said to her "oh no you don't, don't you do that to me also." I yelled her name really loud and she snapped right out of it. We laughed about it! We have a really funny story about one of the last times that Alex did this, she was older and she was having a temper tantrum. She started to scream and passed out. We were getting out of the car at the time, I saw it coming and put her on the ground to walk away. She passed out and rolled right under the car! I did what the dr. told me and ignored it, because it was a temper tantrum. When she finally got up, I helped her from under the car. I looked up and all the neighbors were standing there watching. She did it once in a restaurant and collapsed face first into a plate of food. The server happened to see it and was horrified that we just moved her face so she could breathe and let her come to normally. If your son continues to do this, you will get used to it and be able to see it coming. He will grow out of it.
L., hang in there! My little brother used to hold his breath for a long time when he was young. It was very scary. We found that blowing air straight up his nose made him "catch" his breath and start breathing again. It might be worth a try...it won't hurt anything and might work. You have to blow fairly hard, a quick puff, straight up the nose. Sometimes it would take a couple puffs.
My boss has a son that does this all the time. At first they thought he was choking but he was really holding his breath. He started doing it at about 18 months old and he is 3 1/2 and is still doing it. Whenever he gets upset or hurt then he passes out and turns blue. The doctors did a number of tests on him and said that he was fine. They told her that he should out grow it by about age 5. He is a normal child and these episodes don't seem to affect him. He has had as many as 3 a day sometimes with no negative effect.
My younger brother was a breath holder. My mom knew this and was able to be with him almost 100% of the time. So if he did fall and get hurt, she could be there. She would put him on her lap so he was safe. As soon as he passed out he would immediately recover and finish crying. This continued until he was about 8 years old. It got better as the years went on. Then he grew out of it. I have only been through it as a sibling, and only being 8 years old than him don't remember it enough to be helpful other than they do recover and no long term effects.
what did you do the 2nd time around when he turned blue? did you have to give him hiemlich hugs to get hime to breath? just because nothing came out when he ate the sandwhich doens't mean he wasn't choking. when you do the hiemlich, 2 things can happen, they will spit it our or it was lodgged far enough that it goes down.....if you had to do it again the 2nd time he might of been choking on something other than food that he found...not sure but i defintely recommed ALL parents to be certified in CPR and choking rescue. call your local hospital and they usually offer classes.
