Breath Holding
I’m just gonna put it out there: breath-holding events that some kiddos are able to do are crazy looking. After working in the emergency room and in clinic over the years, I have seen kids with breath-holding spells that turn blue and faint or that will turn blue and faint and then look like they are having a seizure. It is quite distressing to watch as a pediatrician and even more so as the parent of the kiddo not wanting to take a breath. Now I am not talking about a kiddo who just holds their breath to get their way. Breath-holding spells are usually due to the child’s crying patterns. Some kiddos’ brains are wired to cry longer and louder without a breath than other kiddos. So much so, that breath-holding spells often run in families, pointing to a genetic component to this crying reflex.
When a kiddo is crying so hard that they turn blue or pass out, try to have them lie down comfortably on their backs on the floor to help with blood circulation to the body and brain and wait for them to come to, as they will usually start breathing again as soon as a break in crying occurs. Other than watching and waiting, the other thing we check on these kids is that their iron and red blood cell levels are in good ranges to account for the fact that every now and then, they will not breathe for a bit and the more oxygen-carrying red blood cells around, the faster they come to.
Another thing your pediatrician will recommend (though very difficult to do) is to try and ignore the episodes as much as possible. Because, I don’t know about you, but if I was a parent watching my kid pass out from crying, I would try to stop them from crying any way I can and give in to whatever demand they are making. Unfortunately, the more we give in to what they want during these crying episodes, they learn that if they want something, this is a technique that will work on their parents. So I know it is crazy, but rather trying to ward off the episodes, just be there to make sure that if they do pass out they are not going to hit their head on anything.