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Old 09-26-2010, 10:37 PM
 
4 posts, read 6,913 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phonelady61 View Post
He will stop it when he sees it no longer gets a reaction from you . dont pay any attention to him and he will stop doing this .It is an attention getting issue and they do learn how to manipulate you very young . so just ignore it somewhat and he will stop .
Breath Holding Spell - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Breath Holding Spell - NY Times Health Information

It has nothing to do with behavior. My daughter has this and she is a twin. She is good as gold, not a tantrum thrower and it only happens when she gets hurt or scared. It's terrifying to watch your child pass out....
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Old 09-26-2010, 10:43 PM
 
4 posts, read 6,913 times
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Breath Holding Spell - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Breath Holding Spell - NY Times Health Information

It has nothing to do with behavior. My daughter has this and she is a twin. She is good as gold, not a tantrum thrower and it only happens when she gets hurt or scared. It's terrifying to watch your child pass out....
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Old 09-26-2010, 11:37 PM
 
Location: playing in the colorful Colorado dirt
4,486 posts, read 5,203,766 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Liza54 View Post
no, no, no...clearly you don't understand what I"m speaking of. This is an INVOLUNTARY spell...a seizure of sorts where the child is just as frantic as the parent, not able to inhale. There's an intense rise in adrenalin, so when he awakes from going unconscious he is sweaty, disoriented, very docile. It is provoked by getting scared or falling ( getting hurt ) or yes, sometimes just getting upset. This is not a tantrum, and it is not the funny little puffing up the cheeks kids might do. this is eyes rolling back, body stiff and contorting, turning pale, then blue and literally going unconscious. He takes a few seconds ( seems forever ) to start breathing again and it's like gasps.
Neurology, cardiology say, however, it is this syndrome and is not going to cause serious, long term harm.
I wish it was a matter of ignoring it...
My younger sister did this as a toddler. Back then it wasn't considered a syndrome.

Anyway,our family doctor had an approach that worked rather well. Whenever she would hold her breath for an extended time,my mother was to get her hands wet with cold water and then lightly flick it into my sisters face. The cold of the water made her gasp and normal breathing would return.

It sounds strange but it worked. No permanent damage to my sister's emotional health either.
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Old 04-23-2011, 08:38 PM
 
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Today, my daughter had this happen. This was the 2nd time, but the first time seemed much shorter and she didn't turn blue. She's 14 months old and learning to walk. She was already on edge because she missed her nap, which never happens. I should've known better. She was walking down the hallway and went "boom" on her bum. Usually this doesn't bother her, but she was already tired and on edge. I picked her up and she was wailing. She proceded to hold her breath, stiffen, turn blue, pass out, go limp, start breathing again and was very docile and sweaty. I had already called 911. They came, looked her over to make sure she didn't bump her head or anything. Said she seemed fine, didn't think she needed to be transported to hospital and told me the same thing I've seen on the internet. "This happens to alot of children". One of the EMT's even had a son who did this when he was young. Doc said that it will indeed probably get worse before it gets better as she moves into the toddler tantrums. Nothing much I can do about it because it's behavioral. I'm not sure I could ignore this type of thing no matter what and until you're the mommy holding your precious baby in your arms as she turns blue, I don't think you should be giving advice. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy and my heart goes out to you and other mommies like us. Take care.
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Old 04-25-2011, 04:57 PM
 
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Some people dont quite understand how panic stricken the child can be by these episodes. My little boy is only 14 months and has has 2 of these episodes where he has passed out. If any child thought they would pass out as a result of crying fit then i really dont think they would cry at all! Especially when the crying is from shock after a fall or loss of balance.. Please i ask of anyone else reading these messages from other destraught mums / parents / carers that unless you are willing to read and understand what they are saying or asking dont briskly comment that it is all just attention seeking on the child behalf. My poor little boy has no idea what happens but clearly frightens him (and us!!!) It is very scary and i sympathise with anyone who has to witness... deal and comfort a child during or after these episodes. I hope he will grow out of it soon.. but until then i will continue to get his heart rate monitored as this also can be effected.
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Old 04-25-2011, 05:14 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Beth56 View Post
I know a two year old child that did this, as did his father at this age.

It used to scare everyone to death, until they figured out it was indeed a tantrum gone crazy. Once they ignored it, these spells stopped. I think they lasted about a year or two. He still seems to find unusual ways to get attention though. Sometimes through screaming, clutching fists, or acting out anger. But it is becoming less and less as he has more interaction with friends, pre-school, etc. I will say he is the youngest child in the family. Perhaps he felt left out. But I know the parents pretty well and I never felt he was left out by them. Maybe because the older children didn't always include him.

Here is an article on the subject. I am sure there are others on the Internet, but this one describes what the OP said pretty well, including turning blue.

[URL="http://www.drgreene.com/21_557.html"]Breath Holding Spells - DrGreene.com[/URL]
It is not as simple as ignore it. The bodys natural instinct kicks in and although turning blue the child will naturally start breathing. So yes doing nothing might seem like 'ignoring' it works! And as for the child will stop when you ignore them.. they dont as it sometimes completely involentry as the airway spasms after a shock not allowing another breath. Most young babies and small toddlers have not emotionally developed a 'cut of' point where they can just stop crying intentionally. The other attention seeking things he developed are normal with all children of his age and are proper manipulation techniques and is a healthy stage of life - calming down with different environments and influences as he learns how to control them. Why do people always want to find a phsycological default that labels a child as attention seeking??? My little 14 month old passes out after crying (for different reasons.. not neccessarily tantrums) and it really scares him when he comes round. It is scary to watch and and never do i feel manipulated by him when this happens.. just leaves me desperately searching for a distraction so it doesnt reach as far as passing out. I am experienced and trained in child care and recognise very easily when i am being manipulated and different child behaviours. Its just not the same!
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Old 04-27-2011, 12:24 PM
 
2,222 posts, read 10,619,216 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetcorns1 View Post
It is not as simple as ignore it. The bodys natural instinct kicks in and although turning blue the child will naturally start breathing. So yes doing nothing might seem like 'ignoring' it works! And as for the child will stop when you ignore them.. they dont as it sometimes completely involentry as the airway spasms after a shock not allowing another breath. Most young babies and small toddlers have not emotionally developed a 'cut of' point where they can just stop crying intentionally. The other attention seeking things he developed are normal with all children of his age and are proper manipulation techniques and is a healthy stage of life - calming down with different environments and influences as he learns how to control them. Why do people always want to find a phsycological default that labels a child as attention seeking??? My little 14 month old passes out after crying (for different reasons.. not neccessarily tantrums) and it really scares him when he comes round. It is scary to watch and and never do i feel manipulated by him when this happens.. just leaves me desperately searching for a distraction so it doesnt reach as far as passing out. I am experienced and trained in child care and recognise very easily when i am being manipulated and different child behaviours. Its just not the same!
Just to keep things straight, I never said that every child that has a breath holding incident is due to tantrums. I was speaking about one child that I knew personally.

There are a few reasons why this happens to children. A medical reason must first be ruled out. Although they often occur with tantrums, there seems to be a coping mechanism they are lacking which can be triggered by being startled, frustrated, insecure, or other strong emotions. It can also run in families.

It is my understanding that most doctors, having ruled out anything medical, will advise parents to ignore and protect from injury during these episodes. They do eventually stop. Although terrifying for all concerned, they are considered harmless.

Perhaps parents should keep a journal of what was going on prior to these episodes to see if they can uncover a trigger of sorts.

I was not attacking anyone's parenting skills. Even exceptional parenting can can lead to chronic tension in a sensitive child.
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Old 04-28-2011, 07:34 AM
 
Location: Cape Coral, FL
646 posts, read 1,635,915 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Liza54 View Post
Our 18mos old has had this since almost birth. It seems we will never get used to it and seems to be getting worse, although we were told up front it would.
B/c I've never heard or it, nor met any other children w/ this, it is so hard to hear from the doctors ( peds, neurologist, etc) that it isn't terribly uncommon.
My son can go a couple weeks w/out one or will have 2/day some weeks..
very scary.

My daughter, who is now 8, did this from 4mths-4yrs. It is the MOST scariest thing I have ever,ever,ever seen! It would happen out of nowhere, she would cry, then hold her breath..turn blue, eyes would roll in the back of her head and then she would have what looked like a seizure.
Took her to Boston children's hospital to be evaluated for epilepsy. Nope, wasn't that. When she was 1 she was diagnosed with having BHS. I thought to myself-What on earth??????
All the peds told me to carefully watch her when she has an episode, as she could fall over and hit her head if it were done near furniture or tile.
She would do it everywhere. Stores, parks, home, daycare. Nothing triggered it.
This was stressful!! And did I mention scary? Unless you have a child who does this, you have NO idea!!! It looks like they are not breathing anymore and that they will not return to life.
I'm thankful she outgrew it. They never mentioned iron suppliments, as her iron levels were normal. She is a healthy, active, smart little girl.
I know what you all are going through. Hugs!!!
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Old 01-18-2012, 08:52 PM
 
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My daughter to has had these, 4 to be exact. The first right at 6 months of age and Every one since was brought on by her falling or being scared , none have been from a "tantrum". I dont really agree with the Dr Greene article, it is clear to me he hasn't dealt with a lot of breathe holding spells. Unfortunately this syndrome has a very misleading name, it is so much more than a child holding there breathe because of bad behavior, they truly can not catch there breath and are related to panic attacks, turn blue, pass out, go unconscious and in my, daughters case even have seizure like convulsions. They do eventually come to and have the same symptoms as though they suffered a seizure, sweaty, pale, fatigued. This is truly a scary experience!
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