Breath holding. Is there anything I can do about it?

[pinkspottywellies]

DD is nearly 18 months and occasionally holds her breath until she passes out. Usually when she's very tired and getting cross about something. The first time she did it was about 4 months ago.

When she's done it before either DH or I have been holding her but tonight she was standing up, so obviously hit the floor when she passed out

I sometimes stop her by blowing in her face, but is there anything else we can do to stop it? Is it really unusual? I don't know of anyone else who does it except me as a child (I started at 6 months). I'm sort of inclined to let her do it - it's a sort of coping mechanism, no? Self time out! But DH thinks it's a bit mad and wants to do something about it.

So, any thoughts oh wise mumsnetters?

[poodlepusher]

what did your parents do when you did this and did it help?

[neolara]

I used to hold my breath till I fainted when I was a toddler. The doctor told my parents to ignore it, which they did. I then upped the ante by doing it at the top of the stairs! Neither of my two have done it but if they did, I'm sure I would have a pretty emotional reaction. Knowing my DD, this would almost certainly mean she would do it again. Toddlers know which buttons to press. If you are sure that there is no medical reason for her fainting, I think I would be tempted to ignore it as much as possible (while obviously trying to keep her safe).

[WigWamBam]

My nephew used to do this for attention, and when he was throwing paddies.

The GP's advice was to do nothing - completely ignore it. When the child passes out, breathing starts again and no harm is done.

It's frightening, but it won't hurt her. And eventually she will grow out of it.

[Mummy2TandF]

Hi, no real advice but my dd is 17 months and she does this as well ... un nerving isn't it and scary, I posted on here a couple of weeks ago about it because blowing in her face had no effect at all and her eyes rolled and gave the appearence of a "fit" in her latest episode ... had lots of replies all saying that this was normal and she can't do herself any harm by doing it ... It's horrible but I have decided to leave dd for now and hope that she grows out of it

[sophiewd]

My DD now seems to have grown out of it (she is 2), did it when she got very upset about something, only thing you can do is blow, and lots of cuddles afterwards, Doc did say that if she is dioing thios when crying she is fine, if doing when not crying then need to go and see someone.

[pinkspottywellies]

Thanks everyone. My mum used to just ignore me - don't suppose it helped in that I didn't stop doing it! I think I just grew out of it. Like I said I don't think it's a huge problem. We don't make a big deal of it and when she comes round she's usually a bit calmer (maybe a bit zonked!) so it works for her I guess.