DD2 stops breathing if hurt / in temper -is this normal?

[Lucycat]

Our DD2 aged 18 months has,over the last few months decided that if she falls over and for instance bumps her head, then she takes a deep breath as if to scream then 'forgets' to breathe until she goes all floppy. I have to lie her on the floor in the recovery position and she comes round in about 10 secs (seems like a life time!!) She is worse if she is ill or tired and she has done it about 5 times now. Is this a normal stage in development - somebody please tell me that she'll grow out of it -soon

Hi Lucy cat

my dd2 does this as welll she is 2 yrs and 3 mths and has been doing it for over a year - she stops breathing and goes blue in the face - this is really scary and i thought it was only me - been to the gp but all i got was "she will grow out of it" - still waiting for her to - i didn't know about putting her in the recovery position - is this when you lie her on the floor on her front and put he face to one side with her knee raised on one side??? (sorry for the ignorance but remember doing this vaguely at school) sorry to not be of any help but would like to know of anyone who may have gone through this!!!

My sister's son did this, and the more she fussed about it, the worse he got. In the end she just let him get on with it and walked away, and he eventually got the message that it wasn't worth doing because he didn't get any attention for doing it.

The advice my sister's GP gave her was that when a child does this and loses consciousness, they won't be able to control their breathing anymore, and will automatically start breathing again, so your dd won't come to any harm. Don't bother putting her into the recovery position - make sure she's safe then walk away, so when she comes round she has no audience. It is a phase, and it will pass, but the less fuss you make of it, the quicker it will pass.

Forgot to add, don't make a fuss about it afterwards, either. When the child comes round, give them a brief hug to reassure them, then get on with what you're doing.

My friend used to do this as a little girl and she used to hold it until she passed out. Her mum did what WWB recommends and she eventually grew out of it.

My ds used to do that. He grew out of it. To make him breathe we used to blow gently onto his face.

my friends dd used to scream and scream and... and forget to breath and then faint. The blowing in the face worked for her too :) Oh and her dd did grow out of it. Probably got fed up with mummy blowing in her face

My sister used to do this used to scare mum silly so she'd actually slap her around the face to make her breathe .. after all when you cry you have to breathe

You are doing the right thing ignoring it, the more of a fuss you make the more chance she'll think oo if I do this I'll get that / that kind of reaction ... and if she blacks out she'll automatically start breathing .. not sure I'd worry too much about the recovery position though just make sure you don't pay her any special attention because she's done it

I believe it is quite common, but it must be very scary to watch your own child do though

Believe me it is very scary but thanks so much for all your advice everybody it has eased my worry considerably - i will try not to panick next time - thanks again

Many thanks to everyone that has replied. I sort of knew that it was probably best to ignore it, but when she does it in the middle of Tesco's carpark it's not easy!! She's really shaky and pale for a good 5 minutes after and a bit weepy! Nevertheless I will follow the advice and let you know what happens next time ( I just hope their isn't one!!)

yes a very normal thing to happen and i stress dont make to much of a fuss about it, had a friend whos daughter soon cottened on to the fact that mum panicked and spoilt her after one of these happenings she soon taught her self to do it when she was told no to something or anyother time she wanted