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General health

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Original poster

Ddd 2 has passed out twice through breath holding whilst having a tantrum

21 replies

galaxy · 04/09/2005 21:34

When she was a baby and got herself into a screaming fit, dd would hold her breath until her lips went blue. She hasn't donethis for ages and is going to be 3 in November.

Whilst on holiday last week, she was extremely exhausted but fighting sleep and threw herself into a paddy when told she had to go to bed. She got hysterical and I picked her up to calm her down and she went limp in my arms and started to go blue. I slapped her cheeks,and after a few seconds she came round, looked at me and said she'd "peeed in her nappy" and needed a clean one.

Read my Toddler Years book and it says this is quite common so decided not to go to the docs.

Anyway today, she and I had a lovely mummy and dd day and she was as good as gold all day. She started getting tetchy at about 7 so I told her it was time for bed and picked her up to go clean her teeth. She screamed and kicked me then went limp again and was completely blue. Unfortunately she didn't have her bed-time nappy on so I got peeed all over but when she came round, she had no idea what happened.

This has come in the wake of her turning from being the most passive child I know to a complete nightmare wth slapping and kicking us all over the past couple of weeks and also suddenly being afraid of the dark and even the car wash!

What's going on?

OP posts:

Original poster

galaxy · 04/09/2005 21:41

Anyone any advice please??

OP posts:

starlover · 04/09/2005 21:42

i have no experience but would definitely ask your Gp

soapbox · 04/09/2005 21:44

Galaxy - no advice really, just wanted you to know you are not talking into the ether - hopefully someone with some advice will come along soon

crumpet · 04/09/2005 21:47

No advice, but dd (2.7) did something similar last week - didn't pass out, but held her breath and then threw up. She is upping the tantrum quotient as well from having been really easy going. She's still not very good at tantruming yet, but getting better...

The passing out must be really worrying, but I have heard of it before.

Original poster

galaxy · 04/09/2005 21:49

Thanks - think I'll give the docs a call just to be on the safe side

OP posts:

edam · 04/09/2005 21:50

That must be really scary. No useful advice - I've vaguely heard about breath-holding but no direct experience. Just couldn't read the thread without saying blimey, poor you.

swedishmum · 04/09/2005 22:04

When she was little dd passed out a couple of times screaming after accidents. We were advised to blow in her face. Don't know why but it seemed to stop her when she was at that screaming and not really breathing phase.
The good thing is they do grow out of it.

Rafaella · 04/09/2005 22:22

My dd used to do this. The first time she was about 6 months and she continued to do it occasionally until about 6 years. It would happen when she started crying - even if she just fell over and hurt herself. She never did it deliberately or knew what had happened when she came round. We did see a specialist who reassured us - as soon as the child passes out they automatically start to breathe again. For your own peace of mind it's worth seeing the doctor but your dd will hopefully grow out of it.

Aimsmum · 04/09/2005 22:27

Message withdrawn

Twiglett · 05/09/2005 11:14

my sister used to do this .. hold her breath till she fainted .. my mother used to slap her face .. I am not advocating slapping your DD btw

I think if she's holding her breath till she faints then ignoring is the best tactic

But if she's whinging and moaning and just goes faints and goes blue I'd get her checked out

it just sounds like she is crying at the time rather than purposefully holding her breath IYSWIM

sorry if I've got wrong end of stick

ninah · 05/09/2005 11:18

Blow in her face when she holds her breath. It works.

staceym11 · 05/09/2005 11:22

I spoke to a health visitor recently about a friends child and they said that they can not harm themselves by breath holding thats why they pass out, so they will start breathing again, if you leave her to it and dont reward the behavior with any attention (i know easier said than done!!!) then it should stop quickly, my friends little one only did it twice more and hasn't done it since!

Lucycat · 05/09/2005 14:40

I actually posted about this last year as my dd who was about 18 months at thetime would pass out when she fell over and hurt herself - exactly the same as yours Rafaella. It always seemed to be when she had a cold and 'couldn't breathe' through her nose. She oly did it a few times but it scared the life out of me, I found that by lying her on the floor (the supermarket car park was one time!!) she quickly came round and although she was very teary at first she was running around in a couple of minutes. She's not done it for about 5 months, so I'm hoping she's grown out of it!

Not sure whether that helps - but you aren't alone!

Kittypickle · 05/09/2005 14:42

Apparently I did this when I was little. Mum ignored it and I grew out of it very quickly.

fuzzywuzzy · 05/09/2005 14:49

I heard about someone who did this. His doctor told his parents to..... errr.... fill the bath tub with cold water and put him in it, apparnatly it stopped the behaviour pdq! This 'treatment' was advocated many moons ago and I wouldn't personally reccommend it.

sarahsausage · 05/09/2005 15:12

My dd (22 months) has done this since she was around 14 months old. I have told the health visitor and she just said its a voluntary thing, that she does it because she doesn't get her own way. I completely disagree. Its not as if she does it randomly, its when shes crying and genuinely cant breathe.

We had a scary episode in July, i put dd to bed as she was tired, walked out of the room and shut the door, at first she screamed then all went quiet, i opened the door and she was laid behind it, blue and limp, it scared the life out of me as she has never passed out while doing this before. I picked her up and "dropped" her on the bed, she still didnt breathe. She went all stiff and dp said he thought she'd had a fit.

We ended up staying in hospital overnight with her but they said it was just a "breathholding episode" and probable she didnt actually fit.

I really dont see how dd can be doing this on purpose, which is what i was told by both doctors and health visitor. She just gets herself so wound up she cant breathe.

Its hella scary but theres nothing really you can do about it, its so hard to ignore your child, which is what i was told to do, while they are turning blue in front of you. It just seems like its one of those things you've just got to wait for them to grow out of.

Health visitor also reassured me that while dd isnt breathing, theres no danger of brain damage due to lack of oxygen which was a relief to say the least.

ThePrisoner · 05/09/2005 17:51

I used to hold my breath and pass out - I got a cup of cold water on my face/head and a (gentle) smack! My mum said I was 9 when I grew out of it. I can still vividly remember passing out in school dinner queue coz I wasn't getting my own way.

If your GP and HV both say it's "normal", then I don'y think you need to worry (but I know my mum still did). I guess I would say to take whatever advice they give.

Original poster

galaxy · 05/09/2005 19:51

Thanks for all your messages. I'm of the opinion that some of you have that she isn't doing this deliberately. She gets herself so worked up and starts gasping to breathe and then just blacks out. She had a major tantrum tonight when we were due to leave Pizza Express and dh took her off to the car where she screamed her head off and by the time I got there, she looked like she was about to pass out but then stopped crying long enough to shout mummy and that seemed to stop her.

I'm really struggling as to why she has turned from being a passive, lovely little girl into this pent up bundle of aggression.

I want my little angel back!

OP posts:

sarahsausage · 05/09/2005 23:23

I feel exactly the same, hang in there i'm sure (well hope) they grow out of it soon.

peepee · 06/09/2005 15:47

I used to do it when I was little. My mum used methods of distraction. A loud doorbell usually did the trick.

GOOD LUCK........

Donk · 07/09/2005 14:36

I've been thinking about the idea of blowing in their face when they start to wind up to holding their breath (voluntarily or not) as my friend was advised to do with her ds who hs done this from about 6 months. It worked with him. I suppose that providing the child is still breathing some air in, it will increase CO2 levels, triggering the breathing reflex more strongly......

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