Breath Holding Spells and Baby Girls

First: A BIG BIG CONGRATS to Marshall and Miranda on their 3rd baby girl! We already know they make beautiful girls so there is no doubt that this little lady will be just as sweet and special.

So...Breath Holding Spells. I am gonna try and keep this brief.

Jack is holding his breath-but not on purpose. When he gets hurt (he's 15 months-he is always falling) he "over exhales" and stops breathing. He did this in Brenda and Howard's front yard last week for the first time and he did it again tonight. I took him to see his pediatrician about it and he called it Breath Holding Spells. It occurs in 0.1 - 5% of children and peaks at age 2. Here is a bit more detail as to what it is:

Dr. Greene "This is a typical scene: A little child is playing happily, something upsets her, she exhales forcefully with a brief, shrill cry -- but she doesn't take another breath. You wait, but she still doesn't breathe. She looks as if she's crying, but no sound emerges. She begins to turn blue, her face strained, and still she is not breathing. Now she is unconscious, unresponsive, limp; the sight of her lifeless body is terrifying. Now her back arches, and her blue arms and legs begin to jerk uncontrollably. Your heart is pounding, frantic..."

We have been lucky thus far as Jack only turned bluish the first time.

Dr. Greene "Desperate parents often want to splash cold water on the child's face, start mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, or even begin CPR. Thankfully, breath-holding spells resolve spontaneously soon after the child passes out, and unless the fall hurts the child, she will be fine afterwards. The spell usually resolves within 30 to 60 seconds, with the child catching her breath and starting to cry or scream. Sometimes children will have real seizures as part of breath-holding spells, but these brief seizures are not harmful, and there is no increased risk of the child's developing a seizure disorder. Breath-holding spells occur in about 0.1 to 5% of children, usually between ages 6 months to 6 years old.

These spells are provoked by the child's not getting her own way. While they are triggered by a child being angry or surprised, they are thought to be reflexive, not intentional behaviors. Breath-holding is quite rare before 6 months of age. It peaks as children enter the twos, and disappears finally by about age five. The spells occur sporadically, but when they do occur, it is not uncommon for there to be several spells within a single day. Once parents have witnessed one breath-holding spell, they can often predict when another one is about to happen."

So tonight wasn't quite the surprise last week was--and people telling you to blow in their face is a JOKE. JP and I both blew in his face 3 or 4 times and he still couldn't breathe. You can shake the kid--it makes no difference. He is really TRYING to take a breath and his lungs just won't let him. It sucks for us, it must suck for him.

Dang! SO much from keeping it brief, huh?