My Baby Hold Breath. Is It Dangerous and What Should I do?

Baby holds their breath when crying, or breath holding spells, are found in young children from the age of 6 months to 5 years old. It’s even more common in children from 1 to 3 years old because they usually have a rapid change of respiratory rate, caused by a reaction of the body responding to anger or pain. A child can hold his or her breath up to 1 minute, but mostly less than 10-20 seconds.

The causes of breath holding spells are:

• Dissatisfaction
• Anger
• Extreme Anger
• Pain
• Stress
• When very fearful of something

Sometimes, children might hold their breath until their mouth turns green, becomes still, then wake up and continue crying. This condition can happen several times a day or once in a while. They are two types of breath holding spells: green and pale. Sometimes, the symptoms may be hard to distinguish from epilepsy or pale from iron deficiency. If the condition persists, you should go to consult with the doctor and keep the baby in the safe place to prevent an accident.

How to deal with breath holding spells

1. When the symptom occurs, parents should not be panic.
2. Try to divert your baby’s attention
3. Don’t shake or hit the baby. This won’t make your baby stop crying and can cause harm, too.
4. Check if there’s something in your baby’s mouth when he or she has breath holding spell. It may cause choking.
5. Everyone in the house should deal with the condition in the same manners.

This condition is most commonly found in families that spoil their children. Partly, when the parents are shocked by the symptoms, they will pamper their children. When the children get what they need, they will learn and keep repeating breath holding spells to gain attention.