Any Advice - 1yr old holding his breath when upset

Girly, thanks for the reply!

I honestly believe it is a major tantrum/attention seeking habit and not a case of epilepsy or a nervous system problem but I will definitely keep a watchful eye on him!
As you say breathing is not a voluntary action and as soon as he passed out he started breathing again! It is just so damn scary!
The whole cause for the 2nd episode was because he had climbed onto the dinning room table and I had taken him off and then it started!! He just lost it!
Just wanted to know how any other mom's that experience this react to the fits! DH says we should just sit next to him (watching him, making sure he is safe, well as safe as can be without breathing) and he will realise his behaviour is not acceptable... very hard to do when your child goes blue in the mouth!
My goodness Girly, you were a stubborn little one LOL!
Thanks again, appreciate the feedback and advice!

I know I'm not a mom yet, 3 weeks to go, but I have given riding lessons to a lot of small toddlers. Usually around 2 - 3. Quite a few of them do this, as well as my previous employers son.

In general it is a shock tactic to try and get attention. I know splashing them in water or just letting them be sounds horrible, but breathing is actually not a voluntary action. Yes, they can hold our till they turn blue and sometimes pass out, but once they pass out the body's natural defense systems kick in and they will start breathing on their own again.

With my boss's son I just usually left him. She had the habit of leaving him in our care while we are cleaning wounds, etc on the horses, and he would do this while we get busy and can't give him the attention he wants. As you can imagine, I can not splash his face in water when I am in the middle of a field trying to keep a toddler from being trampled by a high strung horse in pain, so I just did what I could, I ignored the whole tantrum, no matter how scary it got. Yes, it scared the living daylights out of me, especially the first time he did it, but when I realized what it was all about, I just let him be. Luckily I was one stubborn little monster as a child and I can fully remember the extent of my own tantrums, which involved screaming till the veins in my eyes popped, so I know how stubborn kids can get when they want something their way. ( I threw a horrible tantrum one day when I was around 3, because I wanted to fly from Walvis Bay in Namibia to Pretoria in S.A with the granparents on their return flight. Despite the largest hiding of my life my poor parents had no choice but to give in in the end, as I just kept screaming blue murder for almost 6 hours straight. And scarily enough I can remember the determination of it all till this day, as well as the thrill when I got my way in the end. Yikes!)

When you should get intervention though, is if he goes into spasms, or if he does this frequently. It might indicate epilepsy or a nervous system problem which is a serious issue if left untreated.

Hi Shakira
Thanks for the reply!
I will look into it and let you know if I find anything that will help us!
Not easy is it and you can't exactly let them get away with anything and everything just incase they decide to stop breathing!!!

I know exactly how you feel. I went through the same with Yaqeen. Did the whole blow in his face, sprayed his face with water and nothing would work. I ended up actually not doing anything that could upset him. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. It just stopped, after a year of total hell, it just stopped but let me tell you the stubborness gets worse. The bad thing now is Muneeb might start the same thing. Although he hasn't gone blue, he has held his breath a few times but I blew in his face and that helped. If you find out any info, please let me know. It is so scary and I would love to learn more about it. Good luck

Thanks for the replies ladies!
My LB is very head strong (stubbon as a mule) so he gets extemely frustrated when he does not get his own way!
Juno, my mom also suggested spraying him with cold water! Yes the experts of today would probably be shocked at that method but hey! We turned out ok didn't we?
I have spoken to the teachers at his creche and they were shocked, he NEVER has any kind of a tantrum at school, guess he just likes to see the look of panic on his mom's face!

Thanks again ladies!

My sister used to do this when she was young. I remember my poor mom always telling us about this and how scared she got.

I would also suggest speaking to your pead or a child psychologist.

Actually saw it for the first time ever over the holidays when my cousin's LG did it. They very nonchalantly sprinkled water in her face and it worked! Then I started thinking what happens if they do this when they are on their own??