How to Deal With a Baby Who Holds His Breath

Watching your baby hold her breath can be a terrifying sight. However, breath holding is rarely harmful. Even when a baby holds her breath to the point of passing out, automatic respiratory mechanisms will kick on, making her breathe again. Breath holding is usually caused by anger, pain or frustration. When an upsetting situation occurs, the baby begins crying. Instead of calming down, she continues to cry until she begins to hyperventilate and stops breathing. Approximately 1 in every 5 babies will hold her breath at some point. It has a tendency to run in families and occurs most often when a child is between 6 months and 4 years. Treating breath holding involves minimizing the conditions which cause the tantrums that lead to the breath holding.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Make sure that your baby is sleeping enough. If your baby is tired, he may become overstimulated and will be more prone to becoming frustrated.

2. Pick your battles. Decide which behaviors you will discipline and which you will let go. If a baby constantly is told "no" and is being punished, she will be more likely to become frustrated.

3. Try to calm baby early. Use toys, singing, music or other distractions to calm your baby down before he becomes hysterical.

4. Keep your baby's environment calm. Keep her and the people around her relaxed. Make sure that things are not too chaotic or loud, which may cause her to become over stimulated.

5. Be calm when your baby holds his breath. If you panic and begin yelling or running around, your baby will become even more upset and it will make the problem even worse.

6. Do not give in. After a breath holding episode, you may feel so relieved that you will be tempted to give in to your baby to make sure that she does not become upset again. However, this will actually lead to more episodes. If your baby learns that she can get what she wants by holding her breath, she will do so every time that you tell her "no."

Tips & Warnings

• There has been some research that has shown that breath holding episodes may decrease when a baby is given an iron supplement. Talk with your baby's doctor. Your baby is not holding his breath on purpose. The episodes are involuntary.
• Do not use food to calm or distract your baby. This will cause another bad habit in your baby. If your baby's breath holding episodes are very severe and last more than 1 minute, talk with her doctor as soon as possible. In severe cases, a baby's entire body will turn blue and she will lose consciousness. Her body may stiffen or even twitch.