When a child has a breath holding
attack, your child can go blue, listless and may appear to faint. This as you
can imagine can be very frightening indeed for parents.
Breath holding attacks can occur
when your child is having a temper tantrum or after a minor bump, fall or accident.
It is thought to occur when the child gets themselves so worked up that they
subsequently hold their breath. The lack of oxygen then means that they can
pass out and lose consciousness for a moment or two.
According to Great Ormond Street
Hospital (Children’s Hospital) breath holding attacks are in fact:
“Quite common in young children, most of whom are perfectly healthy. It
is thought that around one in 20 children aged between one and five may experience
at least one at some point. Many do grow out of them before starting school”
If you child has had a breath holding
attack, no medical treatment is usually necessary. However if the attack happened
as the result of a temper tantrum, do take steps to stop the temper tantrums
happening in the first place (please see the additional questions under this
section for advice).
You should also take your child to
see your GP just to confirm everything is ok and to rule out any other medical
conditions such as epilepsy, or following a fall.
A
When a child has a breath holding
attack, your child can go blue, listless and may appear to faint. This as you
can imagine can be very frightening indeed for parents.
