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Dr. Andrew Rynne
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Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Breath Holding Spells In A Child?

Yesterday my son stopped breathing for a few times and when I flipped him over and tapped on his back he finally spit up the entire bottle. Forcefully. These episodes occured 4-6 times last night, and each time he stopped breathing and started to turn pale and blueish. This was almost a half hour after feeding. He had no gas bubble, he simply stoppped breathing. I took him to my pediatrician today and the doctor did absolutely NO tests. he diagnosed him as having reflux. I am wondering what you think of this, and also should I go get a second opinion. For some background information: I, his mother, had pyloric stenosis as an infant and required surgery. Not sure if that is important.
posted on Thu, 13 Mar 2014
Twitter Thu, 20 Feb 2020 Answered on
Twitter Thu, 27 Feb 2020 Last reviewed on
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Pediatrician, Pulmonology ,  's  Response
Hi,

By what you quote I feel that your kid is having a breath holding spell. The best way is to break the spell. You can achieve this by pinching the kid so that it, the pinching will cause the baby to cry and to cry the baby has to take a breath first and so the breath holding spell will be broken. But to prevent the spell, you need to be clear in not bending to all the whims and fancies of the kid because, kids usually develop this sort of tendency when they are adamant and the adults start accepting their requests when they cry inconsolably. This sort of behavior might in future lead on to adamant behavior. So please curtail it now itself.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Sumanth Amperayani, Pediatrician, Pulmonology
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What Causes Breath Holding Spells In A Child?

Hi, By what you quote I feel that your kid is having a breath holding spell. The best way is to break the spell. You can achieve this by pinching the kid so that it, the pinching will cause the baby to cry and to cry the baby has to take a breath first and so the breath holding spell will be broken. But to prevent the spell, you need to be clear in not bending to all the whims and fancies of the kid because, kids usually develop this sort of tendency when they are adamant and the adults start accepting their requests when they cry inconsolably. This sort of behavior might in future lead on to adamant behavior. So please curtail it now itself. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Sumanth Amperayani, Pediatrician, Pulmonology