Baby Continues to Cry for a Second and Then Fall Asleep
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A baby passing out while crying, can this really be normal..?
Read a mom's question here, what's going on, and how to address the situation.
Mom's Question:
My son is 13 months old, and since he started walking 3 months ago, he, of course, has been clumsy and tripping and falling. But when he hits his head he cries, I run to pick him up and he stops crying and breathing for a few seconds, before you know it he gets all stiff and blacks out for a few seconds. The whole time, I'm blowing air in his face (hard), and kinda patting his back, and telling him he's okay. When he finally opens his little eyes, he takes a deep breath, cries for a few seconds, then he looks really tired and acts really melo.
I've asked his pediatrician about it the last 3 times I've taken him in for check-ups. He says it's just him freaking out from the fall, and he passes out because of a lack of oxygen to the brain, not from the hit itself. I have 3 kids, this only happened to my 4-year-old once. I took him to the ER and they told me the exact same thing. But my baby does this I'd say about once every couple weeks.
I just want to know if anyone's going through this…I try to be around him all the time to avoid accidents, but it's hard to keep up…
Yessenia
Baby Passes Out When Crying – Normal or not?
This is actually not uncommon and I think the advice from your pediatrician is correct. What your son may have is something called breath-holding spells. Many young children do experience them, they are not dangerous and children grow out of them at around 5 years of age. You can read more about breath-holding spells, how to identify and treat them here.
As parents we want to protect our children and stop them from getting hurt. When something does happen like a fall, we tend to rush over in a panic, fearful that our child is badly hurt. We make a big fuss and unfortunately our anxiety and fear is transmitted to our babies and it increases their fear and shock.
Falling over and bumping heads is part of growing up and learning to take risks. Babies need to be able to explore and challenge their bodies to learn new skills. They do get a fright sometimes when they lose control and fall, but we make it worse by our reaction. By making a big event out of it we increase the child's shock and through this we can actually reinforce whatever strong reaction they have.
Sure you need to make sure that they haven't really done any damage, but mostly little children are so relaxed when they fall, there is seldom anything other than a little bruised.
Yessenia, you are obviously a very caring and loving Mom, but just see if you can back off a bit and make it more light hearted. "Woopsie" or "up you hop" – or wait a few seconds and check first, do you need a cuddle? Running in panic to him is not helping! Just try to trust that he is learning to control his world and yes the will be a few bumps and bruises on the way, but you offer him so much more when you keep control of your panic reaction and empower him to keep trying.
Some kids left to their own devices would have a tumble, a bit of a surprised cry then go and do exactly the thing they were attempting before the fall. How's that for a lesson in perseverance! Our kids can teach us a lot about learning and trying and taking risks!
Your little boy is clearly very tuned in and sensitive to your emotions, so focus on having fun and enjoying him, rather than worry or anxiety. If you try to stay calm then maybe you can help preventing these episodes to occur quite as often. When they do occur, just stay calm. Read more among the links below about parents who have experienced similar situations.
I hope this helps,
Paula
Read Next: Babies That Pass Out
- What Could Cause A Child To Pass Out?
- Toddler Passing Out – Mom's Fault?
- 4-Year-Old Passes Out When Upset
Research references
Breath-holding spells in infants
Find comments below.
Source: https://www.easybabylife.com/baby-passing-out.html