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Friday, September 12, 2008Don't Scare Your Mama Like ThatI was in my office when I heard Molly cry -- one of those loud, long, I'm-hurt-and-upset-and-inconsolable cries. "What happened?" I yelled to Spencer, who was with his baby sister downstairs in the hallway. "She fell, but she's okay," came the sweet reply. But the cry had had the "I need my mommy" tone to it, so I got up and made my way down the steps. Molly was lying on her back in the hallway, right at the bottom of the stairs, where I'd stuck the safety gate two steps up to give her a little "safe practice" with step climbing. As I hurried toward her, something felt dreadfully wrong. And as I approached her, I realized what it was -- she had stopped crying. Not only that. Her face was a strange, purplish color, and her little arms, bent in front of her, were sort of twitching. I sank to my knees and leaned over to assess her. Her little body was limp and her eyes were rolling. My world stopped. "Molly." I leaned close. "Molly." Fearful of a neck injury, I didn't want to touch or move her. The hour-long seconds passed, and there she was, looking up at me with normal eyes, completely awake. She began to cry again, so I gently scooped her up. There was no sign of injury on her head. No goose egg, no redness, no gash. For the rest of the evening, she was completely fine. Playing, crawling, cruising, jiving to Telemann. Molly went on as though nothing had happened. Mommy, on the other hand, was an emotional wreck. I had a theory, deep in my gut, but I had to research to be sure. It seemed to me that she had somehow "asphyxiated" herself with too deep a cry. Because, ya know, the child can really go there. Those deep, will-she-ever-breathe chasms between wails that clutch at a mama's heart. And wonder of wonders -- I was right. You want to know what happened to my baby? It was a Breath Holding Spell. Yep. My tiny drama queen held her breath and caused herself to pass out. To be fair to Molly, babies don't do this on purpose. Only about five percent of children have this kind of physiological response to sudden pain, fear, or frustration. It will often occur after a fall or a sudden injury like a pinched finger. And if you react by giving them the world on a golden spoon every time they go through it, they will learn to do it on purpose. Guess who's going to play it really cool if this ever happens again. Despite my frenetic personality, I'm not a nervous type of mama. I don't run my children to doctors when they have a fever (what can a doctor do, anyway?); I don't wring my hands if they fall and hurt themselves; I've cleaned up fresh blood from the bathroom tile (head gash) without blinking more than twice. But you know what? This. Really. Scared. Me. It just looked so...wrong. And from what I've read, every mama who experiences this for the first time feels that way. Scared. It was downright creepy. I needed extra chocolate after this one. Oh, Sweet Baby. Don't do this to your mama again. She's too...old. Well, old-ish, anyway. |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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8of my readers are feeling chatty:
My daughter does this!! She is 16 months and man it scares me to death. And it is a fall or a pinched finger that has caused it for her. She stops breathing and her lips turn blue. One time I thought something was REALLY wrong (like I would lose her).
Where did you find this information? Is there a name I can google? Wow. I am even more scared now.
All 3 of my dks did this as infants and toddlers. It seems they were missing the reflex to take a breath while in the middle of a long cry. They would completely pass out cold and then the autonomic nervous system takes over the they'd breathe.
Scared the heck out of people. It was always fun to have to warn a new babysitter about the possibility.
I just got good at holding them tight so I wouldn't drop them when they collapsed.
Dd did it the longest until she was about 3 but only when hurt. Ds#1 did it most frequently when hurt AND really mad. Ds#2 only did it a couple times when he was REALLY hurt.
Kids sure can keep us guessing!
i'm a very calm mama too, but this story frightened me
I have never heard of this before.
My heart was racing as I was reading. I was scared, too.
Your baby girl will definitely keep you young, Jilly!
Oh, that really IS scary. :o( I am so glad Molly is all right!!!
Leese, that is exactly how I was feeling too. Thank goodness sweet Molly is okay.
That is so scary. Only 1 of my 4 kiddo's did this. My precious little girl who is 11 years old now use to do this. I hated it! She would cry so deep and hard that she couldn't catch her breath and just pass out. I'm so happy that your little Molly girl is ok!
Gak! I was holding MY breath as I read this (until I scrolled down far enough to see the picture of Molly directly underneath and laughed. :-) ) !!!
I have to say, you had remarkable presence of mind to think of a back or neck injury and not touch her!
I keep having the same thoughts about Caoimhe ... the strain this child puts on this momma's heart! I'm just too darn OLD to do all this again! :-P
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