My Sammie has this thing that she does. When she gets mad, she has a tendency to lose her breath. There's this silence instead of a cry and the cry doesn't come. Instead, she simply reaches and reaches for the cry, but fails and then passes out. I've witnessed it twice and I think that Paige has, too. Sammie's pediatrician assures us that we shouldn't worry and that "some babies do that." After she passes out, she'll start to breathe again and everything will be fine.
My second and most intense experience with this was last night. I put her into her swing so that I could have my hands free to tend to something routine and insignificant. She started to fuss and instead of picking her up immediately, I thought I'd give her a minute to adjust and maybe I could get done whatever it was I was trying to deal with. Instead of the cry, however, there was just that pained silence from my little girl. I saw her struggle and I lifted her from her swing. No sound. She was losing color in her face and I felt that conflict between panic and remembering what the doctor said. Remembering tips and tricks I'd heard before, I blew in her face to startle her back to consciousness. It didn't work though and she went blue in the face and limp in my arms. I continued to desperately blow in her face and call her name and she finally came back around but probably no thanks to my efforts. My Sammie was still a bit dazed and it wasn't until a minute or so later when she started crying that I was no longer worried. Just like her doctor said. Some babies do that.
My question to anyone reading: Have you ever experienced this? Sammie is my fourth baby. I've never seen this before and, of course, there's nothing scarier as a parent than to deal with this scenario. "Some babies do that" isn't a phrase that makes it much easier either. Since blowing in her face to startle her didn't seem to work, are there other tips for helping her catch her breath before she passes out again? Making sure she's never, ever unhappy again will be one solution, but probably not something I can count on.
10 comments:
Dude. That can't be right. I'd talk to a different pediatrician.
I did that as a baby. My mom said it used to scare her like it does you. I was the only one of her children who did and I kept doing it until I was past toddler age. It is a normal thing for some babies. I have a feeling every pediatrician will tell you the same thing. She was told that by more than one.
When I was small enough, mom would flip me upside down. Sometimes the motion of flipping around would startle me enough to make me breathe.
poor both Sam and also you as well.
i lean more to what Freaky Weasel
says - either take her to another
visit to a different doctor or else
just get far, far away from that
doctor - he doesn't even sound like
a real doctor! please give Sam a
hug from grandma foxy -
lots of love -
mom
poor both Sam and also you as well.
i lean more to what Freaky Weasel
says - either take her to another
visit to a different doctor or else
just get far, far away from that
doctor - he doesn't even sound like
a real doctor! please give Sam a
hug from grandma foxy -
lots of love -
mom
http://www.chw.edu.au/parents/factsheets/breathj.htm
Scary as hell, my heart raced just reading this. I just read the link that Summer posted. Good to know that it's "normal" but I'm not sure I could resist rushing to the doctor over and over. Terrifying.
wow!!! that is scary. I have heard it is normal, but that doesn't take away that scary feeling. I think i would get the opinion of a couple of pediatricians, just to be safe. I had to do that with one of my son's before someone could give me an answer to his problem.
Holy smokes! I'd like to see the pediatrician not worry about his own baby if she did that!!!
Its very scary sounding but I am glad Summer left a comment to prove that it really is something some kids have....
Hope all is well with you over there in the rain.
When I was a baby I did that too! Must have been a redhead thing! No seriously, it is normal, my grandparents used to splash me with water. The pediatrician may not have been the most sensitive but unfortunately they are right. She will grow out of it, but it sucks until then!
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