My 2.5 Year old son holds his breath while breathing??

[Karynrme]

My son is 2 1/2 and he holds his breath while he breathes, with I would say 90% of the breaths he takes, why?? He inhales, holds his breath, lets it out, takes a deep breath (because he held it for so long previously) then lets that one out, inhales and holds his breath again... it annoys me so much! He does it during normal moods, not while he is upset or in any kind of 'mood'.... sitting on the sofa watching TV he does it, in bed while Im laying with him to go to sleep at night he does it. not really while he is playing (too busy) more when he is sitting, watching TV.... has anyone ever heard of such a thing? He has been doing it for a long time, I would say since I can remember... is it a habit??

[thatzlife99]

I know I'm late with this post.   I'm just curious if any of you have noticed periodic 'blue lips'  after you notice your child breathing like this?  My middle son has done this grunting breath holding thing since an infant.  Always seemed to do it when putting himself to sleep, so I viewed it as a coping/soothing mechanism.  However, in the last 1.5 yrs I've noticed periodic blue lips---and he's physically cold to the touch.  It really really makes me nervous. I've brought him in over 3 times for it--each time obviously by the time I get there lips are fine and no grunting breath holding.  Also he was extremely anemic from 1 yr - 3 yrs (but a big baby) dr.s don't seem to think the anemia would cause the blue lips, but are really stumped on what's going on.  Doing some additional lap work, and referral for the cardiologist  is in the works.  I'm just relieved to know others have also dealt with the breath holding/grunting outside of tantrums.  I just wish he could explain more to me, I keep asking if it hurts to breath--but he says no.  when I ask what he's doing then he just says I don't know and starts laughing so weird......

[JENHOPP]

Is your chld still doing this? My son inhales... pause for about 2 seconds then exhales I have been to so many drs.... and have a sleep study set up in about a month...

[JENHOPP]

Is your child still doing this breathing? and was it inhale... pause for about two seconds then deep exhale? My son does this... sometimes he even exhales through his mouth... I have wondering about asthma but there are no test for his age, they only go by signs and symptoms. He has had many respiratory problems but no wheezing. I took him to an ENT and he gave us a nasal steroid.... hope this helps!

[mamapajama]

My 4yo daughter does this...she holds her breath and then does a slow exhale, sometimes with a wierd sound.  she does it right before sleeping or when watching tv, when totally relaxed.  In searching I found the info below which may be helpful.  The chemical changes that happen within the body may provide clues on why the kids are doing this:


How does taking a deep breath, holding it and exhaling it slowly help the body and also relieve stress? Why?

It can invoke a relaxation response
By breathing more slowly and more deeply, you're affecting your blood's chemistry. Every time you take a breath, you're pulling in oxygen into your lungs which then goes into your bloodstream. When you exhale, you're taking carbon dioxide out of your bloodstream and body. By changing the rate of your breathing, you're changing your the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. Note this:

Deep intensive breathing (hyperventilation) leads to lack of carbon dioxide and thus to so called respiratory alkalosis (high pH), whereas moderate breathing suppression (hypo-ventilation) induces slightly excessive level of CO 2 (hyper-capnia) leading to respiratory acidosis (low pH).
http://www.dietandbody.com/article1188.html

It appears that increasing your carbon dioxide levels and lowering your pH induces what's called a "relaxation response" in the body. Deep breathing is the first part of mediation, which has this effect:

...heartbeat and respiration slow, the body's rate of oxygen consumption drops steeply, and blood lactate levels, which some researchers believe are linked to panic attacks, decline markedly. Blood pressure stabilizes in healthy people and drops in people with hypertension.
http://www.jaxtrainer.com/breath.html

Basically, as I understand it, you're fooling your body into thinking that you're in a low stress situation by doing this kind of deep breathing. When you're naturally in a stressful situation, you breathe more quickly. But when you are naturally relaxed, you breathe more slowly. By doing this kind of deep breathing, you are artificially changing your blood chemistry and triggering something in your brain which tells it "everything is okay now." The reacts with a relaxation response and sends out all sorts of signals to the rest of the body which then releases endorphins which then relaxes the body. So deep breathing is a way of tricking your brain into relaxing the rest of your body.

I hope that makes sense.
Sources: http://www.jaxtrainer.com/breath.html


http://askville.amazon.com/taking-deep-breath-holding-exhaling-slowly-help-body-relieve-stress/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=2415327

[mamapajama]

I almost lost it on a doctor who told me not to worry about it unless her face or lips were blue!  I have acutally had about 4 health professionals ask this.  When I said no, they said its not serious.  Our health system is going down the tubes.  This is a health system issue, not a political one for me.  It has been this way for too long.  

[mamapajama]

Cuppa, Im glad you mentioned the constant coughing.  My 4yo daughter has it and aslo has breath holding when relaxing.  In regards to coughing, she has had some constant coughing these past few months.  I couldnt figure out the problem.  On 2 occasions, the coughing escalated so much that she couldnt stop and I had to rush her to the ER because she was close to not being able to get air in.  Eventually the fit passed but it was very scary.  In hindsight, she had done this before, but I had writtien it off as a cold, even though she wasnt sick otherwise most the time.  It sounded like a "fake" cough.  Sometimes she had a cold and brought mucus up, but mostly it sounded like a cough someone would do who didnt need to cough, very dry.... After seeing various doctors, we think its some thing called "cough variant asthma".  Thats basically when she has asthma but without the noticeable wheezing.  Its just asthma that comes in the form of a constant cough.  She was coughing once every 5 seconds and the nurses told me to bring her into ER right away.  Sometimes it was constant fits.  It can be very dangerous, just like any asthma.  I never would have guessed this was asthma though.   I am learning that once it starts, it is hard to control and scary.  So I am trying to figure out the "triggers" and try to prevent them, so the coughing doesnt start again.
I'm sorry to say it, but I think people should know.  There have been some news reports lately that children here in Atlanta this winter 2012/2013 season have had dry coughing fits and been taken to ER and did not survive.  The news indicated that the parents did not think anything was wrong until the coughing became so bad and they were having trouble breathing.  I have tried to research this everywhere and cant find any other
info.  A few weeks ago, my daughters coughing fit happened in the doctors office, and she later told me she had never seen anything like it.   It was scary and the doctor couldnt help (it was a regular office, not hospital).  The doctor thought something was caught in her airway, but of course there wasnt.  She tested negative for pertussis.  
She also does this breath holding thing right before sleeping and when relaxing.  She lets out this very restrained slow (sometimes with an annoying noise) exhale.  Her body is naturally telling her to do it, and I think the breath holding is not the problem, but whatever else is going on in her body ( and is causing the breath holding) is the problem.  Her breath holding seems to be a way to try to relax herself so she can sleep and although its annoying and a little scary, it seems to help her.  I'm trying to find the cause of the problem.  THERE IS A REASON SO MANY OF US ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE BREATH HOLDING, AND IM AFRAID FIXING THE BREATH HOLDING WILL NOT SOLVE WHATEVER THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM IS.  

She had a good on time birth, is good on all developmental stuff, I think borderline adhd/very active, possibly OCD (not sure).  She has GERD .  I cant believe so many people are writing about this breath holding and the doctors dont have answers yet.  I dont know if she has allergies - it does seem like it.  Out of desperation, I have taken her to an integrated health MD as well as numerous other doctors (to find out why she is coughing).  I did not want to pay for the cellular tests to see her intolerances yet, but the doctor says she has symptoms showing she could have a dairy intolerance.  We are cutting down dairy to see.  As I understnad, those with this intolerance get lots of mucus in thier body when eating dairy.

My theory is that the mucus (if she has it) is causing a post nasal drip (there's lots of swallowing right before sleep).  I dont know if the mucus is there due to allergy from pollens, milk intolerance, other food intolerance or what.  She does not have a cold.  She has a very slight sniffle though.  It causes her not to be comfortable before sleeping.  Then  she does the breath holding to try to settle herself down.  It works and she eventually goes to sleep.  

Thank you all for writing.  Please let us know if anyone finds out why this breath holding is happening.. thanks!