I keep this post updated and continue to read and/or respond to comments.
However, I can only share my experiences and advice; I’m not a doctor,
so please seek out a professional! (2021)
Babies do a lot of weird things when it comes to breathing, and most of them are normal, but when faced with something that looks alarming, parents get understandably scared. Is it just hiccups? Is it from too much crying?
Well, something very odd happened to Benjamin (our 4th) when he was a baby, and then happened to Samuel (our 5th) when he was a baby, and it scared us so badly that we called 911, consulted several doctors and specialists and spent innumerable hours on Google trying to decipher the problem. I posted about it a long time time ago on a family medical forum and continue to get comments and questions to this day from parents seeing the same thing with their child. Almost all of these parents have already visited their family doctor or ER and are still confused. They are told their child simply has hiccups or that there is no answer.
Before I begin, I want to say two things. (1) Both of my boys thankfully outgrew this strange and alarming problem. (2) This post is not meant to be a substitute for medical advice. It’s to share what happened, and what we learned, in hopes that families experiencing the same thing might receive some small hope and insight.
What happened to baby Benjamin?
He was about 8 weeks old and had been asleep for an hour after tummy time and nursing that afternoon. I went to check on him and noticed an alarming breathing pattern. He was periodically sucking in his breath or “gasping” and would then hold it for quite some time before resuming normal breathing. It was different from the normal periodic breathing that’s common in young infants. I was a veteran mother, and it scared me so badly I woke him up. The pattern of gasping and holding his breath and then relaxing continued. Benjamin was visibly uncomfortable with what was going on. We panicked and called 911. (Our infant daughter, Margaret, had just died of pneumonia and heart complications the prior year; you can imagine how gun-shy we were as parents.)
What did the paramedics say?
The paramedics came and thoroughly checked him out. His oxygen was fine. His heart was strong. They could neither see nor hear signs of obstructions. There were no obvious signs of an allergic reaction. They saw the weird strange breathing pattern, but it was more sporadic and less pronounced by then. Their verdict? He had a bad case of hiccups.
If you guessed that we were not satisfied by that explanation, you guessed right.
A week later it happened again, and this time it was triggered by a crying episode. Here again is what happened:
- Our son would have a sharp intake of breath, usually with an audible gasping sound.
- He would get a terrified look on his face and involuntarily cease breathing for 3-5 seconds.
- Suddenly, his body would relax and breathing would start again.
- The cycle would repeat for hours on end, quite often through the entire night. That’s a really long time!
- The spasms would get weaker and less frequent and towards the end would look like the “double breathing” that happens after a good long cry.
- He would be perfectly fine in the morning.
What exactly does it look like?
Thanks to my readers, quite a few videos have been shared with me by parents who found this blog post.
This baby is wide awake, and you can see just how distressed and fearful she becomes at losing her breath involuntarily. It’s such a sharp intake, it almost looks painful. My boys got this same look on their faces.
In this clip, you can see the later phase, where the apnea is less pronounced, or completely gone, and all that remains is a sort of hiccuping sound. If this is what your baby’s spasms always look like, then it might just be double breathing.
This video shows the same phenomenon, accompanied by a high pitched stridor. A mother overseas shared this video of the later phase, with the spasms continuing during deep sleep. Note: Stridor can be a sign of reflux or laryngomalacia.
What my two boys experienced is none of the things listed below. Checking this list against your child’s symptoms may be helpful:
- Breath-holding spells: These can last up to a minute and may result in a child turning blue or passing out.
- Hiccups: Hiccups are brief little spasms of the diaphragm that produce a characteristic “hic” sound. Hiccups don’t last the entire night while you sleep, and cause you to stop breathing or terrify a child (or his parents).
- Double breathing: This may occur after a hard cry, and feels and looks like involuntary, shuddering breaths that eventually taper off. The spasms I witness were similar but a lot more severe and scary/uncomfortable for the boys. They also last sometimes 8 hours or more, which is definitely abnormal. If your child’s “spasms” always occur after crying and are always mild, then for him/her it might actually just be double breathing.
- Rapid or periodic breathing: Common in newborns with an immature respiratory system, this involves a quick breath and then a pause for up to 10 seconds. It occurs most often in the first 6 months of life and causes no stress or discomfort to the infant.
What did the pediatrician say?
After the second episode, which did at the very least reassure us that Benjamin was not teetering on the brink of death, our next stop was the trusty family physician who has been in practice in a small town for over 35 years and has delivered hundreds of babies.
Benjamin was right in the middle of an episode. And our doctor was puzzled. He voiced our unspoken thoughts. “Those aren’t just hiccups,” he said. “I’ve never seen this before, so all I can tell you is that something is causing his airway to close up briefly.” Benjamin was a healthy, exclusively breastfed infant, just a few months old. He was a happy baby and rarely cried, and when he did was attended to promptly.
His airway was involuntarily closing and opening for some reason. But with oxygen levels so high and no breathing distress, our doctor didn’t see any reason to prescribe medication, and there was no need for respiratory therapy. We were advised to watch and wait. We went home and the spasms continued throughout the night. Benjamin slept. Daddy slept. I did not. I was poised next to my sleeping baby, wide awake in the darkness, tensing up with every spasm. You can bet that the terrifying spectre of SIDS definitely crossed my mind as I watched his strange breathing patterns. There’s nothing more miserable than an unknown danger lurking around a tiny, helpless child. Although a still, small voice told me he wasn’t going to die, my mind could still conjure up a million other terrible possibilities.
What did the specialists say?
We consulted several other specialists in the search for a diagnosis. A very knowledgeable ENT told me he had never had any patients present with this type of problem. He put a scope down Benjamin’s throat and found no physical abnormalities or obstructions in the vocal chords, esophagus or windpipe. Everything was fine. He said the throat will sometimes spasm or close up in reaction to an irritant or allergen. That might explain why Ben had episodes on some days and not others. We didn’t have a definite answer, but we did have a small clue.
I consulted a speech pathologist friend for insight. To her, the attacks sounded very similar to a Laryngospasm, which is a spasm of the vocal cords that temporarily makes it difficult to cry or breathe. It’s an involuntary thing, and acid reflux and anxiety are both common triggers. For the first time, we felt the answer might be getting closer as reflux is something that many otherwise healthy infants deal with. And with reflux, you can have good days and bad days. It also affects a lot of people even while sleeping.
Did the spasms go away?
The breathing spasms continued throughout his infancy. Many episodes were triggered by crying, but by no means all. As time passed, they began to shorten in duration and severity. By the time Benjamin was 2, they were gone for good (HALLELUJAH) and we’ve seen no repeats since then (he turned six years old this March).
And then Samuel was born and began to have the same episodes! Just like Ben, they often occurred for no apparent reason during sleep. They weren’t as bad as Ben’s, and he outgrew them more quickly – by age one.
What caused the spasms?
As time went by, we noticed a connection between both boys. Benjamin and Samuel both showed signs of Cow’s Milk Protein Intolerance (not the same thing as lactose intolerance). If I ate dairy and then breastfed them, they would be very irritable and spit up a lot. In hindsight we realized that the breathing spasms had gone away at the same time their milk protein sensitivity went away.
My theory is that this food sensitivity was triggering reflux. Reflux has been medically documented to cause problems like stridor (high-pitched noisy breathing), chronic coughing and even involuntary spasms (i.e. like laryngospasm) in babies. Perhaps the acid reflux was irritating their airway and causing their vocal chords to spasm and close up. Or perhaps one of their bodies’ responses to the irritant was throat spasms.
This would explain why they went days or even weeks between episodes. I was good about avoiding dairy, but had some “slip ups” from time to time; either knowingly or by accident.
Did dietary changes help?
It sure looks that way! We switched to rice milk for Ben and Sam with good success.
However, in hindsight I wish I had looked into a formula alternative, as they are more nutritious than rice milk. Ben and Sam are both still on the low end of the growth charts. If you suspect an allergy or intolerance are are formula-feeding, look into alternatives like Similac Alimentum or Enfamil Nutramigen. There’s also a gentle, natural goat’s milk formula that you can try called Kabrita.
Correlation doesn’t equal causation.
Remember, that’s only my theory about what was going on. Just because these spasms occurred in tandem with a food allergy doesn’t necessarily mean that food allergy was the cause. In the medical world, correlation doesn’t automatically equal causation. But it’s still my best guess, given all the data, and the timeline.
Are the spasms dangerous?
In hindsight, I realize now that that our sons’ conditions were not life-threatening, however we wouldn’t change a thing that we did at the time because it really scared us! My opinion is that if a child is suffering, and/or experiencing these types of spasms frequently, it should be looked at by a doctor.
Almost every parent who has contacted me about my post did the same things (rushed to the ER, visited multiple doctors, researched every book and website they could find, etc.). Many of them are still looking for a cause.
From what I’ve learned over the years, most cases do not appear to be life-threatening. But, as my pediatrician cousin once told me, lots of elephants come into the examination room, but it’s the zebra you’re looking out for. Don’t feel bad about being worried or scared. Don’t stress about pestering doctors and specialists. Their job is to help and to heal.
Is there anything I can do for my child?
Apart from avoiding long crying episodes, which can be a trigger, anything you can do to calm or relax a baby may help.
Toddlers and older children can be taught to to take deep and steady breaths. Following the “7-11 model” can also stop feelings of hyperventilation; inhale for seven seconds, and exhale for 11 seconds until symptoms subside. The old technique of breathing into a paper bag can also help because it traps carbon dioxide, recirculating the gas back into the lungs.
To summarize, here’s what I advise parents who are going through this:
- Document the episodes and if possible get it on video for the doctor.
- Check for possible allergies. If you are nursing, eliminate the “big ones” (dairy, wheat, eggs, etc.) slowly and separately from your diet and see if the episodes lessen or disappear.
- Consider switching to a non-cows-milk based formula
- Visit a specialist who can rule out physical abnormalities or obstructions in the throat and surrounding structures.
- Check for an underlying respiratory illness (like pneumonia) or a chronic, undiagnosed condition like asthma.
- Screen for reflux, even if there aren’t obvious signs.
- Has there been possible irritation or damage to the phrenic nerve or diaphragm?
Anne, I forwarded your blog to Sarah, Thehealthyhomeeconomist.com, as a blog suggestion for her. I am hoping that she will find the topic intriguing enough to want to research for herself because you think there may be a correlation to milk allergies.
Thanks for sharing the post! I hope it will be of help to someone. Allergies can have some really strange effects…. ~Anne
If I show u a video can u tell me if it is the same http://youtu.be/ysk18bLsr7I
I will look at that and send you an email, John. ~Anne
Thank u we are desperate for answers please
Yeah mine was similar to that . Btw I didn’t put my real info because I don’t want the person that means a lot to know
Hi John, and thank you Anne for this blog.
John I have just watched your video, this morning I woke up to my 4 month old son doing exactly the same thing as your son in the video. This has frightened the life out of me. I appreciate that your comments were posted nearly year ago however have you been given any answers, or a diagnosis? Is this something your son has now grown out of?
I would really appreciate some help and send best wishes to you and your son.
Thank you
Lizzie
Lizzie, they did get a silent reflux diagnosis, but I haven’t had any updates from John since then. ~Anne
Update: I heard from John today. They never found a definite answer. At 2, their son appears to be outgrowing it. Thank goodness! Very similar experience to ours.
thanks so much for posting this. i came accross this when trying to find answers as to why my son was sucking air..
Hi, my 7 month old started doing this tonight. Have been sent home from hospital with no answers- told he’s fine and to watch him. We are also Allergic to dairy, soy and eggs and he is breastfed. I’m not currently eliminating these from my diet. He did have a crying spurt where he went croaky after a while yesterday. and today the seemed in pain when crying.
This sounds like my great grand baby’s “ crying type” spasms but along with that he seems to have lost his appetite and is not sleeping through the night without waking two to three times and not napping . He fell two days ago ( on his one year birthday ) and had a “smash” cake which was too much sugar for my way of thinking. So these symptoms are just two days old.
Interesting and scary! Hopefully your post can help another parent who is looking for answers to a sometimes frightening problem.
That’s my hope, too Heather! ~Anne
My first son did this and they FINALLY diagnosed the reflux I’d been telling and nagging the doctor about for months. His first episode was at 5 months and that and his really bad asthma attack were the scariest moments of my life. I felt beyond helpless :(. His was just due to reflux and in hind sight I know it’s because his tongue tie reattached and his lip tie was never taken care of because no one diagnosed those back then. He’s 6 now and I’ll be taking him soon to get them taken care of. Neither my second son or (so far) my daughter have had those issues. My daughter has had her tongue tie lasered twice though and also had a lip tie but that was only done once and it reattached high and normal.
Ashely, I can imagine how worried you must have been and how stressful it was trying to get a diagnosis! I’m glad you finally got to the bottom of it, and hope all goes well with his treatments! Thanks for sharing your experience, and also for mentioning that in your situation reflux caused the same problem we saw. ~Anne
I’m so glad I found your post. My daughter has had three of these episodes now, and we too have been told it’s acid reflux after two ER trips and one long hospital stay!! I think I believe them, but it’s still hard to watch your little one go through it. We just had our most recent bout of spasms last night. 🙁
Hi Kim, I’m glad you’ve found what’s causing the spasms, but I agree it’s hard to watch. It looks for all the world like a breathing problem, and that’s pretty scary. Hang in there and I’ll say a prayer for your family. ~Anne
My son also had same and the doctors have not given me a reason till now all I was told is that they saw nothing wrong with him and one pediatrician asked me to give him depakine though he said it was the first time he saw such but I refused to give him because the EEG result was negative. Thanks so much you have been helpful to me
It’s like you wrote this about my son! We took him for an EEG because we thought he was having seizures. A Pulmonologist diagnosed him with Sandifers syndrome but I was never convinced since it didn’t look like it to me. My son also has a milk intolerance and reflux. It must be related. I wish professionals knew more about it. It’s so scary. Just happened again tonight at 10 months. I can’t wait until this passes…thanks for sharing, now I don’t feel like I’m crazy!
Julia, that’s how I felt for a while, too. No one seemed to know what was going on, including most of the doctors and specialists we saw. Glad the post was helpful and I will pray your son outgrows the spasms and the food sensitivities soon! ~Anne
Hi Julia, is your son outgrew of it ?
Thank you so much for this blog. My son has been fussy for 2 days and tonight started doing this. I am still going to be up all night watching over him and taking him to our pediatrician first thing in the morning. However reading this has taken some panic away.
Please keep me posted! And you might trying getting a video of it to share with your doctor. ~Anne
Well my son had exactly that when he was an infant it was worse. To the point that I went to a specialist who gave him some medicine but it wasn’t helping to the point I stop, thinking it will have some effects on my child’s brain. He turned six he still gets that but it is better than when he was and infant and it only happens at night. I don’t know which Dr to trust because I felt we went to the Good Dr’s that did nothing for us. I even did allergy testing on my son when he was 5. So I don’t know, although it come seldomly and goes away quicker at times. That was a scary journey of my life. My son now has Adhd. I am from South Africa
Thank you for sharing this!
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis at 6 weeks old. She promptly had surgery and within days of her surgery started having similar episodes of these “spasms”. We thought it was pain related (from the surgery) at first, but the spasms continued until she was around 2, as well. Also triggered by crying, so it seemed, though looking back the spasms may have triggered her crying…? It was definitely alarming to us. She was tested for allergies at age 3 and we were also told she had a slight allergy to dairy protein.
Now our youngest, who is 6 weeks old has just started experiencing the same spasms. Since reading your article I am eager to cut out dairy completely and see how and if it makes a difference for her. (she is exclusively breast fed, as was my oldest).
Thank you again for sharing, like you said, there is not much info on this topic! Nice to know others have gone thru similar things.
Lauren, let me know how eliminating dairy works for you and your baby girl. I know how stressful this is to go through, especially when everyone is short on answers. Has your oldest been fine for a while now? Did she outgrow the dairy protein allergy? ~Anne
Anne, we went through absolutely the exact same thing when my daughter was 2 months old. Your post was accurate for us down to the tiniest detail. It was absolutely terrifying. We felt like we were grasping at straws when it came to determining what was causing her “spasms”. We subjected her to so many intrusive tests, poor thing, only to receive negative results on all of them (thank goodness!) Of course, we never did figure it out and she outgrew them around 18 months. Now I am noticing some strange gasping-type breathing in my current 12-week old daughter when she sleeps and am wondering if I should be chalking it up to the same mystery condition. Thank you for this post. If only it had existed in 2012 when we were in the thick of our panic… It would have made me feel so much better!
Hi Laura, your reply makes me really glad that my experience, as well as yours and others who have commented, is here to help families out. I wish there was a way to get this information into the hands of medical professionals, though. Obviously, it’s real and it can be very worrisome! I am praying that your 12-week-old will not have the episodes for as long as your older daughter. All the best, Anne
Thank you for writing your story! We are also struggling with what to do about these unknown spasms that our 2nd son is experiencing. We’ve been praying over him and praying for wisdom. We told his pediatrician and she thought it was just a blockage in his nose that was causing some distress as he’s still a “nose-breather”. But it just doesn’t seem right. It’s like his diaphragm is having spasms and he can’t catch his breath. He also gets a little panicky when it’s happening. Did you find that cutting ALL dairy helped? I was thinking of cutting out milk because it seems to make him a little fussy after I’ve had a lot to drink. But I was wondering if it was necessary to cut cheese, yogurt, sour cream, etc…. (And I know each baby is different) Just curious about what seemed to make the biggest difference for you.
Thank you again!
Hi Leah! That definitely sounds similar. If dairy was truly the problem, it would depend on just how sensitive your child was. Unfortunately, I had to cut everything out and it was tough. No butter on my toast, no sour cream on my tacos, etc. With dairy, keep in mind that whatever you decide to eliminate, you’ll need to give it at least a week or more to totally be out of your system. Thanks for taking time to write! ~Anne
I can’t even begin to tell you the sigh of RELIEF(yes, relief!!) I had when reading this. Our daughter has had these “spasms/ episodes” since she was around 2 months. With her as well, 9 out of 10 times they occurred after a good cry. To the point now we try to not let her get worked up like that. (If she even whimpers we come running) after taking video evidence and showing our pediatrician we had an EEG. When I first googled “spasms” my heart dropped. I knew deep down this couldn’t be what she had, but terrifying nonetheless to read up on it. Her EEG came back perfectly Normal and our pedi too had no diagnosis. Just to keep watch, keep notes. She has slowed down with them tremendously at 5 months old. The last time she had one was 2 months ago. Everything you said is our daughter. I just wanted to say thank you for your blog! Truly. It’s put me more at ease with this undiagnosed issue.
Sarah, I’m glad it’s helped to give you some peace! I know exactly how you feel because for so long there was nothing but fear and anxiety in our house. Hopefully, they will one day put a name on this. ~Anne
I’m so glad I found this site. My son does this after intense crying spells. He just had one last night and he’s been doing this since 10 pm and it’s now 8am! I feel like they are never going to stop! He is on a hypoallergenic formula for milk protein sensitivity and meds for reflux already 🙁
Just to double check, is this the same thing you are talking about? I got a video of it at 3am.
https://youtu.be/0JCZEc78E14
Shannon, it’s kind of hard to tell from the video since I can’t see his face, but if he is still having the episodes, I wonder if getting his dosage adjusted or changing meds would help? Also, what position is he in at night when he’s having the spells? ~Anne
Hii Anne, my son started doing this when he was 4 month. These episodes was triggering occasionally till 6 month ..I never bothered about it because my pediatrician told me it’s periodic breathing.when I consulted another 2 pedi they said it’s unusual case, I never saw any baby doing this.now he is 6 month old nd I started giving him solid nd this episode r triggering 3 times in a day ..he has a bad reflux since he born so after reading your article I cut out all dairy product .his reflux is controlled nicely but I’m worried about episode. Did you get any information about those parents who commented on this article , is there baby outgrew or not ? What test should I conduct ? Any update about research ..? Please help
My daughter first started this at 3 months her dad was at work that night I freaked out and rushed her to the ER. By the time I got there she was fine and asleep everything checked out fine. Fast ftoward to 7 months old it happened again she woke from her nap screaming and the spasms came. My husband and I rushed her to the ER again her breathing was fine oxygen levels were hood but they did find she was very congested and was diagnosed with bronchitis which she took antibiotics for 5 days. She is now 13 months and today was her first day of daycare. She was very fussy and cried all day. When I picked her up I noticed she was having a spasm so I took her to her pedi he checked her and she was fine other than a slight sinus infection… I’ve noticed all of hers where linked to some kind of respiratory infection/allergy.
Kierra, thank you for sharing your experiences, as I know all of the collective information will be helpful to other parents. I hope your sweet girl will outgrow the spasms soon! God bless, Anne
Hi Anne.
My name is Beth and I have just found your website whilst googling about my daughters weird breathing issues overnight. My daughter was has had a milk protein allergy since birth and diagnosed at 3 months. She was also diagnosed with epilepsy at 8 months. She is now about to turn 2. The breathing episodes described by you and everyone else here seem to fit what she does. She has been having these episodes for over a year. We were first told is was sleep apnea. We then thought it was maybe a type of seizure. Since she has been off dairy since she was 3 months, I wonder why she still has these episodes if there is a link. I watched a video that ‘john’ put up here for you to look like. And it is exactly what my daughter does. I have never seen a video of another child doing it before. As she is older now it is quite distressing for us to watch. She seems to most often do it in the early hours of the morning. We tried to wake her this morning and we couldn’t. She was having these episodes for a few hours. Just wondering if anyone could give me information on whether I need to follow up to get to the bottom of it. We bring it up with her paed at all her check ups and we have discussed it with her neurologist. No one seems fussed but it is quite distressing to watch her almost struggling with breathing. Her seizures have caused her to stop breathing before which is why we find it quite frightening.
Yours sincerely Beth
Hi Beth, I’m so sorry that your little girl is still struggling with the breathing spasms! I’m glad you were able to get a diagnosis of the milk protein allergy and remove dairy from her diet. If that has not completely alleviated the problem, I wonder if there is another allergy or sensitivity at play here? It’s not uncommon for there to be more than one. Maybe a follow up with her allergist is in order? Or you might get a referral for an ENT since they deal with the structures of the mouth and throat. If you could take a video with you to the doctor that would help, too. Let me know what you found out! I would be worried, too, especially since she has the underlying condition (epilepsy). My prayers are with you. ~Anne
so thankful for this blog post! i went to a bible study tonight and left my daughter (a mamas girl, 13 months) with my husband. when i came home, he said she cried for a long time missing me but fell asleep before i came home. when i checked on her, she sounded like she was sobbing/gasping in her sleep… its lasted OVER 2 hours now!!! its past 10pm and it finallyyyy just stopped. i have been off dairy for over 5 months now because 5 months ago i had her allergy tested at a local homeopathic doctor through muscle testing (she was SO sick with coughing fits that would leave her blue and not breathing, constant congestion, etc, bright red eyes, weird coloring – we weren’t sure she’d survive it) and found out through muscle testing that she was highly allergic to dogs and highly sensitive to dairy, eggs, corn, almonds. I’ve avoided all of them and just recently at her appointment he tested her again and said her gut has completely healed and i can incorporate a little dairy in my diet and see how she does. well after no dairy for 5 months, i had ice cream one night and she had one of these breathing/spasm episodes.. (i didn’t know to relate it at that time) and now a few weeks later i had pizza and ice cream last night and she had this 2 hour + breathing/spasm episode! now i KNOW its dairy and ill stay off of it! poor baby! its insane how different allergies can come out in each person and how the health of the gut is related to every ailment of the body!
Chelsea, that is an incredible story and your dedication in trying to find answers and sacrificing things in your diet are so admirable! I will pray that your little girl outgrows this! ~Anne
Hi Anne!
I am so glad I found your blog. My daughter who is now 14 months old has been having this off and on in the night since she was a month or two old. First time she was awake and was literally gasping for air. She screamed on the exhale and then gasped on the inhale like her throat was closed. I couldn’t calm her for over an hour because she couldn’t catch her breath. I noticed she had spams in her diaphragm for quite awhile during and after the episode. The other episodes normally happen in the night out of the blue. (She just had one last night) She still sleeps in our room and it starts with quick short inhales through her nose. I first thought she was dreaming but then she will scream uncontrollably and have instant spasms. It takes so long to finally calm her down its very scary. When I try to nurse her to calm her she just chokes because she sucks in air so fast from the spasms. She has been diagnosed with Fpies after a few severe vomiting episodes after having oatmeal as a baby. I don’t think the spasms are related though. I go on an off dairy because I have an allergy myself. But I think what you mentioned is what is happening to my daughter. I have noticed when I have more dairy the spasms start up more often. Must start as reflux that triggers the spasms. However she seems to go into spasms right away when she cries as well. If she falls or gets a boo boo We try to calm her fast because she goes into such a fit it’s so hard to calm her and she double breaths and spasms instantly. 🙁 it’s horrible to watch. I have mentioned it several times to her pediatrician and he says its normal… I’m going to completely cut out dairy for good and hope that stops the spasms for completely. Thank you SO much for you page, I couldn’t find anything online to explain what is happening. God bless!
Sincerely,
Kelli
Kelli, thank you for sharing your daughter’s story. I hope it helps other families, too! ~Anne
Hi Anne, thank you for starting this post and to the others that have commented. My daughter has had 4 of these episodes at 3 months, all after getting extremely upset. We try to avoid her getting too upset also. The one time she was in her car seat and she got upset but I didn’t want to take hee our of her seat to console her due to safety reasons.
After she settles down she has these spasms that lessen in frequency but can continue for hours.
I witnessed it the first 2 times on my own and kept telling my husband that she makes this “awful face”. He witnessed it the last 2 times, the last being tonight. When he saw it for the first time he started googling and you know what that can do. He googled infantile spasms and we were so upset. I continued to google for days, and it didn’t seem to be what she had even though there were some similarities. When I read your post I felt a bit relieved and let it go knowing that we have a Drs appt on Oct 4th. Tonight she had her 4th episode. I take comfort in reading this thread, but my husband and I are still very concerned. I will be making a Drs appt on Monday, I am hoping and prating everything is okay with our little baby girl.
I got really scared with what I found on Google, too, Laurie! So I know just how you feel. I was afraid Ben was having seizures or was going to die in the middle of the night. It was a really rough time for all of us. You definitely should be concerned until you have gotten some medical guidance, so you are doing the right thing! My prayers are with you. ~Anne
So did you stop feeding them cow’s milk?
Yes, and also cut it from my diet because of nursing.
Omg…I am not alone. Mines is doing the exact same thing. It only happens when he cries long and hard. Everyone was telling me their hiccups or he just upset but it scared the crap of me and I spent the night awake making sure he would be alright. It first happened at 1 month old, the once again at 2 months. I try not to let him get worked up. He did it at 3 months but not every time he has a good cry. Doctor said before these started that he might have acid reflux. Trying to get it on video so I can show them what I am seeing because this is not just hiccups to me. I googled and came across something similar to it and it said baby was hyperventilating. But I will see what doctor says once I get a good video. Thank you so much for your post.
You’re welcome, Adrienne! Getting it on video is so crucial, so that you can have something to show to any doctor or specialist you might see down the road. It’s definitely NOT just hiccups! ~Anne
I really needed this back in 2013 when my daughter started this at just two months old. There was nothing out there! Thank you for posting this for others who will going through this. My daughter did this on and off from two months to a year old. She never slept well and was always restless even on nights when she didn’t gasp. During that time, I took a video of it to her doctor and two specialists. We had a sleep study done that came back normal and no diagnosis. I was told that it was not reflux because she never spit up and didn’t have problems during the day, but I felt that I needed to try something so I read about elevating the crib mattress. We did that and had a whole new child! Gasping stopped completely and she began sleeping soundly!! Doctor said that it must have been silent reflux. Fast forward 18 months – she is 2 1/2 now and has just started gasping again! I have also noticed recently that she gets hiccups every time she laughs a lot then will sort of cough like something is coming up in her throat. Had a normal upper GI, but doctor put her on Nexium. Now wait and see. I want to tell the parents to listen to your instinct. You know your child better than anyone else including a doctor. In her video, like John’s, she appeared peaceful, but I didn’t know if it was actually hurting her lungs/heart. No one else seemed very concerned. One specialist called us overprotective parents and said that it seemed like it was bothering me more than her, but he wasn’t listening to his baby do this for over two hours at a time night after night without knowing why! I knew that something was going on. Don’t give up or doubt yourself just because of what someone else says.
Hi Brittney, I always thought reflux caused spitting up, but finally learned about silent reflux, too. I’m pretty sure that’s what our boys had. Amazing how just letting your daughter sleep propped up worked wonders! Let me know how things go now that the episodes have started again. And thank you SO much for your words of encouragement for other parents. ~Anne
My 13 month old has been doing this for the past month or so, maybe twice a week, He is in a very deep sleep and then his breathing changes almost like he is having a hard time (no discoloration) and then he whimpers I usually move him a bit but most of the time he wakes up screaming and there is nothing I can do to calm him. Eventually he settles down and falls back into a deep sleep, he never opens his eyes during these episodes..I have explained this to the doctors and no one seems to no whats going on. This is really stressing me out, I am currently pregnant and the lack of sleep is not helping.
Could it be reflux and pain because of that?
Possibly..I will talk to the doctor at his next appt. He use to have really bad reflux as a baby, this is a bit different but maybe..wish me a better night than last night.
I will give an update once I get some answers.
Eva, I will be saying a prayer for you and your son! And I appreciate the updates, as they may help other families going through this. ~Anne
Well I took my baby to the emergency room last night because he seemed tense, like his arms seemed stiff, along With the wierd breathing and crying. they want me to record it and see a neurologist ASAP to rule out seizures. God, I hope its not that..but it definitely seems that way. There is a such thing as nocturnal seizures only occurring when they are sleep. I have been doing a lot of research on them. I will let you guys know what the neurologist says. Thank you. Being able to let it out on this blog helps tremendously.
Let me know if you have an update, Eva!
Thank you for this article!! My 4 month old had an episode like this yesterday for 15 minutes straight!! It felt like a lifetime to me. I panicked and pulled a cop to the side (who was not helpful) then called the pediatrician emergency line who was stumped when I told her about it!! I pray he doesn’t have another episode like that. It scared me more than anything in the world!! He has been diagnosed with silent reflux so that may not help. Thank you again! This spoke to me! And gives me hope he will be ok and comforts me that he is not the only one!
Jessica, you described exactly what we went through in terms of watching our children go through the episodes and feeling like each minute was an eternity. Would you be able to get this on video if it happened again to share with your pediatrician? ~Anne
Looking through the comments, I notices that all the people going through this are babies and they usually grow out of it. Which is confusing for me because I did this as a kid whenever I cried. Except I never grew out of it. It still happens when I start crying really hard. I’m almost 19 years old. It can scare the crap out of me sometimes because it felt like I am dying. Usually whenever it would happen it would start out as hiccup type things, but after a couple minutes it would get more aggressive, to the point where I would take about ten, fast, sharp, involuntary gasps of breath and then at the top of a breath, I wouldn’t be able to breathe for a couple of seconds. As if I had the wind knocked out of me and I couldn’t catch my breath. (it would sound something like…”huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuuuuu” with each “hu” equally a fast, sharp, involuntary gasp) Then after a couple of seconds of that, my body would relax and it would let me release the breath. Then it would happen again. It would go on like that for hours sometimes. It’s scary when it gets bad like that, but I’ve been doing it my whole life so I’m kind of used to it by now. Still, it feels kind of terrible. I’ve always thought of it as hyperventilating/anxiety attack/adreneline rush or something but I’ve done research and none of the symptoms for those things describe what I go through so now I wonder if it’s a airway or lung thing. I don’t really know. I have never gone to the doctor for it, probably because it’s so hard to explain without a demonstration. And honestly, I didn’t know that it was an uncommon thing. I thought it was something that people did when they cried, until I did research and found nothing on it. I started to feel like I was the only person in the world who experience this. Until I found this post. Still, I find it weird that it’s only been in babies and the babies grow out of it. There might be a chance that some adults do it, but if there are, it’s not a lot. But I just thought I’d share. Babies can’t tell their parents what the are feeling, so maybe this gives some insight. Like I said though, it can feel terrible if it gets too severe, but I’ve never actually been scared for my safety or life. It’s never scared me so much that I’ve wanted to go the hospital or anything like that. If anything, it is exhausting and makes me want to sleep.
Hi Lahri, yours is not the first account I’ve read of teens and adults experiencing this weird gasping and cessation of breathing. Years ago, when I was trying to find answers, I read posts by adults who were still dealing with it. But you’re right, the majority seem to be children and many do seem to outgrow it, which is a mercy. The way you describe it is VERY scary so it’s not wonder that these little babies and children get panicky and upset (and their parents, too!). ~Anne
Thank you for sharing this story, my 8 month old started doing this tonight and even being an EMT I was still baffled. Reading your story led me to trying a few things for reflux and it seems to be working.the spasms are only occurring every few minutes now instead of every few seconds. It’ll be a sleepless night for me tonight but it would have been a lot worse without your help! Thank you!
Mathew, I’m glad the post helped and that you were able to bring your skills as an EMT to the situation. Hope your baby is better! ~Anne
This gave me chills to the bone! I am googling sleep hiccups and stumbled upon this post. My son will be 4 in February, however his sleep hiccups now aren’t why we are relating here. When he was a newborn, my baby boy had GERD, severe reflux. He started having laryngospasms, he fainted in my moms arms at 4 weeks old, he had these crying episodes, he would go into a severe fit that, at the time, we worried were seizures. He was breastfed briefly, the problem started when I was admitted in the hospital for staph infection and couldn’t breastfeed him and my sister was formula feeding. I put him on Nutramigen AA and that helped tremendously, but he was still very sensitive. It was heartbreaking watching him go through it and all of these doctors, specialists, etc called it behavioral! He still suffers from long term affects, it seems as though your boys are doing well, thank goodness, but it’s nice to be able to relate to someone and validate that we weren’t crazy! Thank you for sharing this!
Samantha, thank you for taking time to shop and post your experiences here. It’s definitely NOT just behavioral! These children are truly suffering from real symptoms caused by a trigger of some sort. I’m happy the Nutramigen helped and I hope your son outgrows the spasms. ~Anne
Hi there! I stumbled on this post because my daughter (15 months) has had two of these episodes. So scary! I find what you have said it so interesting, because she had both reflux and a milk protein allergy as a young baby! She spit up constantly. We put her on the pre-digested formula (she’s a twin and I didn’t have enough milk for both, so they did half formula half breast milk). On that formula she spit up half of what she ate, and even had a scary drop in weight. Turns out she couldn’t tolerate “sensitive” formulas – we gave her the regular kind and her spitting up all but stopped. So we had a baby with a milk allergy who couldn’t drink specialty formulas.
Fortunately she grew out of the allergy a long time ago (around 8, 9 months), but she probably never grew out of the reflux. She used to wake up with a cough that would go away by mid-morning, and our doctor said that was related to reflux. Our son had severe reflux as an infant, and our older daughter takes medication for reflux at 13 years old, so I suspect it is an inherited problem.
So maybe it i something related to reflux, and maybe it just so happens that reflux and milk protein allergies go hand in hand?
I’m so glad your children outgrew it, I’m hoping she does, too!
This just goes to show that you can learn something every day. Pretty neat that switching to regular formula over sensitive actually helped! And I’m glad you brought up genetics because that could certainly play a role, too. Thanks for taking time to to share your story, Jessica! ~Anne
Hi Anne,
I came across your site trying to find out what has been going on with my son. John’s video from a year ago, I felt like I was watching my son. My son started doing this when he was 2 months old. I called 911, thought he wasn’t breathing. Everything was fine. Our pediatrician told me he was just dreaming. Every time I would bring it up, it was the same answer. Don’t worry about it. My son just turned 3 and he is still doing this. We’ve had a sleep study done with good results. They questioned laryngomalacia so we went to an ENT which told me he wasn’t concerned and that its just something he does and he may or may not grow out it. That is not a good answer. I want to know why this happens for a week and then he will have 5 good nights. Its so strange. I was told that it couldn’t be reflux because my son only does this when he is in a deep sleep, mostly early morning around 5. It seems like many kids grow out of this by 2, so I am concerned that he is still doing this at 3. I am going to contact national Jewish like you suggested above. Thank you for posting about this! Doctors make me feel like I am crazy and I am just a concerned parent. They act like its nothing, and it is scary every time it happens, no matter how many times you watch it.
Gina, I felt exactly as you did – that the responses I was getting weren’t good enough. I was so worried at the time, and it was hard to watch our boys going through! You are NOT crazy and being a concerned parent is how we love our children. I will keep this in my prayers, and please let me know if you learn anything from National Jewish. ~Anne
I just had a similar experience with my 3 week old. I literally went into the kitchen and heard a loud pitch scream and when I went back into the room, my baby was gasping for air and screaming. It was the longest 20 seconds of my life just watching him. He got really red. I called the pediatrician and they thought it might be acid reflux. I am scheduled tomorrow. Hopefully they have an answer.
Let us know if you have an update, Norma!
Thank you for your post! We had an episode just like this last night, and there was no other info on the web.
This totally makes sense in our case in that I never eat dairy, but yesterday I uncharacteristically had cheese and crackers and a cookie with a glass of milk.
My son is 5 months, and I’ve probably never eaten those foods in one day and definitely not consecutively- we were low on groceries at home 🙂
He is exclusively breastfed. In the evening he got upset after being put in his swing. He’s not a fussy baby, so when he cries we usually just pick him up, and he calms fairly quickly. Last night it snowballed into hysteria, and his breathing became jerky, gaspy, sort of like hiccups, but not really. He indicated that whatever was bothering him was in his mouth/throat, but there was no sign of a tooth or other irritant. I was ready to take him to the ER when he finally began to calm. As he calmed (after at least 45 minutes of hysterical shrieking), the breathing sounded more and more like hiccups. I was mystified, but then found your very insightful post. Thank you for this! And, no more milk for me for quite sometime!!!
Alyson, I’m relieved to hear that he got through that episode ok and you didn’t have to go through the whole ER experience. Hopefully, if it is a dairy allergy in his case, it should be fairly easy to steer clear of future incidents! ~Anne
Hi my 2 week old is doing the sobbing !! We think she may have a allergy because all the milk fomular we have given her has not agreed with her . How can the docs tell you if your baby has a intolerance/ allergy . I can’t sleep on a night for worrying about these noises .
Hayley, we never had our children officially tested for allergies but I think you would go to a specialist for that. Maybe ask your doctor for a referral? So sorry your little one is going through this and I will say a prayer that you find some peace, and some answers. ~Anne
Hi Anne, my son does exactly what you described. His first episode was at 9 weeks and did not appear to be triggered by anything. He was just sitting quietly in his bouncer. The look on his face as he held his breath was terrifying. But then he would be completely normal again. And it didn’t upset him. We took him to the emergency department but were sent away with no answer. He did it on and off all night but slept otherwise normally. I googled ridiculous sounding things like ‘really big hiccups’ and ‘baby holding breath with scary face’. I took him the next day to the gp who saw him doing it. She rang a pediatrician and described it and she said it sounded like an over active startle reflex. He should grow out of it, they said, as the startle reflex wanes. He did not. But it did happen less and less frequently. And he was otherwise a very healthy baby. No apparent reflux or allergies. And it only seemed to happen during big crying episodes. We eventually went to our pediatrician who thought it may be mild seizures or breath holding but he was not concerned about it and said it is so mild that he wouldn’t even treat it if it was those things as he would grow out of it.
He is now 2 and still does it occasionally. It’s only when he has a hard crying episode or gets frightened suddenly. If he falls asleep afterwards he’ll continue doing it in his sleep. But it does seem to upset him now. He cries more after he is able to breath again, if you know what I mean.
Recently my 4 month old twins started doing it. They are breastfed, very content babies who sleep well and are gaining weight etc. I can’t see any reason they do it, other than being triggered by crying. I would love to find out why it happens and what it’s called! It really is a phenomenon.
Alex, yes it sounds exactly the same! Ben’s first episode was just like your son’s. He was resting peacefully in his swing when it started out of nowhere. None of the answers you were given make sense (startle reflex, seizure, breath-holding), so my only suggestion would be reflux or allergy. And I say that because both of these can be “silent” or hidden without causing noticeable symptoms. Ben (who had these episodes until he was 2) is now nearly 8 years old. For years, I’ve assumed that whatever this was, he’s outgrown it completely. But every once in a blue moon (perhaps twice a year) he will wake from a dead sleep gasping and swallowing over and over again, looking terrified. After 5 or 10 minutes he will fall back asleep again. Again, it seems a lot like silent reflux to me – stomach acid creeping back up the esophagus and causing the throat to spasm. Please let me know how it goes with your twins, and don’t discount allergies or reflux just because you aren’t seeing “typical” symptoms. ~Anne
Thank you so much for this post I have been searching for answers my daughter was diagnosed with reflux Started having strange breathing episodes at two months old Now she is hiccuping/gasping after several trips to the ER no definite diagnosis
How often did your child have these episodes ??
Laura, thank you for stopping by to comment. Our son, Ben, who had it worse, would have episodes every time he got really upset and cried a lot, so it could be a few times a month. ~Anne
Thank you Anne, our seven month old son did it tonight for the first time when super tired and after crying more than usual before bed. He has a milk allergy and today I licked my (visibly clean) finger after picking up a piece of my older son’s chocolate (I have cut out all dairy) – it can’t be coincidence as it’s never happened before! It was so helpful reading this post, thank you!
Glad it was helpful, Nicola!
I read this about 2 years ago when my oldest son began doing this as a very young baby. I come back periodically hoping a commenter will have andswered all our questions. My son’s spells always come after intense crying. He also has a milk protein allergy.
I came back today to leave a comment because his situation has developed. He recently was diagnosed with asthma after pretty serious attack. A few nights later, he was nowhere near back to normal, and after a crying spell (more intense crying than normal but nowhere near as intense as typically causes the gasping episodes) he began to do this again. I’m not sure how exactly asthma and these gasping episodes are connected, but his most recent episode drew my attention to the fact that he seems to have these episodes following the same events/exposures that trigger his asthma. To be more specific, this attack was triggered following an illness. This may just be true of my little guy, and I guess it could be a coincidence (but its not) so I’m not trying to internet diagnose anyone else’s kid. This is just another piece of the puzzle. Hopefully someone can put them all together.
This isn’t the first time someone has mentioned asthma, so maybe there really is a connection? How is he these days?
Praise God, his asthma is very well managed. He’s 5 now and has gone well over a year without any serious symptoms (although he has a cough at the moment. Its mild but has a certain, hollow sound that has my asthma mama sensors on high alert). We’ve been treating him with homeopathy during that time period and its worked spectacularly. It’s been so long since he had a gasping/crying episode that I can’t recall when the last was. I’m not sure if those episodes disappearing was age related since it seems like most of the gasping episodes here to babies and toddlers or if its similar to food allergies and asthma in that 1 disappears for a while and the other becomes more problematic. He was dairy free for a period of time and did have these symptoms during that time, for what its worth.
Additionally, my 2nd son had similar but much milder and more rare gasping episodes as an infant and toddler. He has a much milder version of asthma.
My oldest son has very unbalanced and unstable core muscles and has since birth. I’ve theorized that the gasping episodes were related to diaphragm dysfunction from this also. I just don’t know.
The only thing I can say with certainty from my experience is to consult a specialist, not a regular ped or family doc. We’ve learned that any odd breathing in a small child, even a child with an asthma diagnosis, results in either shrugs or a panicky pneumonia hypothesis (well, yes, wheezing would indicate pneumonia if he DIDN’T have asthma) to a medical professional who is not a respiratory specialist.
I’m taking my 3rd baby to a new respiratory specialists in a few weeks to check out her milder respiratory symptoms (she has never had a gasping episode) because of the family history. If there’s time, I’ll bring this up, and report back on what he says.
Kara, I really appreciate that you took time to post this detailed update, and I’m sure many other families will as well. I concur that it’s really worth it to consult with a specialist at some point, because most family doctors will not be familiar with these episodes and just attribute them to something benign. – Anne Marie
I watched the video some posted in the earlier comments and I have done this since I can remember when I cry really hard during the day (I am 21). When I go to sleep even if it’s hours later after crying hard I will always do the gasping thing. I have a daughter she is 1 now and she also does this as well. I don’t think it’s from any milk allergies or anything. I don’t have any milk allergies nor does she as well as asthma. I still don’t know why it happens but when I heard my baby doing it I must say I wasn’t surprised because I have done it for years as well. I don’t know if she will ever grow out of it. But I’m pretty sure it happens to babies when they cry.
Hi Shyanne, thanks for sharing your experience, especially as an adult who still experiences it. As with most things that happen to the body, there could be many causes. Allergies and asthma could very well be a few of them. In your case, I can’t venture a guess, beyond saying that it’s just part of your unique physiology. I do know it’s not common and it definitely doesn’t happen to all babies. In my family, we have 7 children and only saw the phenomemon twice – and they grew out of it at almost exactly the same time as their milk protein allergy disappeared. ~Anne
Thank you for the article, my daughter has done this since birth, sometimes every ten seconds when sleeping after gettin upset and being comforted several hours before. I cant comment on any other case but I was reassured by a specialist at great Ormond street hospital (leading kids hospital in uk) that its something many babies do and not related to any strain on heart etc
Emily, I think what is being observed in those babies is something a bit different, and completely normal. Newborns often take what is called a double breath, and it looks and sounds like their air intake is briefly interrupted. They also breathe more rapidly than older babies and will sometimes even stop breathing altogether for long pauses. And the mild “hiccups” that a person of any age can get after crying is also normal. ~Anne
My newborn does this double breathing since birth. He is formula fed. Will he grow out of it? He does it more while asleep and not when he’s upset. Sometimes every thirty seconds. Taking him to the doctor this week
How old is your newborn now, Carlyne? The double breathing (or “periodic breathing” is normal, and it’s also common to see unusual patterns of breathing during their REM sleep. He should outgrow it in the first few months. ~Anne
Thank you so much for your reply. My LO is 2 1/2 weeks. It’s not fast breathing or a pause. It’s like a sobbing spasm or breathing hiccup like after you cry (sharp intake if a couple breaths) but he hasn’t been crying and he does it not only while he’s asleep but also awake. Is this the same as double breathing in a newborn? And it will resolve? I have a video to show the doctor.
It could be periodic breathing. This explanation from Fairview Hospital may help: “Your infant may have breathing that pauses for up to 10 seconds at a time. This is called periodic breathing. There may be several such pauses close together, followed by a series of rapid, shallow breaths. Then the breathing returns to normal. This is common in premature babies in the first few weeks of life. Even healthy, full-term babies sometimes have spells of periodic breathing. These spells often occur when the infant is sleeping deeply. But they may also occur with light sleep or even when the baby is awake. A baby with periodic breathing will always restart normal breathing on its own. No stimulation is needed. Although this can be alarming to the parents, it is a harmless condition and it will go away as your baby gets older.”
That’s good you have something to show the doctor. Let me know how it goes! – Anne
No it’s not pausing or rapid breathing. Its sharp intake of breaths like a sobbing spasm. But he does it all the time. Showed the doctor the video and he didn’t know what it was. But said as long as his nostrils aren’t flaring or having a hard time breathing it seems ok. I feel like it’s not normal but not sure what else to do?
That’s a lot like our experience, then, in that our babies weren’t struggling to breathe or having retractions and yet were doing something that’s not really “normal,” either. You might look into some of the possible causes mentioned in the post, and then follow-up accordingly with a specialist. Hope you get to the bottom of it and that he outgrows it as ours did! ~Anne
Thank you for this. This is a breath of fresh air for me. I have been searching and searching for something to tell me what’s going on with my daughter. Your descriptions are PERFECT for what she does. It’s like you wrote about her. And I concur, it DOES scare me to death. My doctor us been puzzled and everyone, literally EVERYONE we tell or those who see it, have no idea what it is and all have “never seen it before.” As you can imagine, that kind of response is even more scary, especially since the doctors have no clue. The closest thing they have decided is, like what you said, it has something to do with her reflux.
This began with my girl when she was about six weeks old and also, exclusively breastfed. i appreciate this so very much. I know you stated that you aren’t a doctor, but you’ve given me more insight then they have. I have done everything you have suggested already, except seeing a specialist. That’s definitely next on the list. Please email me of anything else you know about this. You’re a true blessing!
-Andreya
Andreya, it’s so discouraging when no one seems to have an answer, even the doctor himself. I would definitely look up a specialist, if her episodes are really concerning you. We could have gone to see an allergist, but at that point we had noticed the episodes getting better. God bless you and your family! ~Anne
I’m so glad to have come across this blog! The same thing happened to my 5 years old daughter. And it’s the first I’ve seen in her. She’s never had this problem before until now. Most of you have seen this problem occurring when your child was/is a few months old. But for a child 5 years old and having it for the first time, is that normal?
Hi Tracy
Same for my son who is nearly 5 years old, never happened before, but last night happened for the first time whist he was asleep. Loud enough to wake me up, but i didn’t disturb him as i was worried it was a dream and he otherwise appeared fine.
Like you i was concerned that I couldn’t find any references of it happening to older kids however my son did have reflux as a baby but he’s been back on cows milk for at least 2 years with no problems since.
Guy
I suppose if the theory is allergies, that could definitely develop later.
Hello! I am reading this tonight because I am currently watching my two year laying in bed doing exactly what you describe. It started when he was three months old and always follows a hard crying episode (we tried to get rid of paci today 😢) We had many EEGs done as they felt I was describing infantile spasms but they ruled out it being any kind of seizure. That was at about 5 months old. We just try now not to let him get super upset but it is hard, especially now when we do need to discipline sometimes. AND I have a 6 month old who does it too!!!!! We are scared to let him cry because of this. It bothers me so much everyday and I just don’t know what to do…., 😢 he will do it the entire night after crying hard. They both have the same hysterical hyperventilating cry (as I call it). How do I discipline and teach him when I don’t want this to happen….
Kelly, I know how frustrating that can be, and we also tried to limit big crying spells when we could, but at the age of 5 months and 2 years old that’s just not always possible, given their immaturity. Crying is a very natural response to many things. I would still give discipline a priority and don’t worry about upsetting him. Thankfully, you know that this condition is not harmful or life-threatening, so try and keep some perspective. My prayers are with you! ~Anne
My 11 month old baby girl started making a sound like a hiccup but she doesn’t have the hiccups. She started this thing a couple days ago. My husband and myself are new parents and are just wondering if it’s normal for her to do this.
Does she notice it much, or does it distress her at all?
I live in Venezuela, when my second baby was 12 months he ripped the pages of a magazine to use like skates, and after a while ” skating ” on the floor he felt down he cryed so bad that he went out of air, he tensed all the joints and muscles, his arms were wide opened and his legs were streched to the point of his fingers and … He fainted with both eyes open, like without life. It was very scary, then he came alive again as nothing happened. Our pedriatrician was amazed it was only describe in books he had never seen that , he said it was called the sobbing spam , and it happens to very bright kids. It must be , my kid is 27, he works eith artificial intelligence, he had built robots, programs for computers and work with alternative energy in wind mills!
That sounds a lot like a breath-holding spell – scary and intense to watch!
I’m reading this and the first thought that came to my mind is: God bless you Anne! Really! You pretty much described what my daughter has been going through since she was about 6 weeks old. She is 6 months old now. I spoke to her pediatrician and she said it was Breath Holding Spell. I knew it wasn’t breath holding spell. I searched for answers and didn’t find any. It was so frustrating. Until today I stumbled upon your blog and I’m so relieved to know that we are not alone in this. Usually I try not to let her cry so hard knowing it would trigger this ‘breathing episode’. But I’m trying to sleep train her now as neither of us gets any good sleep. I Started last night, and she cried so hard and started this breathing thing, I had to give in and nurse her to sleep (which is exactly what I’m trying to stop). It’s just hard watching her do that. Right now I’m confused as to whether to go through with sleep training (and of course Expect loads of this breathing episode) or keep hoping that she’ll learn to sleep better by herself as she gets older so she doesn’t have to get really upset with sleep training…
I was in the same situation you are – trying to improve sleep for everyone but also hesitant to let Ben or Sam “cry it out” for ANY length of time because the episodes would surely follow. Do what you feel is best, though! In my situation, after my husband and I talked it over and had the reassurance over time that this wasn’t dangerous or life-threatening at all, we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to go ahead with sleep training. ~Anne
Can you please let me know how sleep training turned out? My 10 month old daughter has breathing episodes after bug cries and I’m so scared to let her cry but I am not getting any sleep. I don’t know what to do!
Hi Jill, sleep training turned out fine and was done within 3 nights. The first night is always the hardest as they adjust. I put them in bed sleepy but still awake. When they started crying I would wait about 15 minutes at first and then go over and pat them and say “night night” as a cue and lay their head back down.
The next time I would let them cry for a longer stretch, and then go into comfort again.The third time, I wouldn’t go in again and they would eventually go to sleep. The next night the whole process was shorter.
It helps ALOT if you put your child somewhere at a distance, preferably where he cannot see you. My husband and I would move the bed/playpen to a close by room. A child who can see you will cry even harder; distance helps reinforce that he is learning to do something on his own, without you. It also makes the crying quieter to you and your spouse so it’s not as disruptive or upsetting.
Anne Marie
Have things gotten better? My daughter used to do this all the time and like you I didn’t want to let her cry because it would get worse. She has reflux and is on a high dose of a PPI called Marci dosing. It has changed our lives! Anyways she stopped doing the episodes once the medication was right and now at 11 months has started again. I think it’s because we introduced cows milk! I hope your LO is sleeping better!
I found this post awhile back and was so happy because the symptoms you listed were EXACLTY like my son Ethan. The spasms started at around 8 weeks. At first, it was only when I wasn’t around, or if we had people over, almost like he felt overwhelmed. He would do it if a stranger held him. Then it became worse, they would happen in the car! I read your article and immediately put it on the back burner because I thought, my boy never spits up so he doesn’t have reflux. I eat a ton of dairy, so he’s not allergic.
Boy was I wrong. After months of what we thought were colds turned out to be congestion due to a dairy allergy (almost certain) still waiting on the blood work.
Long story short, I have eliminated almost All dairy, ( as much as I can read on the labels) his congestion is almost completely gone but the spasms still happen once in awhile. Still doesn’t like car rides. I was hoping it would all magically fix itself.
I have a few questions, did you continue to breastfeed until his allergy disappeared or did you switch to a formula, if so, what kind?
My boy has a night cough, it seems to be getting better, did you have that as well? I’m thinking it’s connected…
Do you have some insight on diet/meal plans for my 9 month old? Lately certain foods haven’t been sitting well with him so we’ve really simplified his diet back to apple sauce, organic jarred purée and boring old 6 month food.
How did you little one sleep during this whole process? Mine sucks at it! He gets a good first few hours and now he wants to nurse all night long from midnight on. I worry my heresy milk upsets his tummy and is doing more harm then good.
Did you ever consider medication?
Thanks so much for your help!!
Alexandra
Alexandra, thank you for stopping by and sharing your experiences. I hope we can all help each other with this dilemma by comparing notes and sharing what has worked. Here are the answers to your questions:
Did you continue to breastfeed until his allergy disappeared or did you switch to a formula, if so, what kind? Like you, I completely cut out dairy. I continued to nurse him until he was 14 months old. Eliminating dairy helped tremendously with his episodes but it was extremely tough for me. The reason I didn’t switch to formula is that I felt it was too risky, with them being milk-based. Soy was an option, of course, but I didn’t want to feed him soy.
My boy has a night cough, it seems to be getting better, did you have that as well? Benjamin did not have the night cough, but that can definitely be a classic sign of silent reflux or an allergy.
Do you have some insight on diet/meal plans for my 9 month old? This is a tough one, because I feel like my son was shortchanged somewhat when it came to diet. Although I nursed until he was 14 months, it wasn’t exclusive at that point. At the 12-month mark, I started looking for whole milk substitutes for him to drink with meals. Unfortunately, he would not drink goat’s milk and that would have been ideal. We settled for rice milk, which is nutritious but low in good fats. He is still a really small guy to this very day (at age 8) and I guiltily wonder if it’s because we didn’t do a good enough job with his diet as a toddler. My advice to you would be to get in touch with a knowledgeable nutritionist so you can go over what he’s eating and drinking now and get some help in filling in the gaps.
How did your little one sleep during this whole process? Mine sucks at it! He gets a good first few hours and now he wants to nurse all night long from midnight on. I worry my heresy milk upsets his tummy and is doing more harm then good. Yes, Benjamin nursed frequently at night, so much that I made the difficult decision to sleep train him before the first year. We were both waking up constantly and it was exhausting! I say it was difficult, because I worried about how NOT nursing him would cause crying and trigger more breathing spasms. But we got through it ok. Because I had eliminated dairy at that point, he was having far fewer anyway. And it only took 3 nights to get him to sleep all the way through. As a bonus, he immediately started sleeping better during the day; he traded several 20 minutes naps for the more normal 2-3 hour nap.
Did you ever consider medication? For a short period of time, we tried a wedge pillow and prescription Zantac. But the improvement was negligible, and our goal was to get to the bottom of the problem, not just treat symptoms.
Anne
Wow thank you so much for replying to my long winded message. I’m happy to report he’s doing a by better. Tried our little guy on reflux meds but defiantly made things worse. He puked much more and was quite fussy so we took him off right away. I’ve decided on a high protein diet with he best quality local meats I can find. I’ve recently noticed he is also really allergic to chicken. I’m beginning to think he doesn’t have reflux… he still has the odd spasm but is mostly after a good cry so of course we try to prevent those.
If you don’t mind, please describe what method of sleep training you did! Would love some help with that, he’s also teething so not sure when the best time to start training him would be…
Thanks again!!
Alexandra, you’re more than welcome!
I guess there’s really no best time for sleep training since every situation and every child is different. Nothing is set in stone. For instance, many say that babies shouldn’t be sleeping through the night at just a few months old, but I had an exclusively breasfed baby who did just that at 3 months – and all on her own. It didn’t set her back at all and she is a vigorous and healthy 5 year old who to this day sleeps like a log.
With Benjamin, because of the allergy and poor sleep for both of us, I decided around 10 months to teach him to sleep all night. I would nurse him until he was asleep and put him to bed. When he awoke during the night and fussed, I would go comfort him and say “night night” but not pick him up. Then I’d get back in bed and wait a while. He would keep on crying and after about 10 or 15 minutes I’d go back again and repeat. I would do this only a few times and finally just go to bed and wait until he fell asleep. The first two nights he woke twice. The third night he woke once. After that, he slept all night and his naps during the day improved vastly in length and quality. This is one of those situations where nursing at every night waking was not actually doing him or me much good at all.
Hope this helps!
Anne
Hi Anne, thank you SO much for your article! My son (He’s a Benjamin too!) Did this one night after a really hard crying spell at about 3 months old and it lasted through the night. He did have a little cold. He did it a few days later during the day after a long crying spell but it only lasted a few minutes. He still had a cold then. He is now a few days shy of 6 months and he is doing it tonight after a really hard crying spell and he has a cold again. Sadly I am travelling for business so my husband is home with him, which is really upsetting for me to be away during this. Since it only seems to happen when he has a cold, do you think it could still be tied to reflux or a dairy allergy? I have always been a HUGE dairy eater (like I drink a gallon of milk a week) so I don’t think it would be from that otherwise I would think it would happen more often. Have you heard of other cases when it happens only when the baby has a cold? I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thanks again for your reassurance!
Hi Lisa, you’re the first that has commented here about noticing symptoms only during a cold, but it doesn’t at all mean that your son is the only one. I would watch him closely next time he has cold and maybe record the symptoms or take him to your pediatrician so he can see the episodes. ~Anne
Hi I’m trying to find out if my 2 month old daughter is having the same problem. The other day she got her shots and almost immediately started to have muscle jerks and a gasp for breath it looked like hiccups but not . The doctor told us nothing was wrong she was just upset from shots even though she said she had never seen it before. Now last night she was sleeping and a noise startled her awake she began to wail a strange cry and then the hiccup gasping began and lasted 30 mins just like your experience no one has a clue and it’s terrifying. She is a milk protein allergy baby and on nutramagin formula. Thank you for any help.. the Carter family
Jennifer, how long has she been on the Nutramagin? Do you know how severe the milk allergy is? It’s possible that even with the sensitive formula she might still have some mild symptoms like the breathing episodes. I would mention it at your next well baby checkup. ~Anne
My baby too was experiencing this kind of thing occasionally that I would woke up and find him sobbing so intense that it scares me… I watch him breathing and would see that he would stop doing it for at least 5 seconds then breathe again. It usually happens at night that I cuddle him and try to wake him up. When he was still on my tummy I would experience a rapid beat that I thought he might be having hiccups (is it possible?) Then when he was born his hiccups goes on even if he is feeding (he’s bottle fed), when he’s laughing, even if he’s doing nothing. Is that normal? He is a healthy baby boy through CS, and he is perfectly fine. But I just woke up tonight when this sobbing thing happened again that I seek for some answers and through this site it somehow gives me a slight relief but I think if this will persists then might as well seek a doctor’s advice. Thanks!
This is a late comment but I’m 16 I have that problem I think.
All I know is when I cry I don’t make sound so I forced my self to not make any sound and i guess that’s why I think I cry like this.
When I get it I have heavy breathing like spasm and I couldn’t talk. After crying I would have some little asthma. Couldn’t breathe properly and few minutes I’m back to normal
Here is the translation of the text you asked about… My 6 month old grandson has the same problem as your children did… the ENT called it “hiccups”. what a quack! (sorry, i’m just not happy with that diagnosis)
Home » Primary Care » The spasm of sobbing or crying apnea: a review and a proposal for assistance
Primary Care
Primary Care 1998; 22: 112-22
Spasm of sobbing or crying apnea: a review and proposal for care
The sobbing spasm or apnoea of grief: a check-up and a proposal for care
MJ. Torregrosa to , JL. blight b
a primary care pediatrician. CAP La Mina (Institut Català de la Salut). Sant Adrià del Besòs (Barcelona).
b Psychiatrist Primary Care psychoanalyst. Unitat de Salut Mental de Sant Martí-Nord. Institut Català de la Salut (Barcelona).
Cramping spasms are a frequent and alarming phenomenon occurring in apparently healthy children. Its sequence is often quite typical and repetitive: abruptly and unexpectedly the child breaks into tears and then goes into apnea or, after a period of crying in which the child is not comforted, apnea occurs: the child stops breathing , Emits sounds choppy, pale, immobility or total or partial stiffness, or even falls to the ground more or less abruptly.
Depending on an elementary descriptive and external element, the color acquired by the child in the crisis, these apneas have been classified crying or sobbing spasms 2 clinical forms: cyanotic and pale .
PHYSIOPATHOLOGY
These two clinical forms were described by Lombroso and Lerman in the sixties one . It is often said that their differentiation is important, since their pathophysiological mechanisms are different and, from the psychological point of view, may involve different psychological events or structures. However, there are also forms mixed : the child gets on cyanotic and pale.
When crises occur with loss of consciousness, has been postulated pathophysiology mechanisms based on transient cerebral anoxia, mediated by respiratory phenomena (cyanotic form) , heart ( pale form) or mixed.
Clinical and Natural History 2-9
The blue or blue shape is the most common and responds to the classic description: if a disgruntled or frustration aroused in the affections child with anger and rage, or, as we said, after a plaintiff cry that maybe he feels like not enough The infant begins to cry more or less durably but often mothers often recognize “as the one who produces the attacks”. Indeed, either after a period of crying or abruptly and unexpectedly, there comes a moment of silence, usually after a stridulous shake. At this moment we usually find the child with the mouth completely open and forced expiration. The face and trunk change color. After this silent pause, the crisis can be resolved with a laborious and inspiration without loss of consciousness (mild form) . If the picture continues, cyanosis becomes widespread and loss of consciousness ensues. Occasionally, postural changes, partial hypertonies (or, on the contrary, hypotonies) may occur. They often progress rapidly towards an opisthotonos and may even lead to a generalized seizure, with or without urine output.
The pale form or syncope has a cause trigger significantly different. In general it is a situation of pain (for example, a trauma, even mild) or an unpleasant and sudden emotion: intense fear, frustration, unpleasant surprise … The child suddenly, after a brief cry of pain, It turns pale. A certain bradycardia is the pathogenic responsible for that pale tonality and the possible loss of consciousness. This brevity of the prodromes often causes loss of consciousness and convulsion to be the form of presentation, so that the crisis can be labeled as a state of affairs when, in fact, a careful anamnesis would make us think and compare such Reactions to the phobic reactions of adults (before blood, wounds, medical examinations …) and, consequently, to check the homogeneity of the picture, for us very dubious.
Whatever the type of spasm, the episode is always brief (from seconds to a minute) and the child quickly regains consciousness. After the crisis, you may feel depressed, and sometimes even fall asleep. But if it is not so, after a few minutes it resumes its habitual activity and seems to have forgotten the initial annoyance. Recalling the situation, the initial emotion or frustration, you may even start to cry again, but the crisis rarely recur in the following hours. The recovery is therefore complete, fast and without demonstrable organic lesions.
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The key to the diagnosis lies in thoroughly investigating the circumstances prior to the event. As Kreisler et al recall, citing J. Aicardi 9 , “a seizure that constantly recognizes a triggering cause is more likely to be a breath-holding spell a seizure, whatever the form of seizure, even if it lateralized” .
epidemiology 6
Prevalence . We have come to speak of a prevalence of 27% for mild forms and 0.1-4% for severe ones, although, in our experience, both rates appear to be excessively high.
Clinical types . The cyanotic form is the most frequent (54-62%). The distribution of the other two forms is 19-22% for the pale form and 12-19% for the mixed form.
Age of onset . They typically begin in the second year of life. Different studies coincide in the presentation of the first crisis at 18 months of age (80-87%), with a wide margin ranging from 3 months to 4 years. In 10-15% of cases, they may persist up to 5 or 6 years. As we see, it is usual to debut in any case, within the period of the psychological process of separation-individuation of the child regarding parental figures, a process that presents a key period between the first and the fourth year 11-15 .
Frequency . They can occur from several episodes a day to one a month or less. The most frequent evolution tends to be an acme in the process of individuation, during the second year of life, with a progressive and spontaneous reduction of the crises afterwards.
A family history is observed in 20-30% of cases. Also, the possible persistence in adulthood of syncopes (in 17% of cases) and, with or without free interval after the first of childhood, of anxiety disorders and phobic disorders.
Psychosomatic understanding
The components psychological syndrome have already been postulated since the beginning of the century: it has come to call the box ” respiratory emotional upheaval ” . In the psychological perspective, the syndrome can be understood from two frames of reference different but consistent: as a somatoform learned reaction , likely to change the relationship of the other members of the environment to the child. Of course, this is an undeniable perspective today, despite the undoubted nature of the organic pathophysiology of the picture. The other perspective of understanding is the psychodynamic or psychoanalytic, which overlaps with the previous and also tends to impart a sense of spasms during crying : can be understood as individual reactions to frustration, pain and loss, and as ways to communicate and require behavioral and emotional changes in the child ‘s environment 8,9,12,13 .
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The concept of containment and its opposite, that of loss of containment and evacuation of anxiety , can provide a general framework for the understanding of this picture as well as indications for treatment. We accept here the concept of containment that has been adapted by one of us 10.16 for use in primary health care: “That emotional function or psychological ability to perceive and receive own or others ‘ anxieties and incorporate them within ourselves without need to act (or act immediately) under their pressure ” . The function of containment, a result of the performance of processes and basic structures of personality, allows that not taking action to anxiety, suffering, felt in ourselves or others (consequently the persecution that when act, we do “at a level of” metabolizing “or elaboration of anxiety that encourages more development than the initial anxieties unmodified” 16 ). Some capabilities containment sufficiently well developed have the cognitive affective results that maintain an empathetic attitude that suffers and consequently use all our mental capacities to help. It is the basic example, from which psychoanalysts like Winnicott or Bion developed the concept, every time the baby cries, the mother becomes more or less anxious. But that anxiety does not mean or should not mean that the child or mother has to start a whole “storm of movements” to calm it: to clean the child, to see if he is cold or hot, to move him, to give him things, to give him food … Well, what the mother does and in general any person with a certain capacity of containment is to “collect” that anxiety and to consider what is going on, so that her behavior or her relationship with the baby will have to do not with all possibilities, but with those that are selected based on their previous experience of relationship with that child, and not according to their own internal conflicts … so, the mother works as a continent for baby: contains what its Arms and his body in the face of unpleasant situations and contains it with his ability to “metabolize” the distressing situations, to then act or not according to what his own abilities and experience dictates. Thus, the baby and, later, the child calm down and integrate progressively, instead of disintegrating by the impact of anxiety. And, more importantly, the containment and capabilities containment are introjected as models for the baby and child.
If every time the child is frustrated, and this creates in him anxiety, anger and other unpleasant emotions 17 , mother or substitutes react by denying or projecting anxiety that the child transmits or trying to dissociate forget, pretend not exist , the child will grow up in an environment of lack of containment . It is easier, therefore, that a threat or suffering of any kind will do back in their experiences and attitudes ie disintegrate more or less partially progress. If, moreover, the mother and her substitutes fail to contain the personal anxiety of the child’s crying and frustration and thus to organize appropriate behavior to calm him or distract him or change his attention because the mother is overwhelmed by anxiety Or depressed, for example, the child may begin to develop models and dramatic ways of communicating their despair. First is an occasional situation, punctual, even fortuitous or facilitated by any biological element. But especially in the case of “blue” crises, once the child observes the family impact of the crisis or the first crisis, it is easy to understand that crying in the next few times is even more inconsolable: he Already has the experience that, in the extreme, only if the drama or urgency is intense enough will they attend. And it is that child lives their internal events with that tension, urgency, persecutory anxiety … His fantasy more or less unconscious may be that this inattention of adults is now false, that their parents are false … Hence one of The factors of the tendency to relapse of the crises, at least until the child or the parents achieve levels of greater autonomy. The other factor that helps recurrences is biological: do not forget the sensations of intoxication caused by suffocation, by hypoxemia, which may be subject to an interest autosensorial secondary by the child, with the characteristics autocalmantes many of hipersensoriales and autosensoriales these processes 18,19 .
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Adequate notion of containment in our context must consider, then, as an emotional function that helps in the development of mental conflicts and external reality and, at the same time, provides the basic contribution to prevent chronicity and, Therefore, psychopathology. In these cases, it would seem that the child can not tolerate the anxiety produced by the frustration and projects it to his parents, who can not tolerate it either and deny, project, act, with which the child feels less content and tends to project more anxiety, to develop their capacities to hacérsela feel the other … sob spasm can be understood from this perspective as an indication of lack of containment , such as hyperactivity or be certain psychosomatic disorders. But there is no reliable data to clarify why some children react with that sign and others with psychosomatic symptoms or increased motor activity and action, although the disorderly, disorganized and often aberrant behaviors of adults facing this problem speak well clear of the pathology of contention involves: smacks, loud and sudden sounds, undressing the child, hold his head in cold or hot water, insult him, cause physical pain, throwing water abruptly, scare, etc., they are Behaviors that we have been told by some parents, disorganized by the culpable impact of the crisis of apnea of crying.
As we said, the sobbing spasm manifests with predilection throughout the second year of life, a period marked by the conflict between the child’s need for greater autonomy and his fears before the world’s exploration; By the parents, by the conflict between their desires for the child to become autonomous and, on the other hand, fears of the child’s increasing autonomy and / or the rupture of the mother-child symbiosis that was so certain and a- Conflict for the mother, the child or the mother-father couple. It is the age of the locomotive acquisition, the language, the change of mental structures and the use of substitute symbols of the absent person. The sobbing spasm plays a clear role in this process: through this spasm, mother and son rethink the speed and depth of separation and the distress of it in that particular dyad; Or the child manifests his need to control others, to control the relational and affective environment. It is important to gather that, in its most frequent form, the “cyanotic form”, it is a sign that, at the same time, is a manifestation through the body (somatomorph) and a manifestation of imminent urgency, which makes us think of the Type of exchanges between that mother (parents) and that child. From the psychological point of view, once other possible aetiologies have been eliminated, at least it is clear that either there are conflicts in the mother-child relationship related to the increase of the autonomy of the child and its difficulty in facing only the difficult affective states, or It is a special form of communication, marked by that corporality and by the urgency of “spasmodic” communication, not just clinical. The crisis of apnea of crying would be the outlet to express unbearable emotional manifestations, difficult to express by other ways and that the child feels urgent.
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Summing up this view, which is to be regarded as a simple proposal for understanding and help in these pictures, the sobbing of the sob can be understood as a way of extreme reaction to an unpleasant situation of any kind; in situations in which, for the child, predominantly persecutory anxieties 16 . In particular, clinical observation provides numerous examples of how these persecutory anxieties, difficult for the child to bear, relate to relational situations and particularly to the relationship with their parents: for example separation or threat of separation from the mother or other significant person, jealous conflicts in which children’s attention or parents, ends attempts to control one or both parents by what we could see, dispute from this perspective, as an early form of somatizar anger, rage , etc. The child, not subject to excessive anxieties, neither situational nor by his own internal conflict, confronts such events with diverse relational actions, which vary from child to child and are similar in the same child: demanding approach and search for corporal contact; Or aggressive and angry reactions; Or looking for more or less depressive isolation … Now, the children of whom we are speaking in this review, in such situations develop that abrupt psychosomatic disorganization, which we call the sobbing spasm.
This particular type of manifestation or communication using the body obviously can be seen as a somatoform or somatoform communication . However, about how it is arrived at, what intrapsychic, relational, and perhaps biological mechanisms lead to it, there is no unanimous agreement among clinical investigators or, as far as we know, sufficient controlled studies on the origin of the conflict . As a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, one of us (JLT) thinks that it is a pluridentified sign and a non-homogenous picture from the pathogenic point of view; although apnea crying is a symptom somatoform , it can be seen either as a symptom conversive a way to influence affects other using for this disorder predominantly psychomotor body expression, as a somatization of phobic anxiety , or even as one protoperversión , ie a form of relationship in which the other control is achieved by disruption suffering itself and itself; would work in favor of the latter psycho- pathogenic perspective some passing trend of these children adiccionarse this reaction model in relational situations they can not control, and remember here again that the fainting, seizures and possibly own apneas Crying, have undoubted bases and biochemical reinforcements, related to the hemical ionic transport and its regulation through the CNS.
Moreover, the 2 classical forms of breath-holding spell seem to correspond to as many types of personality or predominant personality traits different:
The classic blue form seems to affect more energetic, active children with oppositional qualities. In these cases it is more common that the crisis is triggered from a disgruntled: somehow, as we said before, the crisis would be a form of somatized expression of anger.
Children who develop the pale form tend to be passive, inhibited, fans, more dependent, often hypotonic and even timid little impulsive and quiet activities. The generally identifiable event of the crisis has to do with situations that provoke in them an important emotional affection: persecutory anxieties or even anxieties about separation or pain lived with great fear or phobically. What causes the crisis is usually an emotional irruption of painful, anxious or phobic tonality, always unpleasant and sudden.
Confirming that psychodynamic approach spasm of sobs, has been unable to find the coexistence of other relational problems in these children: a relatively common is anorexia and conflicts in relation to meals in the series of Clement Launay 12 , in 9 of 23 cases The parent-child disagreement with meals was the trigger of the spasm. Another relatively frequent accompaniment and, of course, unspecific, are sleep disorders on observations of Kreisler 9.13 . Clinical follow-up studies tend to assert in these children a future increase in neuroticism and school problems.
The family environment plays an important role in maintaining the syndrome and should be taken into account in the treatment of the same: if crises have undoubted relational component, it is normal to produce changes in the relational family , especially when repeated with Frequency and are clinically stunning. It is normal for the mother who, like the child, is seeking a certain separation-individuation of the same, as other members of the family grandmothers, father, other relatives, react with an increase of anxiety and, of course, with anticipatory anxiety before the Possibility of the crisis being repeated. This often leads to avoidance of the child and changes in family relationships and organization that are more motivated by excessive anxiety than by an appropriate approach to the situation. We have seen mothers and fathers who, to avoid the child and avoid themselves these situations persecutory anxiety, came to flee systematically upset him in any subject, abdicating functions propose and maintain limits and transmission rules and regulations , which are basic relational functions in every family, fundamental to the psychological development of young children 20 . In these cases, anxiety is not contained, but negated or avoided phobically, which is favoring in the child, almost always inadvertently, the development of such models of relationship that we can understand as manipulatives or prefigurations of perversion: The child would gain parental control through the non-explicit threat of the crisis. The relational situation can be extremely dramatic, although the clinical-biological is not. However, we must not forget that, on the one hand, the child is not aware of this manipulative activity , but it is reinforced by the primary and secondary gains it provides. On the other hand, especially at the beginning, crises are experienced by the family environment as a danger of death: the instillation of guilt, frustration and / or anger in the parents can be easily understood. If they are previously overwhelmed by depressive or phobic experiences, or “discontented” and isolated themselves, it is understood that they “yield” to such a dramatic threat. But the outcome in children is a growing frustration intolerance and, in extreme cases, installation in a form of relationship with their elders based on a kind of tyrannical manipulation rather than the containment or the resilience of family structure Before the anxiety.
Diagnosis
In spite of all the above, it should not be forgotten that the spasm of sobbing or the apnea of crying are not a mental disorder; We have seen that it is a relatively frequent relational symptom and, as a symptom, it disappears or, less frequently, is replaced by more “evolved” symptoms in the future. At most, it can be assumed, in cases with numerous crises, a difficulty of family restraint and a certain difficulty in reacting to separation and autonomy; Indicates a difficulty of elaborating the frustrations, the mental separation of the object. It is therefore logical to think that later, it can evolve into disorders due to separation anxiety, phobic disorders, dependent traits, etc.
Differential diagnosis
Although the diagnosis appears self-evident, it is important to assess these crises by carefully analyzing the events leading up to the attack, the precipitating factors, what occurred during the attack, and the nature and duration of the post-chronic period. If any of these aspects do not coincide with what we have summarized above, we must keep in mind other clinical entities in order to make an adequate differential diagnosis:
Convulsive disorders (epilepsy and pseudoseizures) , which can also cause changes in muscle tone and alterations or changes in skin color. In epilepsy, postural and tone changes precede changes in color. The most important feature for differentiation would be an abnormal EEG tracing. Pseudoconvulsions are characterized by their persistence over a prolonged period, exacerbation due to stress, lack of incontinence, and absence of postictal phenomena: in reality, one would have to think in these situations of a conversational or protoconversive disorder of the child.
Another possibility is the orthostatic syncope and fainting , but generally these pictures are not preceded by tears. They usually occur without overt provocation or being induced by the act of rising suddenly from the lying position. The anamnesis will inform us of a sudden event with loss of muscle tone. Usually these tables are overcome by adopting the horizontal position and are more frequent in adolescents.
The central or obstructive apneas (ENT) can also cause hypoxia, loss of consciousness and postural changes. Anamnesis and elemental clinical examination are usually sufficient for this differential diagnosis. This is what usually happens in otolaryngology problems and airway in general. In the syndrome of sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness usually found characteristic background as snoring, retractions or obstructive sleep apnea; Ie sleep disorders at night and drowsiness with sleep crisis during the day. The child may manifest developmental or learning delay and behavior problems. The sobbing spasm, however, occurs in healthy children and in full daytime activity, so it can not be applied to attacks that occur during sleep.
We must also establish the differential diagnosis with other respiratory manifestations certain conditions: we refer to allergic respiratory manifestation crisis , the asthmatic and asthmatic crises , the crisis bronchial hyperreactivity … Again anamnesis, simple observation and elementary explorations as The auscultation, will serve to differentiate the different problems in case of repeated crisis.
It should also rule out the possibility of brain stem tumors that can cause dysfunction in the pontomedular area and at least consider the type of malformations Arnold-Chiari syndrome .
At another level, we must ensure that the syndrome of spasms of crying is not part of psychopathological disorders defined as pervasive developmental disorders such as Rett syndrome , typical female; These girls may present peculiar sighing breaths with intermittent periods of apnea that may be accompanied by cyanosis in the first year of life, although the characteristic data are repeated hand wringing, ataxia, and autistic behavior. In the syndrome familial dysautonomia (Riley-Day ) would find typical stigmata, as corneal ulceration, lack of fungiform papillae on the tongue, unstable body temperature and decreased skin sensitivity.
The Sandifer syndrome is characterized by abnormal postures crisis, usually dorsal bow, deviation from the neck back and stiff neck. It occurs in some infants with gastroesophageal reflux . These neurological symptoms disappear by properly treating reflux.
Congenital prolonged QT syndrome is a form of severe syncope that can occur with seizures and sudden death resulting from cardiac arrhythmias secondary to an underlying cardiac abnormality that produces that prolonged QT interval.
For differential diagnosis therefore usually sufficient: a) complete medical history; b) careful history of the crisis; c) observation consultation of the disappearance of all symptoms and signs exploration; d) regular scans and, where appropriate, specific, and e) the natural course of the disease. Are generally sufficient criteria to distinguish the spasms of weeping of similar manifestations caused secondarily by other processes. But the usual thing is that a careful anamnesis, coupled with the total disappearance of the problem and the respiratory signs expected before such an apnea crisis when the child arrives at the consultation, can avoid much of the evidence.
Evolution
The evolution of crying spasms is variable. Generally, the syndrome disappears spontaneously to the 4 years and practically always to the 7-8 years. The basis or foundation in emotional and relational conflicts is visible in some cases, in which the tendency for lipothymia and fainting without apparent organic basis (17% of cases) or in others, less frequent, in Which, with or without free interval after the first of the childhood, are manifested by anxiety disorders and phobic disorders.
But the anguish experienced by relatives in such situations is important. In addition, such anxiety often leads to inadequate changes in family dynamics and relationships: the child may be treated with excessive condescension to avoid crises or with excessive hardship during them; Outside of them, perhaps as a “manipulator.” Hence we propose that, in case of consultation, or even if the subject is mentioned collaterally in a medical visit, the pediatrician, the family doctor or the internist, have some criteria to help in these situations.
Behavior of professionals before repeated crying apneas
There has been no benefit from anticonvulsant therapy in these situations. On the contrary, the clinical observations suggest a worsening of the problem through medicalization and pathologization; willy – nilly, something that comes naturally with medication that is covered by the family and by an anxious family as a disease .
There are no studies or longitudinal clinical observations that support the use of minor or major neuroleptic anxiolytics in these children; In general, the use of psychotropic drugs has to be highly meditated at these ages, both for their biological side effects and for the high possibility that their chronic use interferes with emotional, relational and even cognitive development. In addition, the use of psychotropic drugs for this type of relational problems in childhood tends to chronicle attitudes and inappropriate relationships of parents and / or relatives who might otherwise be modified.
In the first place, as we said, one should avoid considering the picture as a disease or as a mental disorder. Also, let the family consider it as such, which would only further weaken their restraint or resilience. Therefore, one of us has developed a basic protocol for treatment, similar to other basic primary care for mental health 10,17 . This protocol or guide for the clinic starts from two fundamental premises:
1. Consideration of the picture as an indication of difficulties containment by family and self – restraint by the child.
2 . The need to stimulate the autonomy and the capacities of the family before these problems in the primary attention to health, rather than to make the population dependent on the sanitary-industrial apparatus.
Protocol or guide for clinical practice
The following measures or steps should be taken into account:
1 . Diagnosis and differential diagnosis.
2 . Health education: it is important to point out and highlight to the mother and family the experience, experienced by them time and time again, that the crises end without life danger, without leaving sequels, without major dangers provided they do not exist, superadded or subintrantes, convulsive crisis.
3 . Seek to help parents to categorize situations that trigger crises: frustrations, threats of separation, scares, excessive demands, jealous conflicts … Any such triggers may be diminished, considering that the child, in those moments , He can not bear it: administering only the indispensable frustrations, avoiding unnecessary separations of attachment figures, avoiding to compete with the child in “who gets away with it” …
4 . Disagree with measures that are persecutory for the child and / or the parents: all that are perceived by the child as aversive, persecutory, will only increase anxiety and anticipatory anxieties and, therefore, facilitate the lack of restraint before the child. Conflict trigger. There are those who recommend that, in case of isolated episodes, distraction techniques should be used to blow strong on the child’s face, to press with a finger at the base of the tongue or to sprinkle with a little cold water, but we have already shown our skepticism before these measures.
5 . Because what is undoubted is that the child is in those moments desperate to get enough attention and tenderness. And that is perhaps the goal of a non-medicalizing treatment: to increase the child’s safety that he has enough attention and care without that supposing to avoid phobically any limitation, counterclaim or refusal or any situation surprising or frustrating. It is something that must be explained to the parents and help them to understand it and introject it. Among other reasons, because discussing these issues we can observe parents who put too rigid and violent limits on their children or, conversely, mothers or fathers unable to put them properly and feel supported and contained in turn by their partner in doing so.
6 . Recommend, if the child is small, two types of reinsurance measures:
Avoid unnecessary separations or situations that may be experienced by the child as announcements or threats of separation: days without seeing the father or mother, weekends or weeks away from home, sending with other families before the birth of a brother, “colonies »Long or separations from parents during vacations, etc.
If the child is small, or there is no indication of eroticization of the relationship between the mother or father and the child, recommend increasing physical contact with him for a few weeks: the physical expression of tenderness, often infrequent among these Parents and these children, is the way to give them greater security of being loved. Occasionally, this recommendation is difficult for certain families to follow. The observation of this reality in the follow-up visits is in itself a data for the psychosocial diagnosis of the child and the family and, perhaps, a data to be taken into account in the consultation with the child and adolescent mental health team, if the Attention attitude is not exclusively biological.
7 . Recommendations for crises:
In cases of loss of consciousness, it is advisable to place the child in a lateral position to avoid injury or aspiration. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers should be avoided especially if aspiration is possible, for example, if the crisis occurred while the child was eating. The parents’ dramatic behavior in the face of crises are the greatest enabler of them. But we can not recommend distressed and often blamed parents to ignore the dramatic call of their child. Neither do they yield phobic in everything to avoid predictable crises. So in our case we recommend, in the crisis, a way to combine the actions of this group and the previous one : if the child is in crisis, avoid, where possible, any dramatic or persecutory action . Rather than hit him, him wet, scare or the like, we recommend that the parent embrace the child with some force, clearly , and go with him to a quiet room, where the two of them are , child and parent, At the same time that words of affection are repeated slowly or reassuring songs.
It thus seeks to provide emotional support , but based on the physical and concrete containment arms of mom or dad, so that breathing is why we recommend the embrace is stimulated, and not simply “catch” and an avoidance of all types of Dramatism, substituted in this procedure precisely on the contrary: a quiet room or room and without the cries and worries of the rest of the family members. On the other hand, it is a way to improve and increase parent-child contact without having to prescribe it openly, a prescription that is often blameworthy. In addition, if the measure is successful, as is often the case, it is a way of increasing the autonomy and organization of the family, rather than dependence on sanitary equipment; It is a system that increases the confidence of parents in their own parenting skills and, therefore, its ability to contain both own anxieties and those of their children.
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Wow, thank you for finding this, Vicki!! ~Anne
Hi,
I wrote a long time ago about my son who has these breathing episodes at night. He is now 4 and he hasn’t outgrown this which worries me. I am attaching some links below to videos I took of these episodes in hopes of finding someone who has a child who is experiencing this same thing during sleep. We’ve been to so many doctors and they all have said that they have never seen this before. I know that is not true. I found another child across the country who does this same thing. Unfortunately, her family is still trying to find out what is causing this just as I am. I believe that someone out there may know what this is. Here are the links: https://youtu.be/gbXrNGVxioY https://youtu.be/ZucOFiHQNzk If your child does this or did in the past, please comment below. I can also let you know what tests we have done to this point. Thanks Anne for this great blog!
Thank you for the videos, Gina. That’s almost exactly how my boys sounded, even when completely at rest and not crying at all! ~Anne
https://youtu.be/iZ-ze9Nrr5c
Any suggestion?
Hii..gina ,my son is doing the same thing ,did your son outgrew of it? Plz reply I’m so worried here
Anne – thank you so much for this article. We have been dealing with this since my son was born. He has gotten much better and i had not had episode for a few months until last night. Here is a video from 8 months ago. I reply later with more details about pur experience.
https://youtu.be/qQPlwdqwERA
Joe, my sons arms would go up just like that, too, when the gasping was at its most pronounced. Thanks for posting that video! ~Anne
Came across your post as I sit by 11 month old’s bed. Everything you describe is spot on. She used to do this when little, but I thought it was from crying so much! She has reflux and is on Marci dosing (a high dose of PPI). I’m now assuming this stopped for quite some time because of the medicine. Today she had her first cup of whole milk (2oz). I haven’t avoided dairy in my diet, but I’ve somewhat limited it. She hasn’t done well with yogurt. So maybe this is a reaction to the milk and aggravating her reflux. Thank you for calming my fears. I’ll get her checked out to be sure!
Glad to help in some small way, Katie! ~Anne
Hi I’ve just been to a&e with my 15 week old boy who is doing exactly the same and still is now in my arms every minute. We had this happen at 6 weeks and they diagnosed with silent reflux, he’s now on a special prescription formula dairy free and strong medication for the reflux so I was surprised how it happened again today. We are waiting to see ENt anyway as dr said he has floppy pipes but when rushing to a&e tonight they have no idea what it is and say it’s nothing sinister…so frustrating, but my point is he still had it and he’s dairy free. It was after a hard crying episode, but now he can’t swallow his milk either…
Can you tell me how long they last as he started at 6pm and it’s now 9.30 and still doing 1 a minute roughly x
Rebecca, although dairy might certainly be a cause (like it was in our), it’s certainly not the only factor that contribute to the episodes. Like your son, ours would have spasms that lasted for a really long time, sometimes all through the night. But they would get less and less pronounced as the hours went by. Hope you can get to the bottom of the cause! You mentioned “floppy pipes,” so maybe that suggests some sort of structural abnormality in the windpipe? ~Anne
Just found this thread- my son sometimes for a few seconds up to a minute in his sleep- pants/sobs/breathes very rapidly- he was born 4 weeks early -diagnosed with reflux at 3 weeks old,cows milk protein allergy at 5 weeks and laryngomalacia which caused a stridor at 9 weeks – He’s 8 months old now and the stridor has long gone, we’re due skin prick tests to check whether he can tolerate cows milk next week, he still brings up due to the reflux but has not been in any pain with it since around 5 months old- quite interesting to see similar symptoms I took my son to hospital at about 9 weeks old as he was breathing irregularly that was when he was diagnosed with laryngomalacia- his symptoms disappeared with the stridor at around 16 weeks and bar the odd occasion as I’ve described above we don’t have issues anymore, sometimes he sounds windy at night though.
Hi!
I am so happy to find your blog as I couldnt find any information on this matter.
I have 3 daugthers and my 3rd experienced the same epizodes as you have described (or at least I think so).
I have uploaded a video of my girl going through one of the spasms and if you could have a look and tell me if thats the same – that would be great.
https://youtu.be/NQvhES_jRa0
Im not american so sorry for my spelling mistakes….
Thanks a lot!
Meital.
Hi Meital and thanks for sharing that video. YES, that is exactly what my son’s breathing spasms looked liked. He would suck in air sharply and then hold it and sort of freeze up. Then after a while, relax and exhale deeply. It would happen every 1 or 2 minutes for hours. Very hard to watch and very unpleasant for him! Can you show this video to your daughter’s doctor? ~Anne
Thanks Anne.
Funny but it is such a relief to know that someone understands…..
The spasms began when she was 8 weeks old and occur every 1.5-2 weeks for an hour or less. It usually happens during the evening (not while she sleeps).
The 1st time it happened we rushed to the hospital and the staff there saw the spasms but couldn’t explain them.
Since then she went through 2 EEG’s , brain ultrasound and blood tests to rule out any neurological disorders. All came back good.
They also monitored her heart (24 hours Holter) to see if something is cardiologic but she passed that test too.
The doctors here take us very seriously but unfortunately have no answers or diagnose for us.
When I found your blog I could relate to every single word in it as it really resemble what happened to my LO. After reading your blog I have decided to stop eating dairy (accept every now and than) and it certainly helped her colic but didn’t stop the spasms.
I really hope that she will grow out of it…..
Thanks again for sharing… I wish someone could name these spasms so mothers (and fathers) will get some answers .
If you got any tips to minimize these spasms or on how to handle them when they occure, I will be happy if you could share.
Thanks!
Meital.
Hi Meital, is your daughter outgrew of it? My son is doing same .his reflux is controlled (I cut out all dairy) but still spasm is there ..please help
I know your post is older but could you email me I feel my son is doing the same and I can’t get answers would like to know if it’s the same thing thank you
My baby was sleeping and he was gasping for air he has spit up before earlier in the day but now he has never did this before when he was born his mother had high blood pressure so they had to do a c section he was born a month early he had fluid in his lungs so they kept him for about a week cause he was breathing was really fast but they released him we took him for his 1st check up everything was good according to the doctor…
But now this can someone please help us out the mother doesn’t smoke i do but outside we take him out every now and then just to get out but im really concerned about his breathing…..
Thank you for sharing, I have a ten month little girl AND for the past three months she’s been doing something very scary almost always starts with hiccups and then spasms sucking for air and goes floppy her eyes look so scared and then afterwards she’s tired and goes to sleep I’m waiting for her eeg to be done but I’m so confused as to what’s going on ,I also have a ten year old son and he never had ANYTHING like this happen to him.Im breastfeeding my baby girl and she nd I can’t pin point anything that sets it off???
Victoria, have you tried eliminating any of the major food groups that can cause reactions in breastfed babies? Dairy would be the first try, but you do have to give it time, like 7-10 days at least, to see if that helps. Try to get her spasms on video and show at your next doctor’s appointment. ~Anne
Hi Anne, just wanted to write to you as my daughter, Maya, who is almost 6 months old has been going through the same EXACT thing that you described your son going through. We’ve gone to doctors, hospitals, done tests, , some sat its reflux but it’s still a mystery to me. Our case is also triggered and exacerbated by stress and crying. Have you learned any more detail about what it was? So glad to hear that it went away as they got older! I’ve also cut out a lot of dairy from my diet but not completely. The thing that confuses me is that if it is truly reflux, why then are the episodes triggered when they are upset and crying? Any insight or learnings you can provide would be helpful!
Over time, I noticed the episodes were not always triggered by crying or being upset. This was important in finding out the possible root cause; we knew it was related to something other than crying. In fact, the very first time I noticed the spasms and called 911, Benjamin was fast asleep and not upset at all.
In our case, I feel strongly it WAS dairy – specifically a milk protein allergy. Their episodes lessened and finally went away at about the same time their food sensitivity did. So there was a very strong correlation. But allergy is just one possible trigger, which is why I encourage parents to look at other options, and consult other specialists if eliminating a certain food does not make a difference. ~Anne
Hi Anne – thanks for the reply. I eliminated dairy from my diet completely for about 4-5 days now hoping she wouldn’t any more episodes but she had another pretty bad today unfortunately 🙁 Ours seems to almost always occur after she’s been crying pretty hard. Going to see a neurologist soon, hopefully we’ll get some answers. Thanks for your insights!
Esther, you might need to eliminate dairy completely for a full 2-3 weeks to accurately assess results. This is what Kellymom recommends, since dairy takes quite a while to completely be out of your system. ~Anne
Hi Anne, yes will definitely continue to cut out dairy for the near future. Wouldn’t it be amazing if that solved it and no more episodes! Praying for a miracle!
Thanks, Esther
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this article. My daughter is coming up on 10 weeks old and earlier today I experienced every single thing you’ve described with your son. She had a huge crying spell at her 2 month vaccination appointment today (before she even got the shots!!!). I could not figure out what was wrong with her and she kept crying and crying a cry I had never heard come from her, which in turn made me cry. I felt so helpless. Once she was finally calmed down and we left the doctor I kept noticing this gasp/spasm/hiccup thing happening. After a few hours of it I knew something wasn’t right. It wasn’t that typical gasp a child does when they’re coming down from a tantrum and it wasn’t hiccups. I was still worked up from the doctor appt. and frantically hopped on Google and tried to type something in that semi-made sense to somewhat describe what was happening to my baby. I didn’t expect much but this was the first thing that came up and as I read through tear-filled eyes I did find some comfort… Especially reading through all the comments from parents who also experience/d this crazy kind of phenomenon. I plan on watching her like a hawk tonight and not getting much sleep but it will definitely save me and my poor baby from undergoing all of those intrusive tests. I’ve been doing lots of research all night and can chalk this up to acid reflux accompanied by a stridor and more than likely a milk protein allergy (bye bye dairy). Thanks again for helping me make sense of what is going on with her so now I can take the steps I need to to make her feel most comfortable. Xo Kari
Kari, I’m so glad the post was helpful! It’s hard for both parent and child, and not having any answers can be very scary at first! ~Anne
Hi,
This blog has been very helpful. My 2week old has suffered from this (gasping & struggling to breathe) and it was so frightening when it happened the first time. We called the ambulance and was rushed to the hospital. They explained that he was probably having a spasm in his throat.
He has had another episode. My question is, is there anything I can do when an episode is taking place? How can i make him comfortable? Is there anything i can do to make it stop? Should I be worried when this episode of gasping for air is happening…as in do i need to call emergency services each time? Or do i just wait for it to pass?
Any support or advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Bee, that’s a really good question. My first thought is that in a child so young, there’s not anything you can do to give relief because he can’t be taught to control his breathing, relax his throat, etc. If what’s happening to your son is the same thing as mine, then he is not actually low on oxygen or literally struggling to breathe, so he wouldn’t need first aid. What might help put your mind at ease is to get something that could give you an oxygen reading, like a pulse oximeter. If levels were good then you could simply provide comfort if he’s anxious, or help him get to sleep. ~Anne
Hi my baby started having this breathing spasms after a long sub. He cried a lot and after I experienced the cry hiccups. I am scared I don’t know what to do. I did page the pediatrician, still waiting. I hope this isn’t serious and my baby is ok. I don’t notice any other weird signs. PLEASE REPLY If you experiences this with your baby.
Jas, how long did the hiccups continue? If it was an hour or more, then it sounds like what my babies experienced. What did your pediatrician say? ~Anne
So glad I found this blog. Thank you for sharing. It makes complete sense as I slipped up and gave into some dairy today. Not worth causing my baby the reflux discomfort.
So happy I came across this post. My son is nearly 3 years old and I start noticing this at 6 weeks old. It only gotten worse with age tho for him, and only happens when in a deep sleep . It’s pretty scary waking up and yearly that as you can imagine. Like your son I was told it was a case of Hiccup s also. So happy to know I’m not on my own here as it’s such a scary experience .
I am experiencing the same thing. My baby is 2 months old and I am so worried about his condition. I’m having a sleepless night. The only difference with my son’s situation is that he was born with transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN). The pedi said that it has nothing to do with his situation since it was already resolved. I’m thinking that milk can also be a factor since I’m doing mix ( formula and Bf) since I can’t produce milk that much. Thanks for sharing.
Hello! My daughter (2.5 years old) has done this since she was about 6 weeks old. We’ve done so many tests, ekg, seizures, car scan. And just recently down a sleep study. She did the breathing spasms the night of the sleep study because she was screaming the whole night. The study came back as central sleep apnea and they’re wanting to do an MRI now.. I’m ready to figure out if it’s just normal spasms that she will hopefully outgrow or if it’s neurological as her doctors seem to think.
Hopefully, she will outgrow them like my son did. Please keep me posted, Aleshia! ~Anne
Anne, Have you ever heard of babies starting this later on in their first year? My daughter just turned 10 months last week. Tonight she had a strong crying spell. She is on antibiotic for ear infection, nebulizer for cough and congestion, and tonight she has been doing very slight breathing spasms…very much mimicking double breathing. She has been doing them for the last 2 hours. She has NEVER done them before. She is currently using soy formula for the last month and has been taking reflux medicine since may (the last five months) we have significantly lowered the reflux medicine dosage in hopes of weaning her off of it. Please advise!
Christina, that’s a good question. Most of the parents who’ve commented here mention seeing this for the first time in the early weeks or months, and that was our experience. However, if it was indeed caused by an allergy, that could certainly pop up later, especially if it’s something an infant had not been exposed to before. I’m so sorry that your daughter has been not only sick, but having these breathing issues! Please let me know how she’s doing and if the spasms/double breathing are getting better as she recovers from the respiratory illness. ~Anne
Hi there, we have recently seen a pediatric neurologist who also suggests an MRI and sleep study. My son does this for hours at a time and is NOT associated with crying. Are you able to share an update? Hopefully everything has been negative & that your daughter is outgrowing this, but if you have any advice to share I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Anne, if you have any feedback too, please do share. Thank you so much for this post. This has been the most informative post I’ve seen on this mysterious topic.
Thanks all. ~ Madison
Madison, I hope we get a reply/update from Aleshia! And I’m glad my post has helped keep the conversation going about what is indeed a very mysterious thing! ~Anne
Stumbled across this blog when I was searching my daughters bizarre breathing that happens occasionally. She first did it at a few months old but not often. It’s exactly like the video shared only not after being upset and after she’s been fast asleep for a bit. I suspected reflux because it is so random and sounds like what I would imagine breathing would be like if you brought up stuff into your esophagus. Its quite noisy. It’s been like a month since the last time but she did it today during her nap. Usually only happens in deep sleep & she sleeps on her belly. I usually soothe her by rubbing her head and if it doesn’t subside then I hold her upright and that seems to clear it. Then she naps soundly and fine again.
This is exactly what has been happening to my daughter, she had one of those episodes after a hard cry, and since she never cries, it hasn’t happened like that again. But, she has major gas, often has diarrhea, very often briefly gasps for air but feels fine, she always has the hiccups, when she feeds she is very fidgety and will scratch and kick me and when she sleeps she often has what seemed to me like nightmares and she always throws her head back extremely far as if to straighten her airway from chest to mouth, it can’t be good for her neck 🙁 Reflux and milk intolerance makes so much sense to me now but I had never even thought of it since she has never spit up… I feel dumb now.
Those really do sound like symptoms of reflux or a sensitivity of some kind, but you could always get her checked out by a professional to be sure, Maxime. Thanks for sharing your baby’s experience! ~Anne
Thank you for tjis post.
My daughter is 18 months old and jad anotjer episode this morning in her sleep and continued for a few minites after waking up. These episodes only jappen for her while sleeping. scares me every time. We have been told that she has a movement disorder which is still un diagnosed. she had a MRI at 6 months also a lumber puncher, full bloods , genetic testing which all came back fine. We are still waiting on one test which was done at the same time and 12 months on the results are still pending. She was breast feed and due to my flooding supply we had to start bottle feedings. ( She is my 1st child ). Her movments were picked up by doctors at her 4 month check up. They have increased as time has gone on. she has low muscle tone poor head control can not sit on her own. I know this might sound strange bit in you blpg you mentioned spasms from a reaction to milk protein would this be only on the throat region or could it extend to other parts of her body?
Vikki, I am sorry to hear about the difficulties your daughter is having and will surely keep you in my prayers! If she does have an allergy to milk protein, it could have other effects in the body besides respiratory ones, such as stomach discomfort/spitting up and also itchy eyes, hives, etc. ~Anne
Hi Anne
Thankyou for your post!
My son has been doing this since he was a baby. He is now 3 and a half. This happens on average 3 times a week and always around 6 or 7 oclock in the morning. I went to an ENT and he said it was sleep apnea. He was booking my son in for the operation to have his tonsils out when i exclaimed is that necessary if it only happens 3 times a week for ten minutes or so. (The thought of sending him into surgery so young scared the life out of me!) Then he told me to keep a diary. I didnt go back as his gung-ho attitude towards surgery made me uncomfortable. Im not sure what my next move should be? Can they test to see if it may be an issue with dairy or something else? Thanks
The best way to see if he’s sensitive or allergic to dairy is to cut it out completely and see if the episodes stop. Dairy takes a while to leave the system, so make sure you give the test a good 10 days or so. ~Anne
Hi Victoria – this has recently started occurring with our almost 5 month old baby girl. Interesting that both recent documented occasions were at a similar time.. right around 6:30AM. I wonder if there is something to that.
Anne – do you mind if I send you a video of our Anna, to confirm it’s a similar phenomenon? Thank you so much.
I’m grateful that I found this article.
Our baby girl had her first episode at 2 months old, after getting pretty upset. It was terrifying. She was gasping for air, then would stop, get a scared look, and make a grunting noise trying to gasp for more air. It didn’t last long. It happened again a few months later, and when I told my pediatrician about it she said she was just holding her breath. Well, if you see this as a parent happen to your child you know it is more than that.. so, I researched. Found an article about sobbing spasms, and kind of went from there as far as knowing what it is and that they eventually will grow out of it. This led to a pretty spoiled baby, as I never wanted her to get too.upset or have an episode happen. She is two now, and has had several episodes since. One a few months ago was so terrifying. She was blue, sweating, and completely stopped breathing for what felt like forever. We have learned that if you distract her(and stay calm) long enough for her airways to relax it usually passes. So so scary though.
So it might be possible your daughter was having these breathing spasms and also breath-holding spells? ~Anne marie
Omg thank god I found this blog. My 14 week old just started doing this
Hello so I have some thing and as parent that has hole heartily had enough of the run around with doctors this site gave me hope. I showed the site to the the doctors to help them finally understand what has been happening with my little guy that has been going though this for a year now we have a diagnosis after seeing a allergy specialist with 40+ year experience and has only seen this four times and my pead helping along the way
Eosinophilic oesophagitis
Is what my son has only 1 out of 10,000 babies get this but he also had every symptom your babies had he still isn’t right and trying to sort him out still but hopefully this is answers usally kids grow out of all of this by the age of two
Cheers Samantha
My son also had these Symptoms from basically five days old if not sooner
Thats so interesting!! I am just starting the process of tests and everything with doctors but my husband has eosinophilic esophagitis! I wonder if there is a connection!!??
I’m so intrigued to find this post and soooo many comments on it!
Let me begin by saying I’m a perfectly healthy 37 year old woman, no allergies or intolerances or anything like that, and I have always done this! Even now, if I have a big hearty cry (eg watching PS I Love You during that time of the month), I will have these sobby spasms for at least an hour afterwards, maybe more. And at around the 4-5 hour mark, so HOURS after the rest of the spasms have subsided, there is usually a big compound spasm and it tends to mark the end of the “episode”, as you are all calling it.
Interestingly, I have only in the past couple of weeks come to realize that this isn’t just normal – I thought everyone did it!!
The good news for all of you is that I can tell you that to the person “suffering” them, these do just feel similar to having hiccups – same kind of category, anyway. They’re annoying but not painful, it’s just frustrating when you’re done crying and trying to have a conversation and they keep coming.
Both of my daughters (almost 3yo, and 7.5 months old) do the same thing and have since birth, and given I thought it was totally normal I never considered taking them for testing, etc. But I did start googling tonight, because my youngest, generally a good sleeper and who can put herself to sleep if you put her in her bed and walk away, can’t be left to get too upset before she falls asleep or her sobs will consistently wake her at the end of each sleep cycle. So I was actually just looking for a way to cut episodes short, but it doesn’t sound like there’s an answer for that!
Nonetheless, I hope the reassurance from a “sufferer” that your children don’t really actually feel like they are suffering will help. I always called them reverse hiccups, it’s kind of what they feel like 😉
Jen, thank you for sharing your experience as an adult who still experiences these spasms! More and more I’m coming across stories from teens and adults who did not outgrow it. I’m glad that in these cases there doesn’t seem to be any underlying health issue. ~Anne Marie
We are also going through this with our daughter. Thank you for your post!
Any updates, Alexandra? ~Anne Marie
Hi Anne. Thanks so much for sharing this post. My son just experienced this and it was driving me crazy . With him it was after a long hard cry, hoping it will go away son.
Is he still experiencing the episodes, Ruth? ~Anne Marie
Thank you so much for writing this article! My son will be three in October. He has had this condition since not long after birth. We thought it had gone away until I was awakened tonight. He woke up crying…my guess is a dream. We also have now made several connections for the first time thanks to your article. I am so very thankful. I have thought several times that his bad crying was sending him into asthma attacks. I just had no clue what was actually happening so I would make appointments and use his inhaler, just trying every way to calm him possible.
We also changed his milk to lactose free a year ago because he was also getting the skin rashes which cleared tremendously with the switch. Your article puts this all together. He did good for a long time. However, he recently wanted some of my light yogurt vanilla and I figured with him being a little older now we would try. He has had it for about a week. With tonight’s episode, we see we will keep him on the lactose free milk he is still on and no regular milk products at all including yogurt!
The video you have posted sounds just like our son….identical. It can be so frightening! I hope my son too grows out of this soon. I think we need to watch his entire diet a bit more closely. This article has been an eye opener and will help us moving forward. Thanks again for sharing your story!
Thank you so much for posting this! My baby is 14 months and has been doing this since maybe about 6 months. I casually mentioned it to the pediatrician at her 12 month visit because I wasn’t that worried about it because it seemed like hiccups and after dealing with some actual breathing problems as a baby and she didn’t look like she was in distress so I didn’t think too much of it. The pediatrician didn’t have a good understanding of what I was talking about but I also mentioned I had seen some videos of kids doing it so she asked me to see those videos. I knew 100% that if I could find videos of it my pediatrician would know what was going on. Well, I showed her the videos and the response was “I’ve been a pediatrician for 20 something years and I have no idea whats going on”. I was shocked to hear that, currently my pediatrician is trying to decide what tests to run and what specialists to refer us to but she really isn’t sure where to start, she showed the videos to a pediatric pulmonary doc and GI doc i believe and they had no idea either. So we are kind of just waiting to see what happens. She seems to be developing normally and I can’t tell of any allergy problems but I will mention maybe allergy testing as a starting place? Also I read “The Sobbing Spasm or the Apnea of Crying: a Review and a Proposal for Care” and the article was really more about behavioral breath holding, it described children who hold their breath after a frustrating incident and because they have immature nervous systems they are able to actually make themselves turn blue and/or pass out. It didn’t really answer what is going on here 🙁 I did find another article written in a french journal that i have requested through the library that sounds promising so if it turns up with anything I will let you know!
Jessica, thank you for the information about “The Sobbing Spasm” article, and for the tip on the French article. If you have any luck, or any new developments, please share them! ~Anne Marie
Thanks!!! No developments really, although her separation anxiety is at a peak right now, she won’t even let her daddy near her and it’s been a couple weeks since the last episode so I’ve personally ruled out anxiety as a cause. It seems like we go about two weeks of really really bad episodes 1-2 a night lately and then a month or two without one at all. She eats the same things every week so I don’t think it’s a food allergy. My husband has EE so I might ask the pediatrician to explore this as a possible route but I’m not sure yet. It seems wild to me that so many people experience this and no doctor (in the world it seems) can provide an answer.
Hey Jess that’s what they think is causing the spasms the symptoms of EE in infants are Difficulty feeding, in infants
Difficulty eating, in children
Vomiting
Abdominal pain
Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
Food getting stuck in the esophagus after swallowing (impaction)
No response to GERD medication
Failure to thrive (poor growth, malnutrition and weight loss) I live in Australia and the Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne are going to do an endoscopy on him in the next few months to actually have a look at why these spasms could be happening and why reflux won’t settle he is 18 months old now with non IGE allergys to dairy, soy and egg we have food under control but he still has his reflux out of control and this makes spasms way worse I hope this helps and will pop in to keep all updates
How did it go?
Hi my name is shanika
My son is 6 months now he is going threw this exact same thing i took him to the doctor they couldn’t find anything….. This is scary i have to wake him out his sleep while rubbing his chest and calling his name . this is a scary sight….. He has had two prior episodes the first one he was only 2 months it was just like hiccups i didnt really think anything of it but i called the doctor the second time and took him in …. It was like the hiccups then he would stop breathing and fall back with his body relaxed … They didnt find anything….. Im not sure what to do
Any updates, Shanika? ~Anne Marie
Hi! My daughter has been making the same bizarre sounds since she was about 4-5 months old and now she is 14 months old. Long story short, we found out she has Chiari Malformation type 1. She was first seen at Massachusetts eye & ear infirmary and we were told she has large adenoids but the ENT wanted our daughter to be seen by a world renowned Pediatric Pulmonologist at MassGeneral and he ordered the brain MRI and wouldn’t you know she indeed has this Chiari Malformation that tends to cause sleep disturbances in people that have it. My daughter has an appointment in 2 weeks in Boston with a pediatric Neurosurgeon. Just wanted parents to ask for Brain MRI’s!! We are lucky because we live in Massachusetts with access to some of the best specialists and Chiari is still something people don’t know much about!
Hi Casey and thanks for sharing your daughter’s experience. I did some reading about Chiari Malformation Type 1, it said that patients typically do not have symptoms until late childhood or adulthood. It also appears to be a condition for which there is no cure, yet my experience and that of many others is that infants eventually outgrow the weird breathing patterns. I am thinking that perhaps the Chiari Malformation is something entirely different from what my two boys experienced, but there certainly could be some slight overlap in symptoms, as is the case with many health conditions. Since no one really knows for sure what we’re dealing with here, and since it’s impossible to know if all those who have commented here are in fact seeing the same symptom in their children, I second your recommendation to consult a qualified specialist, if possible, and look into further testing if you’re not getting any answers. ~Anne Marie
My son is 17 months old and just started having these episodes a few days ago! I even called an ambulance. This all sounds just like what happens to him! Did you switch to soy milk? I nursed my son and I had dairy the whole time. He’s had cheese, yogurt and everything so I’ve been so confused on why now it’s starting to bother him..
I actually switched to rice milk, which they tolerated really well, but unfortunately is not as nourishing. Milk allergy is just one possible trigger, though. My theory is that any allergy could possibly cause the episodes. ~Anne Marie
My experience
This has been happening to me whenever I cry. I think it’s because I hold everything in and when I cry everything just comes out. I have to be able control it to get rid of it, today it took me 40 min and I still get like a hiccup even though it’s not a hiccup because I can’t breath whenever it happens. I feel like it’s worse whenever the person who can make you cry the most makes you cry. This person has to mean a lot to you in order for it to be so bad. It’s like a trauma for me whenever you do something wrong and they get mad and say hurtful things I can’t control it. Even if I’m done crying it keeps going and then i start crying for another reason which is because i can’t breath. But when your crying because of something the person said you feel like your going to pass out. I couldn’t see very well everything was just turning black until I put water in my face it was like waking me up. I saw the video and it’s somewhat like that, except you cant hear the hiccup because it’s going so fast that sometimes one hiccup goes over the other hiccup. So pretty much in my case I don’t get a break to breath on my own (which means the hiccups makes you keep breathing and you can’t let the air out.) A way I would describe how it looked is like a hiccup repeating itself instantly so your chest is moving even though your whole body is relaxed. And when you take deep breaths to not cry you get more hiccups (I call them hiccups because I don’t know how else to describe them). I felt my heartbeat when this was happening and it was going very fast, I also started shaking at one point (which is when I couldn’t see). When I looked in the mirror I did see my pained face and i was kind of a red color. And whenever I saw the person again I got the hiccups again and I started to cry again. But i feel like the reason I started crying is because i didn’t want to experience the breathing again… Once they left somewhere else I started to control myself I could finally control my breathing. And I decided to search it up because this has happened a couple times when I have cried. The only reason I say a couple is because I don’t cry much and when I do that happens which is why I avoid crying in the first place. It only happens when I cry… I’m 14 I’m turning 15 this year so I don’t think this is only for baby’s I haven’t read much about my problem this is actually the first paper I have read. It’s almost been an hour since this has happened and I have been testing my breathing and it’s been 3 minutes before it’s become an hour and i just stopped getting the hiccups. Also I don’t think this happened to me when I was younger which is why i think of it as a trauma because I am positive I would have remembered the feeling.
While it seems like most are outgrowing the problem, your story and that of other adults and teens who’ve posted here, prove that isn’t always the case. ~Anne Marie
I’ve allways wondered what this was. I had it until I was around 20. The last episode I had was after my grandmother died and I cried really hard. I had reflux as a baby and my parents assumed I grew out of the reflux as a child. As an adult I was diagnosed with GERD and the final episode actually coincides with my diagnosis and treatment. I have exsperianced both double breathing and this. The best way to articulate how it felt is a sharp involuntary intake of breath with a locked jaw and a panicky feeling with extreme relief upon being able to breath again. It was a feeling of being unable to move my mouth for several seconds, along with being unable to breath. Often my lower jaw would jut out upon the intake of breath. I’ve been looking for answers to this for the last 13 years because it was so weird and no doctor was able to provide a diagnosis.
So would you say that your GERD treatments resolved both the reflux and the spasms? Thank you for sharing your experience! ~Anne Marie
Thank you very much for the post we had this same experience tonight and was worried. After we watched the short clip you uploaded we realized it was the same exact thing our 3 month old daughter was experiencing. She was sound asleep and was comfortable and cozy but taking 2-3 quick breaths and making the same exact noise we woke her up and they seemed to be less but still there but she ate and went back to sleep. You were right about nothing at all being on Google I searched for 20 mins before I found ur post I can now sleep easy knowing she’s not in danger and there are others who have experienced this thank you
Hello, I read a lot about babies in this matter (and youre righ there is not accurate information in the internet) I wanted to tell you that Im 20 and Ive had the exact same thing that happens to your son since I was a baby. After crying a lot I would have what seems like really intense hiccups for a really long while and then they would just go away. My point is that Im 20 and I still get them. I have no problems with dairy or any other allergies and it only happen when I want to cry during an argument or if Im mad and someone is yelling at me. It is almost always usually a combination of a fight+wanting to cry.
Hi, Just a thought. Since both your children have experienced these same issues, have you considered getting them checked for Phenylketonuria (PKU). There is a diet specific for this genetic disorder and it might be helpful to your kiddos to avoid later in life seizures if they have PKU.
https://depts.washington.edu/pku/about/diet.html
Thank you for your blog and insight. God Bless you all!
I stumbled across this post after looking AGAIN to find some explanation online as to why my little boy (currently 18months ) was having these breathing episodes . Just like you any many of the other parents we have had several trips to A and E and have spoken to several doctors , none of whome can explain what is going on . Yours is the first thing I have found that has made me see others are going through this ! The video you posted is also exactly the same noises my boy makes …. so I can now use his to show ppl what I mean .
Thanks for this read , it’s put me that little more at ease and is good to know I’m not the only one !
Danielle, I’m so heartened that the post is helping in some way, and look forward to more information from the scientific community on all this (God willing).
This was so helpful! I googled crying spasms today after my one year old fell asleep still spasming after biting her lip. She is breastfed, has a diagnosed milk allergy & I ate nachos last night! So helpful to know about this weird issue & what can trigger it!!!
I just want to say thank you for posting this blog. It saved my sanity!!! After the birth of our 3rd child I knew from day 1 something wasn’t quite right with her. She was permanently uncomfortable and unsettled. Never slept longer than an hour or so at a time. She would be asleep one minute and suddenly screech awake crying out in pain where she had such severe silent relflux and then would choke and cough where she had swallowed it. At 5 weeks old she had her first gasping/spasming episode which lasted from 3pm to around 2am the following morning. Looking back in hind sight I wished I’d have gone to a&e, and although I was rigid with fear in a strange way I knew she was ok… she wasn’t blue or mottled and her lips were pink. She settled and we put her down for bed as normal where she fell asleep but of course would still gasp. It wasn’t causing her any distress. I on the other hand were an image of yourself, sat there in the dark staring at her like a hawk. Frightened to sleep incase anything happened to her. I would have never forgiven myself. The fear of it kept me awake until she eventually stopped. We went to the gp on 7 different occasions, explaining the symptoms, showing the doctors videos of her breathing episodes and all they said was it sounds like she’s been crying and is sobbing. Even though I would explain she hadn’t cried at all! Eventually after googling every night to the early hours of the morning researching causes for this bizarre symptom I came across your blog. I burst into tears knowing someone else knew what I was going through. I started to delve more into researching allergies and after I was sure that’s what it was I went back to the gp. I did not leave until they prescribed a hypoallergenic formula. Finally my baby was diagnosed as having reflux and cows milk protein allergy. After switching onto nutramigen formula and as I was nursing I went dairy free, she was a different baby! Unfortunately at 16 months old she still has a cows milk protein allergy (CMPA) and we have discovered she also has a sofa allergy (as the proteins in cmpa and soya are very similar so it can be likely that a child who suffers from cmpa has a chance they may be intolerant to soya also) but won’t careful meal planning and having gotten used to the foods she can eat she is just like all other children her age. The only thing that can cause discomfort now is when her reflux is sometimes triggered which I’m guessing she has recently been teething and has had 3 molars come through. Also when she is unwell with a cold her reflux seems to be triggered and it wouldn’t surprise me if she was asthamatic. I just want to say I don’t want anyone to think they’re alone. If you have the gut feeling somethings not right then keep on and keep going. Medical professionals as amazing as they are sometimes across situations where by they cannot be 100% sure with what’s wrong. Keep a diary of events, do your research, reach out to people who can give help and advice and above all trust your instincts. You know what’s best. Good luck xx
Charlotte, it means a lot that you took so much time to share what happened with your daughter and how you worked with your doctor to address the breathing spasms. Thank you so much, and I hope your story helps other families! ~Anne Marie
My daughter has done this since she was an infant and she still does it now, she is a month of 4 years old. No milk allergy or reflux, but does have epilepsy, and myoclonus.
My son is almost 10 months old, does the same thing, no apparent epilepsy yet, possible myoclonus, not confirmed though. Cows milk protein allergy, reflux, possible asthma but to young for diagnosis has an inhaler though.
Wondered if they relate in anyway. I’m convinced I’m going to find some gene mutation or auto immune problem, or something. I’m sure my son will start seizures around 18 months, gut feeling.
I hope someone finds out more about this one day.
This has been such a useful blog and describes EXACTLY what we are going through with my 7 month old son. He’s our third and we’ve never experienced this with our other two boys.
These episodes only occur after crying intensely – we’ve experienced them three times. I couldn’t find anything online that matched what we’re seeing until I read this. THANK YOU!! I am planning to try to video an episode to show our GP as he thinks it breath holding – it’s definitely not! I’ll also show him your blog; it’s been very insightful.
I’m thrilled it’s been helpful to so many families, Jess! Great idea to capture what’s going on in a video. ~Anne Marie
Hi Anne-Marie, the same thing is happening to my daughter this evening – the only difference is it’s the first time and she’s 16 months old! She’s never had any kind of reflux or allergies, we stuff her full of everything since she was 6 months old in hope she wouldn’t get any reactions in future. I collected her from daycare this afternoon and went to hand over her pacifier but she gagged and spat it out, I tried again and she said no. I assumed ‘great, you’ve just had enough of it’. The teacher said ‘I hope she hasn’t swallowed something’, which I thought was weird but what do I know- this is my first child & I figure if she has eaten something I’ll find it in her nappy later, probably no big deal. We headed straight home and then this weird breathing started like she was on and off gasping for air. I actually thought she was breathing funny because she was peeing in her nappy and her bum was a bit sore. Then 2 hours of crying (she hasn’t cried since she was a week old) – finally asleep and the ‘hiccuppy’ breathing has started exactly the same as your video..,.. I’ll take her straight to the doctors tomorrow I’m just sat in bed now umming and arrring, do I wait until the morning? She’s asleep and content, am I worrying for no reason!? I never realised motherhood was so much torture on your soul ! Anyway, great post. It’s made me feel a lot better, especially with the video to relate to!
I think you can definitely wait until morning, Ash! Especially since she’s content – that’s a reassuring sign. I understand how worried you are, though!! ~Anne Marie
Oh man this is exactly what happened to my son. I was terrified. He also has a milk allergy and noisy breathing. Had a rash that is now going away, (once we figured out it was milk and cut out dairy, a few days ago). Thanks for this post
Wow! I can’t believe I found this post!!! My son has been doing it for some time now. He has no reflux nor allergies that we know of, he is 9 months olds. He used to do it just at night, asleep. But now he does it after crying. Could I send you an email with the video and see if it is the same thing that you saw on yours? He is very healthy but vomita pretty easily, that might be irritating his throat. I don’t know, I feel sorry for him because he seems to stop breathing for a while! I hope he outgrows it quickly!!!
You can message a video to me via Facebook, Alejandra – https://www.facebook.com/zephyrhillblog/ ~Anne Marie
https://youtu.be/7M9TFEcCejA
Would you mind watching the video of my daughter having an attack? This is her second time having spasms this severe, she will occasionally have smaller less severe “gasps”
Last time these happened, she was hospitalized. EEG cleared normal. Looking for solidarity, this is so terrifying. I brought her in, and no diagnosis. Everything checks out as “normal” so frustrating! This cannot be normal!
Thank you so much.
Kristin
Looks just like mine! I left a comment on your You Tube video. I hope others will watch it and share with doctors! ~Anne Marie
Look up Sandifers Syndrome!! This exact thing is happening to my daughter- I actually saw your video on YouTube when I was frantically looking up videos in this past month! We also took a trip to the ER and just had an EEG done 2 days ago and the dr diagnosed her with Sandifers Syndrome! I think that’s it or at least I’m hopeful!
Hi Kristen, thanks for sharing your experience with Sandifer’s. After doing some research, I don’t think it explains what was happening with our boys, or the majority of the children mentioned here in videos or comments. Here are the key differences:
1. There were no seizure-like or dystonic movements of the head, neck, eyes or trunk (as with Sandifer’s)
2. The spasms can last for hours, even all night, whereas Sandifer’s episodes are short-lived (maybe 1-3 minutes at most)
3. The breathing spasms I describe appear to be completely involuntary, and often happen in deep sleep, whereas Sandier’s movements may be learned/voluntary as the child feels they bring some relief from GER.
However, it IS interesting to note that both of these disorder may be linked to milk protein allergy. Apparently, the body can react in different ways to it! So I encourage any families who do see jerky, seizure-like movements in a child who has just eaten to ask about Sandifer’s. Thanks for the helpful information! – Anne Marie
Wow!! I finally found an article about what is happening to my baby who is now 8 months old. It started after the 2 months shots and since then it happens when he cries a lot.. we have seen the pediatrics who told us that its nothing to worry about, and also consulted a pediatric neurologist and the EEG came back normal…
He still does this every time he cries a lot..
I was always skeptical that he has reflux coz he still till now after burping has milk coming up his mouth and then he swallows it back. But the pediatrics told me as long as its not upsetting him and not interfering with his growth that this is not a case of reflux that should be treated.
How can i make sure that reflux isnt causing this?? My mama’s gut is telling me since he was born that he suffers from reflux, but i never thought the spasms and this correlate.
What makes you think that they are related? If they were, why would these spasms only happen when he cries a lot and not when he drinks milk (he started having 2 bottles of formula with breastfeeding)
Thk u!
Reina, I wish I could give you a definitive answer. My post simply shares my experience and my theories based on the facts and the research I did. As far as possible causes go, reflux was only one possibility (because of documented symptoms that reflux sufferers have, one of which is problems in the throat and apnea). You might also look into an allergy of some kind, the physical structures of his throat/esophagus, etc. And also, if you have a video of the spasms, please show them to the doctor. Hope you this helps! ~Anne Marie
Hello everyone, I am not a mom, but I was made aware of breathing spasms 2 years ago. When I, myself, experienced them after the passing of an aunt. I was 22. I had an extreme case because I was crying every day and night for about a week. Just to put words to what your little ones might be going through, it can be painful but not always some are worse than others. It’s like a sharp pain in the chest. They are worse when awake. For me I never noticed them when I slept. So sleep is peace. It put a strain on my body, but again I had an extreme case. It lasted for about a month and 2 weeks to give you on idea on how extreme of a case it was. I hope this doesn’t scare anyone. I just thought it would help to put words to what the little ones can’t tell you.
I have been reading this article and ALL comments for the last hour. My daughter has been having episodes of this in her sleep every night for weeks. She has seen an ENT that diagnosed her with reflux and laryngomalacia. She is 6 months old. I have a sound bite of her breathing here – https://m.imgur.com/gallery/WSS4PPp
I’ve been losing so much sleep over this and haven’t gotten any answers or solutions even though we are at the doctor every week for this. They all tell me to “keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse”. Well HOW am I supposed to do that if I am asleep?! I’m at a loss.
Can you listen to my clip and let me know your thoughts? Also, we use an owlet oxygen monitor and her oxygen does dip to low 90s-high 80s when this sound is happening!
Heather, without seeing video, it’s a bit tricky to compare, but I would definitely say the sounds are similar, especially that high-pitched element (like stridor). It’s usually a sign that the airway is affected, and that is also probably why you’re seeing the low oxygen sats sometimes. Do you ever see chest retractions during the episodes? That would be concerning.
I’m glad you’ve been able to confirm the reflux! Have you noticed any improvement since she’s being treated? If not, I would go back to her ENT and ask for a different medication and also try lifestyle changes, and looking closely at both your diet (if you’re breastfeeding) and hers.
I have a feeling it’s not going to get worse, since you are on top of things and she’s under the care of a doctor, so rest your mind about that! Reflux in infants usually resolves, as do cases of laryngomalacia. You have my prayers and sympathy. I know how stressful this can be for you and your child! – Anne Marie
Hi Anne Marie,
Thank you for sharing your experience. My son has also had these episodes that began occurring when he was nine weeks old. The first time they occurred was moments after his vaccinations when he began crying extremely hard. We have had multiple tests done and were admitted to a Children’s hospital. The physicians have told me they believe it is reflux induced and a possible breath holding response to the pain…He is now 8 months and it happens less frequently and less severe although it still happens when he cries intensely. He is on Nexium and I drastically changed my diet to eliminate dairy, soy, and egg (breastfeeding). I’m just curious about the possible association with dairy that you noticed. Did you notice the episodes resolved completely with dairy removal or just improved? I am diligent about monitoring my diet for dairy and although the episodes are better he has still had them. It makes me curious if he has any other allergen or intolerances that I am not aware of. Have you heard of any other specific food intolerances associated with these events, possibly from others who have shared their experiences? Also, have your children experienced any ongoing food allergy/intolerances or any other issues you feel are linked to these?
Thank you so much!
Katie
The episodes went away almost completely, but not 100% because by that time (over 1 year of age), Benjamin was eating a lot of solid food and so I suppose every once in a while dairy as ingredient, made its way into his diet accidentally. If you look through the comments, you might see if any other families have shared allergy triggers besides dairy. Ultimately, the best person to talk to you would be an allergist. ~Anne Marie
Hi Anne,
I came across your article when I was googling about this phenomenon. Your children must be older by now and you had probably found out why or your babies had overcome it by now. When I read this, I just had to share because I am a living grown up example of this phenomenon. Yes I was. I’ve had similar episodes when I was a child. I remember as a child, usually after a crying episode, I would face this spasms and also it will mostly continue through my sleep unconsciously or consciously when I am in very light sleep. I did feel it then. It was not a nice feeling but it was not something I could control physically or emotionally. Yes it felt like bad hiccups that you can’t control and it gets worse if the emotional event is not resolved. I think I roughly outgrew it when I became older as a child and when I can regulate my emotions better.
Your children are very lucky to have such concerned parents like you. Back then when I was a child, my parents did not understand it and just left me to outgrow it. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame them, back then people aren’t so savvy like us now.
As an adult now I understand what was happening to me. I may not have research studies or back up info to prove my knowledge about this but at least I shall share some info according to my understanding and experience going through this myself. With some background in psychology & child development, I believe that this phenomenon is a physical, psychological and emotional characteristic of a human being. It is like why we have certain traits or a mole or birthmark. Also like some kids cry more while others are more relaxed. Looking back, I feel that it was how I coped as a child after a trigger, usually after crying from a stressful event. It was a natural bodily reaction and my health is good. It will go away, once that eventful episode dissipates away from memory and my emotion stabilizes. It especially will go away sooner with sufficient love, care & attention. You can say that it is highly related to the emotional well-being.
Don’t worry, your children will grow up fine. Teach them good emotional control and they will eliminate this for good. It is the coping skills they need to learn. If I can guess it, children with this are simply more emotionally inclined and it can be their strength in life or weakness if left unregulated.
Anyways, I am a parent now also and my baby also has this. Yes your heart breaks sometimes to see your child sleep thru the night like this. I often say my baby cries like me, the spasms, apnea-like symptoms all yes we are so alike. I can related to my baby on so many things because I feel her experience. I just need to do it a little differently for her than what was done for me last time. More love, hugs, care and attention to calm her emotions because when it happened to me I remembered feeling those were what I needed most then as well. I also kept building trust and my emotional strength which led me to better control. Thank you for sharing, I’m glad you are creating awareness about this.
Mel, thank you SO much for taking time to share your thoughts and personal experience with this! ~Anne Marie
Thank you Anne Marie for your blog post – really helpful and I feel relieved. My husband is currently at A&E (ER) as my son’s crying seems to have resulted in a sobbing spasm. I had to work although I had promised to put my kids to bed, and that upset my son enough to cry.
The sobbing spasm is like on the 2nd video but my son has just turned 6 years old and has never had it before. He’ll hopefully be check out properly and hopefully it’ll never happen again.
Thanks again, from London, England (United Kingdom).
Yes, hopefully it was just a one time event due to him being so upset! Thanks for stopping by, Karen. ~Anne Marie
This is happenning to our daughter, she is 8 months old now. It happened 4 times, each times she had been crying hard right before. First time we want to the ER she was 1 month old, we spent 3 days their it was an horrific experience for her and us. But after a long list of exams, they didn’t not find anything even though they thought it was infantile spasms. The other 3 times it happened, we didn’t not go to the hospital we decide that we did not want our daughter to go through that again. It was happening and disappearing over night. We gave her Tylenol for 24hours.
She developpes fast, with no signs of developpement issue. We thank the lord for that.
If your kid is in the same situation and the doctors have ruled out eveything llfe threatening diseases or abnormality. Just surround your kid with love and affection through out the episode and do your best to avoid long crying phases.
Thank you so much for your insight on this. Like you, I am an eagle in the dark watching my little 5 month old guy, making sure it isn’t a seizure. Oh Google – we have a love hate relationship. Seeing the videos you shared, this is exactly the same. The first time this happened it was after his 4 month vaccinations, he must have been in pain and cried for a while, then a couple weeks later he was overtired and cried intensely then when he settled, he did the panicked look and gasp. Oh gosh, I instantly picked him up and started crying. He of course settled again and was smiling, what a guy. This time, he has a cold (stuffy nose) he must be really bothered by it and cried inconsolably for 1.5 hours. He’s settled but doing the spasms in his sleep. Poor guy. Telehealth wants me to bring him to emergency tomorrow to get assessed. Hoping everything is OK. My gut says it is, but in that moment it’s ridiculously scary!!
Thank you for sharing, as much as Google can be the worst place for me to go when I have anxiety, it was the best this time around. Prayers answered.
Hi Nadia! If you can, take him to the doctor when he’s actually having one of the episodes. Or get a video of it to share! Please keep me posted. ~Anne Marie
I took him to the kids emergency this morning, and pediatrician said sometimes babies get themselves worked up from crying and this happens. She wasn’t concerned at all.
If what you’re describing is what happened to my babies, and what you saw in the videos, then it’s NOT just getting worked up from crying. I’d be consulting another doctor!
It only ever happens after a screaming cry. And then it’s the gasps, only once was the scared look one and it was about 1 second. So maybe different then. Not sure I’ll keep a watch out.
Thank you soooo much for this post It has been a God send. My daughter has been experiencing this spasm sucking in of air since she was about 4 months old. It started just at night but then we started to see it sometimes continue when she woke up and she would sometimes gasp for air. We have been in and out of every ER and doctor’s office all being told they don’t think it’s anything, maybe breath holding spells. Not re-assuring at all as that did not relate to what she was doing. At 13 months old, We were sent to a pulmonologist who said it may be mucus build up and put my daughter on meds to help with allergies and mucus. She only has these episodes every couple of months but it is so difficult to watch as a parent. Your post is the first I have found that actually describes what we have been experiencing. My daughter is now 14 months old. She had reflux as a baby and I will now explore if that may be still the issue or a milk allergy. Did you have to supplement with any other vitamins with your switch to non cows milk? Im not much a fan of milk but her doctor heavily pushed it at least until she is 2 years old for brain development. I’m hoping she outgrows this very soon. Again, thank you! You have set my 3am nerves at ease.
Marissa, I did have to make sure my boys got enough calcium and protein and fats because rice milk doesn’t have enough. Canned salmon and white beans and some cereals have a good amount of calcium. For good fats, try avocado, almond butter, coconut, peanut butter and sunflower seeds. And I’m so glad the post has helped to ease some of your anxiety! ~Anne Marie
Boy, are there a lot of answers on this blog!
I don’t know if you’ve already found an answer, but I’d like to guess at it, if anything I say could help in some way…I hope it does.
Your videos are very scary and concerning and I can understand why you would be worried about this as well. It’s good that you stayed up to watch them breathe, as we never know what actually causes SIDs, experts chop it up to breathing problems during sleep and being too hot so that the baby cannot arouse themselves when needed, (other than suffocation by face in mattress or surroundings.)
One question I have is this. Are the babys’ bellies distended? You mentioned they had cow milk allergy. So I’m assuming they had either constipation or GI problems. What I’m looking for is distension, as it is directly related to what I think it can be.
I had a patient once who had a bowel blockage. His abdomen was so swollen it was as if he was nine months pregnant. And he would be so scared because he would have these episodes of when he would stop breathing for a few seconds and then start gasping and breathing again. Now this was when he was awake and asleep. No one believed this patient. But I went into his room. I was his nurse at the time. And I witnessed it myself. The doctor did not believe, nor did he understand what this man was going through. And I felt really bad for him because I saw the fear in his eyes, and the distress that he was going through. I couldn’t help him every second these spasms would hit. But no one had a clue what was happening or why was he having these breathing issues.
I went home to do research. And I came upon the conclusion that his abdomen was so swollen it was pushing up his diaphragm. His case is severe though, and I’ve never seen one that bad again.
There’s an actual condition. Just not really studied much. Now the diaphragm is a muscle. And it is directly related to every breath you take in and out. When that diaphragm spasms, it affects your breathing and it can stop your breathing for a few seconds, until it starts working again. What I believe was his abdomen was so distended, it was pushing on the diaphragm and the diaphragm could not work properly. It was being pushed so much that the diaphragm could not move up and down and work to bring his lungs in and out. lung function depends on the diaphragm muscle in order to work.
A few years after that, I myself had IBS and developed a partial blockage of my bowel. My abdomen became so distended, I look like I was seven months pregnant. I was also lactose intolerant. It was then that I experienced the same agonizing horrific thing. During the day I felt like I had to manually breathe in and out as if my lungs wasn’t involuntary breathing by itself. It was laborious and I had to remember all the time to breathe. During the night I would fall asleep and wake up gasping for air-I would stop breathing for a few seconds. It was the same thing that this man was having, just to a lesser extent. And it came on with anxiety as well, so I thought I was having panic attacks. However, having anxiety when you can’t breathe is a completely normal behavior. Not long after that I figure it out that it was the diaphragm. And when I took care of this bowel distention, it all went away immediately.
Fast forward many years later I experience something similar to that in my newborn baby. My baby has gone through 10 different baby formulas. He has a sensitivity to whatever is in the formulas and could not tolerate most of them.. We finally tried Enfamil ProSobee. Two bottles of it. That night we went to sleep and I heard a wheezing sound from my baby, so I went to check closer. He was having difficulty breathing and there was a little lag in his breathing. I looked and was horrified to see that his stomach had blown up like a ballon. His breathing was erratic and worrisome. We stopped the Prosobee immediately.
So yes, problems in the gut/abdominal area can physically cause breathing issues when they affect 1.) the space that the lungs are supposed to expand into, or 2.) the diaphragm/muscle that controls the involuntary breathing motion of the lungs.
I hope this could shine light on your question.
These case histories were very interesting to read, and I think the connection you make between extreme pressure on the diaphragm and subsequent pressure on the lungs is a reasonable one. I don’t remember my boys having any stomach distention and none of the parents who’ve commented here have mentioned that symptom, but it doesn’t preclude the connection in your case. This seems to be a complex problem with several possible triggers! ~Anne Marie
Also, it doesn’t have to be distension that causes the diaphragm not to work. The phrenic nerve is what is connected to the diaphragm and controls it’s contractions which in turn controls breathing. Anything that irritates that nerve can cause hiccups and anything that damages or affects that nerve can cause breathing issues.
I’m thinking this is probably the biggest culprit if it’s not due to abdominal distension or anatomical problems with the diaphragm itself. If more that one of your children had it, and it’s not due GI issues, it could be something genetic or environmental.
Also, crying is related with the diaphragm and so are hiccups. When you’re crying, you’re letting out a cry and then taking in a few breaths here and there. The diaphragm is working with that. Hiccups are directly related to diaphragm spasms.
Pa Lee, thanks again for the additional information! I do know that my boys did NOT have hiccups. That’s a totally different thing, even if it may share some similarities or involve some of the same body structures. When the phrenic nerve is irritated, it would cause a small intake of air. This is different from what you’re seeing in the videos. It’s both painful and scary, and can last for 8 or more hours continuously. And after it’s over, the person seems to be 100% symptom free.
I can’t speak to other cases, but with my boys, we consulted several specialists and did scans of the upper GI and respiratory structures, and nothing abnormal was found. Additionally, neither of our sons had any disease or damage to the phrenic nerve, and they outgrew this problem at the same time their milk allergy went away. My belief is still that it was mainly allergy-related.
I will add a link to information about phrenic nerve irritation to my article, since the symptoms it can trigger share some similarities with this phenomenon. Thanks again! ~Anne Marie
Hello, its 5am and my son is having the same. Thank you for this blog and keeping it going. Son has milk allergy and reflux as well. He is 6 months and this is the first time this has happened!?!? He has been hiccuping all day, off and on. Done that before and never done this. His breathing sounds like he just got crying and then sounds like he is sniffing through his nose. He jerks around after each and rubs his nose. Then same pause and then deep breath. Woken up every 2 hrs and then back to sleep. I got him up and checked temperature, 98.3, so thats fine. Seemed sweaty though so i put lighter clothes. I have an owlet sock and it shows good oxygen levels. I guess ill just be up all night. I do have a video, sound only, not sure how to get it to you. After all the allergy, reflux, hiccups, flu B… things we have dealt with this is too overwhelming!
My 22 month old has been having these spasms off and on since she was born. I first noticed them when she’d cry (she cries with a lot of intensity, and then the sobbing spasms take a while to calm). I just hate that she gets them during the night as well, causing her sleep issues and slight pauses in breathing. I have talked to so many different doctors, and none of them have answers. I was hoping she’d start to grow out of it as it really upsets her during the night, but not yet. She tosses and turns all night as well, although that might just be a toddler thing. I have her eating very limited dairy, but might try going dairy free 100% to see if it helps. Nothing has seemed to help so far. I have consulted this webpage many times she was born because of the spasms. It’s nice knowing you’re not alone!
Happy to have found this article. First time mom here from NYC with a three month old. I believe this is the first time this has happened with my son (tonight from 6:30pm to now, 1:20am) he cried hysterically for hours and has been doing the chest gasp for five hours or so. Today I had milk, eggs, cow products and have been giving him cow based German baby formula for months.
Anne Marie – did you switch your diet or change your babies formula to goat milk and see improvements?
Hi Sabrina! I cut all dairy from my diet and continued to nurse them until 14 months. When I stayed away from dairy, their symptoms started to go away. After I was done nursing I tried both goat’s milk and rice milk. There is also a formula called Kabrita you might consider https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1477250&u=596584&m=73892&urllink=&afftrack= – Anne Marie
This is exactly what my 6.5 month old has done. It’s always after a harder crying episode and will even continue to happen after she’s been calm for a while. It’s so bizarre. We have a neuro appt next month. Was really hoping to get a true answer but doesn’t sound like we will based on this and other responses. We’ve caught it on video a couple times and hers are exactly like one of the videos you shared.
It is interesting that people find this abnormal. Anyone I know that cries more than 5 min straight with a hard cry, does this; baby or adult. It’s just what the body does. What is not normal is that people would cry hard for more than 5 min. Babies are usually rescued by their parents and adults don’t usually cry long and hard unless something really hurt them, like someone breaking their heart. I recall it happening to me. It’s like the heart is trying to calm down from being upset. I use to help out in a nursery. Every baby I can recall that cried long and hard did that when they were calming down in their mother’s arms.
Hi CR, if you read the entire post, what happened with my 2 sons is different than what the body naturally does after a hard cry. This phenomenon is definitely not normal. For me, it was a red flag that warranted more looking into. Finding and treating the milk protein intolerance really seemed to fix it and give them relief. Thanks for your comment! ~Anne Marie
Yes I read the entire post and viewed videos. Because the process of a baby calming down takes so long, it could be easily looked at as the baby stop crying a long time ago and still this hiccup thing happened. I have watched babies go to sleep right after a hard cry. That hiccup could continue for a half hour or longer while they appear to be sleep.
Or a baby could have stopped crying before mom walked in house and thought it was not related to crying. That being said, I dismissed what was said about it not only happening with crying especially since so many others linked it to crying as well. If what you saw was not linked to crying then I guess you saw a different problem than everyone else. One thing is for sure…if you believe there is a problem, than there is a problem.
You’re right that for many people it does following crying episodes, and could very well just be double breathing. Crying first sometimes happened, but definitely not all the time. In fact, the very first episode in my son, Benjamin was after he had eaten and played and then peacefully fallen asleep. And it still definitely seems abnormal to me, and my pediatrician confirmed, for those “hiccups” to last up to 8 hours after crying.
There are lots of comments to read through, and those help shed light, too, but some of the parents there do mention that the spams don’t always happen after crying. And over and over again, I’m hearing about findings of reflux and/or allergies as well.
Hi, I am a 19 year old girl and base on what you have described this is exactly what I have as well. I have been researching this for years and so far your the only person I’ve found that has been able to describe what I have been going through. I have this problem since I was baby and I have yet to grow it out. My mom and I have visited doctors hoping for answers but they have dismissed it and said I would grow it out. Mine have evolved, before it would only occur if I was crying but it’s any random surge of high emotions. Meaning if I am laughing so much to the point to where tears are coming out of my eyes it would come. As well as I could feel really sad about something and then it would come. Thank you for sharing your experience and I’m really happy that your boys were able to grow out of it.
Hi Britney, that’s interesting that the spasms can also occur just from “high emotion,” as you put it. The reason it stood out to me is that crying involves a series of physical processes involving the diaphragm, the lungs, the throat, the eyes, etc, so the connection to breathing spasms makes sense as it involves some of the same structures. But for something in your mind or heart to set it off is very intriguing. Have you tried any of the breathing exercises mentioned in the post to see if it helps? – Anne Marie
Thank you for replying,
No, I have not tried the breathing exercises but being that I currently have it now I’ll give it a try. Mine tends to last for a week or less, it depends on the episode that triggered it. My mother assumes it started when I was just borne. I was born in a hospital in Jamaica where it was very hot at the time. When my mother noticed it she asked the nurse and the nurse replied I was crying the entire night and it’s nothing to worry about. But as I grew up I still had it. Just as how you worried about your child, my mother was the same way. At night she said it was the worst, she said it look as if I was struggling to breathe. When I woke up I told her I slept fine and was unaware that I was doing it. When I’m awake I could feel it. There are times when it’s quick and fast and there are other times where it’s really long. Those tend to typically hurt my chest. Over the years, it just became a regular thing to me. Currently, I have it now. I’m not sure what triggered it exactly this time around because in the past it would only occur whenever I cried. But I didn’t cry at all for the last couple of days. However, the only I could think of that may have triggered it was that my period was coming and I was feeling very emotional. That led to me researching it again and I found your blog. I am approaching adulthood and I really want it to go away. It’s a very noticeable sound I make, so people tend to look at me if I’m at school or at a public place. I have no control over it nor do I feel when it’s about to happen.
Thank you again for sharing your story, and please keep my updated on progress!
Hi, Your documentation of your Benjamin sounds exactly of my son (now one year old and still doing this). He also has severe reflux and separation anxiety. I breastfeed but have eliminated dairy. When I without realizing it have something with dairy, he suffers. I pray he outgrows all of this. It is quite scary, especially the “gasps”. It might be worth mentioning he was in the NICU at birth (full term) for “fluid” in his lungs. This has still not understood or diagnosed. Pediatrician has seen several videos and originally called the episodes “hiccups” , I didn’t and do not accept the answer so here we are undiagnosed. It seems much worse after crying, but happens in his sleep as well. Heartbreaking, scary, and mama is exhausted with 2 under 2.
Hi, your blog is the only thing in the entire web that is similar to my daughter.
She has been having gasping episodes the last two days with 5-6 at a time, mostly when she is dropping off to sleep or waking up although today it was when she was wide awake.
We went to the hospital yesterday to get checked to be told it was probably because of teething pain. To monitor and video but if she has one that lasts over 20mins to return.
The gasps are exactly like the videos posted and are very scary.
She has been on formula for a while and is 7 months now, she has gone off solid food due to teething recently too.
At a loss of what to do 🙁
Lisa, I would definitely get a video and show the doctor. Also, maybe ask about possible allergiese? – Anne Marie
Hi there, thanks for this blog post. It has given me some comfort since my daughter started having these episodes when she was 10 weeks old. It first occurred when she got vaccines, and has mostly been triggered by crying episodes. She is now 20 weeks. I eliminated dairy from my diet about 3 weeks ago and she has had a couple very mild and brief episodes since then. We also just got an EEG to check for infantile spasms and I am waiting for the results.
Hi Anne
My baby boy who is 3.2 years now still having breathing problem occasionally triggers by hard cry.
It usually happens in deep sleep if he cried hard before sleeping or during day time. He started having this issue when he was 5 months old still the problem is same..
He takes sharp breath, pause his breath for few second and starts having this spasm.
sometime without crying also it happens to my baby while sleeping.
I have noticed him having this breathing spasm if he got disturb by loud noise, sneezing as if he got scared with that noise. But if i woke him up while having this spasm and let him wake up for some time it goes itself if not it continues for whole night..
Its been a almost 3 years trying to find out the cause of it but failed.
I visited so many paediartician all said it normal and it will go itself by age 3 but my boy didnt outgrew so i am concerned.
Few months back i took him to Gastroenterologist and he suggested lanzol junior as it could be Reflux but the problem is same.
Again I took him to ENT specialist he answered it is case of adeniod issue without any XRay and other examination. He suggested to wait till he becomes 5. This problem may go itself without adeniod removal..
I wonder if this the adenoid issue why it happens mostly if he cried hard and occasionally ie once in a 15 to 20 days why not in regular basis.
Only an allergy test is left to do which i am planning to go once covid 19 lockdwn gets over in my country…
Tired of seeing baby in problem. Thats so scary..
Any one of child completely outgrew this problem after correct diagonsis and medication?
Please HELP….
https://youtu.be/j0A7ZRsVaPo
Video of my baby having breathing spasm
Jamuna, it pains me to hear about how you still trying to get answers after 3 years. That’s a lot of waiting and worrying! My son DID outgrow this problem and it has not come back. I think this seems to be the experience of most parents. I have heard from only a few adults and teens that are still dealing with it, and they are able to use relaxation and breathing exercises to calm it. ~Anne Marie
Thanks Anne..
Your blog comments are my only ray of hope..
Still Hopeful someone will come with the solution here..
My daughter has a milk allergy and is 10 weeks old and has been on the formula Alimentum for over a month now and she still does this. It sounds like what you do after a hard cry, “double breathing” mixed with a hiccup and it scares her awake every time she does is. So she never can stay asleep. She will scare herself awake and spit the binky out. As soon as I put the binky back in her mouth she falls right back into a deep sleep. It’s very frustrating and scary. I have to sit right next to her the whole time she is sleeping to continue putting the binky back into her mouth so she’ll go back to sleep.
This sounds like gasping syndrome. Gasping syndrome is a side effect of benzyl alcohol. This is found in the vitamin K shot giving directly after birth.
Just came across this blog as I was researching my sons symptoms. He does the very same breathing thing. I have already realized that he has a cows milk protein allergy and just switched him to nutramigen. Thank you for sharing.
My 7 years old kind of does the double breathing thing but he hasn’t been crying at all. Just starts doing it. Longest lasting about 11 minutes. Lately about every few days and more towards early morning. He does have abnormal eegs and seizures so he is getting a 48 hour eeg to really pick these up on the test. Not sure if this is a seizure for him or a sleep apnea thing. Neurologist has no idea what on earth these are. He also has eye twitches and eye rolling with these and the area around the eyebrow twitches. Also his arm jerks out too.
My son first experienced this at his 2 month check up after getting his vaccines. It started on the drive home & we actually had to turn around so I could bring him back to the doctors so he could take a look. The doctor said it was probably from crying so hard & his acid reflux. He said the acid probably came up from lying flat & screaming crying. It lasted about 24hours he ate normal & slept normal but like you stated I did not that night. He is about to be 12 weeks & it just happened again after a bad cry because he was lying flat. I am so mad at myself but I was unable to pick him up that quick when it happened. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help him get over it quicker? because it pains me more than it does him. The doctor recommended keeping him upright as much as possible to help with the acid. I also just wanted to say that you for writing about this because it has calmed me so much to know I am not alone in this.
Hi Diana, I never did find anything that would relief the spasms or make them go away sooner. But I have heard that older children and adults can try certain breathing exercises to relax. – Anne Marie
I am so glad I came across this post. I have researched all over the internet and this blog is the only thing I’ve found that comes close. My son is 7 months old and is still having episode of the hiccup spasms. They only occur after a hard cry so I try not to let him cry if I can help it. The longest an episode of the hiccup spasms lasted was 10 hours. I feel so bad for him and it makes me cry. I haven’t sleep trained him yet because I’m scared to let him cry it out because I know he will get the hiccups every time and I can’t handle him having them everyday since they last so long :-(.
Thank you. My son is 10 months old and this is the answer I’ve finally been able to find. We’ve gone to specialists, the ER, and spent so much time in pure panic with his breathing episodes. I’m so glad to see that other infants have had similar issues and I am relieved just to know that my thoughts were in line with your theories. I could just cry. Thank you for this article!
I’m so glad, Blake! This is exactly why I finally decide to write this article! ~Anne Marie
Feb, 2021
My daughter has been having similar things going on. The worst is the face spasms, very similar to the second video in this post. Her face involuntarily spasms out and it seems like she loses her breath. Each time has been triggered by severe crying. Here is what hers look like https://photos.app.goo.gl/VQLUvWgNn5vYRGgL9
We have been to the ER, seen our pediatrician multiple times, a virtual visit with ENT, and two neurologists. She ended up getting an EEG to make sure there was no seizure activity or brain wave arrhythmias. Oh man, gluing the electrodes on a 4-month-old is heartbreaking. At least it triggered the spasms again and we got to record her brain activity during her symptoms. Very happy to say that the results came back normal. The best answer they had for us was Weird Baby Stuff. Apparently, the doctors had not seen something like this before. They asked if they could keep our video to learn from it. Very interesting. What the hell is it.
ps. she is currently on acid reflux meds, and may have a milk protein sensitivity too.
Thank you. FTM here. My baby is teething & this happend after a hard cry. I had been doing everything I could to console her. She finally fell asleep & the weird breathing spasm started. This was beyond helpful🙏🏾
So thankful for finding your blog. I’m in a similar situation with my 7 week old. He did something similar at times when he’s asleep but usually it’s after when he’s cried a bit more then usual. Although for him the first thing we noticed was what seemed like baby acne on his face then rash on abdomen and back and spreading a bit to legs. As days went on his spit ups were worse. He would throw up more milk even 30min after feeding. It seems like he is chocking on it and has to swallow it all back up. And then starts clearing his throat for a bit after. I’m guessing from the acidity. But when it’s coming up he is like gasping for air for a few seconds which seem so long for me. I just hold him up right & pat back and make sure he is breathing. He is exclusively breast fed. His Pediatrician said he could have an allergy to cow milk protein(no soy either), which only dairy I was consuming was grass fed butter. I’ve been staying away from all dairy, soy and eggs(just in case). He is still having reflux but his face has cleared and the rash is slowly disappearing. Reflux happens more when placed down even if propped up or elevated when placed down even 30min after being fed. Sometimes it’s very little sometimes It’s were I have to quickly lift him up because he’s choking on it. I also found out last week he has lip and tongue tie. My nipples have been so sensitive and painful. I’m currently taking him to a chiropractor and going to see a myofunctional specialist(& lactation specialist) to have him evaluated. I wonder if any other moms have had the spams on top of other issues. I also am trying to figure if it all ties together. I’m going on little sleep sorry for jumping all over the place.
Thank you so much for posting this! Since my baby girl was a few weeks old she has been struggling with this exact issue. The doctors say she has GERD and has been getting medicine for it. Until she was about 7 months old, she would scream, cry, be inconsolable, spit up and spasm everyday multiple times a day. She is now 10 months and still has episodes but they are not as frequent as before. It was so frustrating and heartbreaking as a new mom trying to find answers and how to help my baby girl. It was always “she’ll grow out of it” but what do I do to help her until then? The pain would make it so hard for her to sleep. Thankfully, the medicine gives her slight relief and the rice cereal has kept down her formula but it still makes me wonder when it will completely go away. She was tested for allergies and everything but, like your little one, perfectly healthy and normal.
I am so happy I found your story today. My daughter has dealt with this since 1 day old…. Spent 2 days in the NICU and sent home with a diagnosis of some weird hiccup they couldn’t explain. As she’s gotten bigger it has gotten scary for her… it only happens after a crying fit so we avoid crying fits which has led to a now 2 year old who needs us to sit next to her to fall asleep. We tried reflux medicine and getting tonsils and adenoids out…. Nothing has helped. Such a relief to know other people out there have experienced this exact thing and that it’s not as life threatening as it looks. We will be trying removing different foods to see if that helps. Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you so much for this post, it’s given my fiancé and I some peace of mind and frame of reference. Our little Olivia is going through exactly what you’ve described, same as in the videos, and up until reading this we’ve been anxious beyond description.
Thank you again, I hope this post keeps giving parents the relief that’s its given us.
I loved reading your story.
It’s comforting to know someone had been through the same.
My Daughter started having the spasms after crying when she was about 3 months old.
The first 3-4 times it happened we called an ambulance.
We kept being hold there’s nothing wrong it’s sniffling from crying which it clearly was not! She has all the characteristics of infantile spasms but she was completely fine so we ended up being told it was a type of harmless benign infantile spasm and she will grow out of it. She’s now 14 months and I thankfully haven’t seen an episode for a couple of months now. But now she has started with the gasping spasms while sleeping. They scare me, I don’t like watching it so I wake her up. Interestingly she had also been showing signs of cow’s milk intolerance. I’m interested to see if a stricter diet change might improve these gasping episodes!
My daughter starting having these episodes from 3 months old.
We rushed her to the hospital and was hooked up to all the machines, and nothing. The doctors could not believe their eyes when we showed them the videos.
My daughter will be six next week and still gets them only when she hit Hysterical crying and doesn’t take a big breath.
If we can get to her straight away and tell her to take a couple of big breath she is perfectly fine.
We are in the process of teacher her how to settle herself when she hit this high level of crying.
A pediatrician once told my husband and I, that it’s like a backwards hiccups that won’t go away.
This literally has made the world of difference to me, my son does this, we are still awaiting to see pediatrics but clearly no health professional is as terrified by what he does as I am, this blog is textbook him, he is now 10 months old and mostly has kicked reflux but what I have noticed is it is linked to the fear/pain crying-a friend held h and he didn’t like it, cried as you can expect from a new person holding him. I was still in the room, none the less he started an episode as we call it, it is the seperation fear that triggered that, then carrying on as normal and trying to play down the situation and to an extent ignore his breathing, he calmed quickly but also his episode lasted for about an hour, usually it is 4,6,8 hours before it stops, is this him learning to be lass scared or the fact nobody else reacted in a panic stations way I wonder. I want to start childcare with him soon which undoubtedly is going to mean a few days of these episodes, that scares me but ultimately shutting him away from anything new can’t be the way forward and like others say, when he falls or hurts himself with a toy-is that going to trigger it.
Hi
Any update on w
Hey the Paedatrician said?
Isn’t this the same as infantile spasm?
We’re still waiting for our appointment, he has done it again twice, both as he usually would but no crying ect before actually he was babbling away in the car seat, still for 6 hours but less sharp, I can only put that down to the fact I do my best to ignore it and play it as if everything is OK and in that way he does the same so although it happens and sole times he does look a bit startled he goes on doing whatever he was as usual, playing, eating, sleeping ect, I’ve come to understand from his episodes and this god send of a blog that there is nothing you can do to stop th in effect just learn how to deal with them and pray they are outgrown. He has started nursery without an issue but he integrated without any upset so I can only say that was how, I’m yet to find a definitive trigger either
Hi Anne I came across your post and I wanted to ask if you can send me a link to the first video please it says video is private so I can’t see it and I wanted to check whether what your boys did is the same as what my 8 month old does which is driving me completley mad and making my life one hell of an anxious mess 🙁 I genuinely worry I will wake up and find him dead. He does these quick sharp intakes of breath while sleeping maybe 3 sometimes 4 in a row then has a pause which feels like forever before starting to breath again.
Hi Sarah, unfortunately, it’s not my video but one that a reader shared with me so I’m not able to access it, either. Had to remove the link. Try not to worry as you seek to find answers! I haven’t had anyone yet tell me that this condition was life-threatening for their child. Blessings, Anne Marie
Thank you Anne. What I described above about the quick sharp inhales of breath and then long pauses is that similar to what your boys did at all? It’s like a sigh.
He does also have sobbing spasms in his sleep but I’ve accepted they are normal after much googling.
Yes, it was like a sigh, with breath-holding! Different from the pauses in breathing that a newborn does.
Hello, my son will be three this month and he continues to have these “breathing episodes” that I have found to be an exact replica of of this post. We have recently discovered that he will need tonsil and adenoid removal surgery and I’m very concerned for these spasms after surgery. Has anyone had any experience with surgery with a child with these difficulties?
Thank you so much for posting this! I literally started crying after watching one of the double breathing / hickup looking videos on this blog. My daughter is 14 months now and she has been doing that in her sleep since she was 2 months old. I have been trying to get some info on this since then. I have spoken to her Paediatrician before but she could not diagnose it. My daughter has been diagnosed with reflux at 4 months and is drinking meds for that. I was at the Paed again today with my daughter (after a long period of not needing to go). I asked again about her funny breathing at night. Finally, the Paed referred me to an ENT specialist because she thinks it may be because of enlarged larynx (due to other symptoms showing). Now that I read this post, I will not be surprised if this is actually caused by the reflux due to some form of allergy. Will take her to ENT, but will definitely also try and change her diet to see if we can reduce the reflux and breathing symptoms.
Anne, thank you so much for sharing this experience! We’ve been beating our heads off a wall trying to figure out what’s triggering these episodes in our little man.
Eight days after he was born he had an episode which involved intense pulling of his trachea and at his ribs. Which as new parents led us to the ER and hospital.
Long story short: he has had at least one episode each week (sometimes having them multiple times a day). These episodes have lasted anywhere from 10minutes to an hour.
Our journey has included 3 hospital trips, tests, and multiple check ins with our pediatrician.
Other than these episodes, our baby boy is perfectly healthy! Which is great but still leaves us without an answer.
After combined consults with our pediatrician and Pulmonologist, we have been treating for acid reflux with daily doses of Pepcid and Prilosec. We also use Enfamil Gentlease and Enfamil AR (added rice).
We have practiced feeding him slower, burps in between, and holding him upright for 15-30minutes after feeds. We’ve also gone back and forth from laying him in a bassinet and using our momaroo which allows him to sleep sitting up.
With all these practices in place I have noticed that he has had less gas, has spit up way less, and seems to be a happier baby (:
However, after trying all these things he still ended up having an episode this morning that lasted about 20minutes.
So now I’m wondering if there’s a dairy intolerance that you mentioned above.
I am so thankful I found this! My son is 7months snd this started when he was about 6 weeks. He is very low on the growth chart as well. So I have been concerned it is a genetic disorder? I am going to cut out dairy from my diet as well.
Has there been anything genetic correlated to this for you?
My son is doing the same exact thing. Is there any way I can email or Facebook message you about this?
Hi Katie, feel free to use my contact form on the website! – Anne Marie
Thank you for this!! And the videos. My son was on NICU having been born 2 months early. So he’s had every test under the sun. He has had bad reflux and CMPA. It’s managed now and he only gets these episodes while asleep if he’s been particularly upset/crying before going down. It’s so reassuring to just hear someone else go through it and that it’ll be ok. Thank you!
I realize I’m coming into this many years later, but I wanted to thank you. My son started doing this when he was 4 months old. We thought he was having infantile spasms, took him to the ER and he was admitted for tests. Obviously they didn’t yield any results. We saw two neurologists, both of whom said they never have heard of anything similar and brushed it off as nothing. But how can the be sure it’s nothing if they’ve never even heard of this? I was in a DARK place. Thankfully I found your blog and read the comments and it’s the only thing I’ve seen on the internet that describes our experience. It gave me a lot of peace. He’s 13 months now and hasn’t done it in a few months. It became less common with every month. Thank you for giving me some serious peace of mind.
This sounds a lot like my son’s experience, including the way it starts to lessen as they mature. I have every hope your son will one day outgrow this. Both of mine did! ~Anne Marie
Firstly thank you so much for posting this. We’ve experienced this since my son was 6 mo old, and it always happens when he seems overtired and has cried especially hard. We spent the night in the hospital initially and 4 different doctors were absolutely baffled and all had different theories- we were put on reflux medication (which we have now weaned off) but tonight it happened again for the first time in a while (my son is 14 mo old) and it was just as scary as the first time it happened. I wish we knew properly what caused it and I hope he fully grows out of it soon. This article was really a glimmer of peace in an otherwise really scary situation.
I’m so glad it helped to put your mind at ease a little. This is exactly why I finally decided to write it down! Prayers for your son, Ashalee! – Anne Marie