My baby turned blue yesterday

Childcare Forum
1

Yesterday, my 11-month-old baby turned blue, and it was the most terrifying moment of my life. Everything seemed normal until he started crying during a diaper change, which he hates. He was wriggling and refusing to stay still. Suddenly, there was silence. I looked at him, expecting his usual ear-piercing scream, but it never came. Instead, his lips turned blue. I picked him up, panicking as he became more and more blue. Thankfully, after a few seconds, he finally took a breath and cried quietly in my arms.

I have no idea what caused it or what made it stop, but it was an incredibly frightening experience.

2

Babies can sometimes have breath-holding spells when they get extremely upset. My wife experienced this as a baby and even lost consciousness several times.

3

This is what my 7-week-old daughter does. She will weep and scream at the top of her lungs, but never to the point of passing out. After that, she will go quiet and hold her breath. After giving her a firm pat on the back, she starts yelling at me once more.

4

In my experience, blowing in their face also works well. Similar to a nice, mild puff of air. They are sufficiently startled to recommence breathing.

5

Indeed! I also use similar tactic to help kids swallow medication.

6

Please elaborate. When you inject medicine into a baby’s mouth, does he or she start blowing right away?

7

When I took my daughter out of the bath, she would do that. She was born in the water. It’s utterly terrifying.

8

Mom claims that I also did it. Every time, she freaked out until an aunt advised her to “wake me up” faster the following time by dunking me in water. I guess I never did it again after she did it once.

9

That has to have been rather scary. However, I’ve heard of this before, and I think it’s typical. Look up breathing exercises. It usually happens between the ages of 2 and 6 months. However, I would discuss this with his caregiver or pediatrician.