Spasms Of Sobbing: When Crying Leaves Them Breathless

The spasms of sobbing or emotional apnea mark that moment of authentic panic in which we see how our children cry so intensely that they even stop breathing or acquire a pale or purple hue.

Although it affects only 10% of children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years, the impact it causes us when we see it is one of those that are not forgotten. In fact, many moms have the distinct feeling that their babies are drowning. The lips are bruised and it seems as if for a few seconds, they are unable to breathe.

In fact, it is so. Sobbing spasms are a type of infantile apnea related to high emotional load. The most common is that babies recover within 10 seconds with total normality, but it is common to see them after this experience somewhat more tired and even sleepy.

It is important to clarify first that it is normal. It is above all a physiological event that does not usually last beyond three years and that as mothers, or as fathers, it is important to know.

In “You are Mom” we explain it to you.

The spasms of sobbing, a scare hard to forget

A baby or 2-year-old will never do this on purpose to get attention. This is something that needs to be clarified first. It has nothing to do with whether or not the child is overprotected or receives excessive attention. To this day, there are still those who even think that children can cause the sobbing spasm just to attract the attention of their parents. It is a big mistake.

In fact, something curious that is worth remembering is that babies who suffer spasms of sobbing usually inherit it from one of their parents. It is a genetic behavior that cannot be controlled and that has to do above all with an uncontrolled emotional “explosion”.

Let’s see it in detail.

The baby’s anger or frustration

That our babies get angry? Certainly, and quite a bit. Emotions are those workhorses that completely dominate you to laugh out loud or cry your heart out. Some children do it with such intensity that when they suffer any “tantrum” their still immature glottis causes them to apnea. They stop breathing.

The most common is that sobbing spasms occur in these situations:

• When the child is tired.

• When changing their diapers, feeding them or during the bath.

• Late in the day, in the afternoon, or before going to sleep.

This type of disorder has a great impact on fathers and mothers, they are recurrent and uncontrollable at the same time. It does not matter that you try to take care of the situations a little more so that they do not get angry, they are still too small and their frustration will cause them to cry themselves out of breath for a few seconds.

• It is common for them to become rigid, to take on a blue hue and for us to see their mouths open in an almost agonizing spasm. After a few seconds, the child convulses and falls almost asleep, as if he had fainted.

• The impact is such that many parents tend to go to the emergency room in view of the bad moment experienced. Pediatricians advise us, and above all they warn us of something that we must assume: most likely it will happen again.

What should I do when my child suffers a sobbing spasm

• Stay calm, always remember that your baby is going to recover.

• In order not to intensify that emotionality, never shake him, or yell at him, let alone put anything in his mouth when you think he is choking.

• Let them spend a few seconds doing nothing – even if it seems eternal – otherwise, we could aggravate the situation.

As we have indicated before, it is not something that we can prevent. As the child matures, we can teach him to better manage his emotions. It is a specific event that, as we say, does not usually happen beyond 2 or 3 years.

At what point should I be concerned about this behavior?

To be more calm, always remember that the sequence of the cry of the sob follows these phases:

• crying-apnea-stiffness-change of facial tonality -crying after 10 or 15 seconds and then, drowsiness.

It is necessary to go to the pediatrician in case our baby suffers from crying when he is less than 6 months old. Likewise, it is not normal for this emotional apnea to last for almost a minute. In case this type of episodes are very recurrent and last a long time, consult with the specialist.

To conclude, doctors recommend that we treat these cases normally. You should never worry about avoiding these situations. Excessive worry is never good, so the ideal is to do the usual with your baby, let him grow, mature, and little by little, help him manage these situations with patience and a lot of affection.