Holding the Breath

Babies occasionally hold their breath until the face is quite discolored or livid, and this is very much inclined to scare the parents. I have never seen a case die from this cause.

Such children are usually decidedly neurotic, and an effort in coughing or crying may produce congestion of the base of the brain. The more blood that is rushed to the brain, the more spasmodic the crying and coughing become. It is a little on the order of whooping-cough or epilepsy.

Some children are so very sensitive, and carry so much blood in the brain, that any exertion of the body which forces blood to the brain brings on a reaction of extremely persistent coughing, or extremely and persistent crying.

If a small towel is wrung out of real cold water and spread over the face when the child begins to hold its breath, it may cause a reaction.

Children seem to outgrow such a condition in the course of a few months. The rule is that nothing happens to children who hold their breath until livid when they cry.