Breath holding spells

Breath holding spells... sounds so innocent, so benign. Or so I used to think, until I had a child who had them.

The other day we went to the market to buy fruit. Emily was putting her head in Nina's lap so that Nina could pull her hair. As Nina got more and more into this game, it became more and more painful for Emily. Emily then decided that the game was over. But Nina ripped out another tuft of hair. So a screaming Emily (I discovered this from Jonty afterwards) pinched Nina's nose shut. Nina was indignant and let out a scream. Unfortunately in between the scream and the nose pinching, she could not draw a breath. I did not know any of this as I was sitting in the front seat of the car about to hop out and buy the fruit.

Nick decided he'd buy the fruit and I could sort out the kids. By the time I had got around to Nina's seat she was rigid. Then her body started jerking. I struggled to get her out of the car seat because she was so stiff. She was as white as a sheet. Once she was out, she lost consciousness. I was running through the fruit stalls shouting for Nick.

Eventually she did come round. The experts say that the loss of consciousness is only for about 15 seconds, but boy it felt a whole lot longer. It was extremely traumatic, we all thought she was going to die. Apparently it is not life-threatening and doesn’t cause brain damage, and there is nothing you can do about it. Its not intentional either so there really is nothing to do except prevent her from getting hurt which is almost impossible with Jonty and Emily around!!! Or should I say with Emily around?!

Thnking back, I realise that this was what happened when she was pulled over in the bath (by Emily again) and chipped her tooth, and its what happened when she had her vaccinations. So, I am getting a bit more blasé about it. Phew - this mothering stuff is not for the faint-hearted.