My 2.5 Year old son holds his breath while breathing??

[Karynrme]

My son is 2 1/2 and he holds his breath while he breathes, with I would say 90% of the breaths he takes, why?? He inhales, holds his breath, lets it out, takes a deep breath (because he held it for so long previously) then lets that one out, inhales and holds his breath again... it annoys me so much! He does it during normal moods, not while he is upset or in any kind of 'mood'.... sitting on the sofa watching TV he does it, in bed while Im laying with him to go to sleep at night he does it. not really while he is playing (too busy) more when he is sitting, watching TV.... has anyone ever heard of such a thing? He has been doing it for a long time, I would say since I can remember... is it a habit??

[Sidababy13]

My 10 year old has been doing this for about a year we were thinking she may be doing the breath holds and gasp for air to get attention when we tell her to stop she starts crying saying she can't I know her mom smoked the whole time she was pregnant and I had her with breathing machine for asthma when she was little and she keeps ear infection I wonder do any of your kids have any problems with ears or asthma just trying to make connection

[mmmvn5]

Hi!  I posted here two years ago and googled it again, and I'm back!  My son is now 9 and still doing this.  Right next to me now and it drives me nuts that I can't explain it to him.... he doesn't understand that his breathing is different.  It's when he reads and watches TV, relaxed.  Holds his breath, big exhale, and repeats.   He still has signs of some OCD but not as much.  He is in the gifted program at school... was tested and has a very high IQ.  Not sure if it's some sort of mental thing.  Reads a lot.  To the person who's doctor had a sleep study done... thank you.  That is very interesting.  I wonder if he is doing it in his sleep and has sleep apnea, or will be more likely to have sleep apnea when he is older.  My brother has sleep apnea and sleeps with a machine at night.  I will try and check on him during the night and see if he does it while he sleeps.

[lkinbc]

My son is 7 and has done this for years. Tonight I was finally at my wits end irritated by it and decided to google. After reading all the above posts a few things come to mind in similarity. My son is a bit over active. Good at school though but sometimes trouble focusing. He has shown some anxiety at times over the past 7 years. His birth was traumatic and he suffered from GERD from 2 months old and was medicated for that for a few years. He also had a misshapen epiglottis (shown to us on a camera down his nose at Children's Hospital) that caused very noisy breathing and snoring up until about age 5. He also had mild sleep apnea as well- I think just a reflexive resting from the snoring... They said he would grow out of it as he got older and he did at about the age they predicted. Perhaps breathing anomalies are just his "thing." He doesn't have asthma but may have some seasonal allergies. He only does it when reading or watching TV shows that he is really concentrating on. He doesn't notice that he is doing it. Anyway, based on what I read I am not all that concerned. He is active but seizes each day with a passion I just don't see in most other children. No way do I want to crush that and his teachers seem to like him so I am not going to worry about ADHD. It has to make concentrating for a long time difficult though so I am going to try a period of nagging him to be mindful of his breathing and see if it gets better or worse- will try to post about that. I don't want to create anxiety so may drop off if nagging bothers him. He says his breathing is fine and he doesn't have trouble. He can't explain the breath holding and resulting grunting. I also noticed one comment about post nasal drip and swallowing. This is a huge issue for him with colds and could be something to do with ongoing seasonal allergies? Will take him to have those tested but don't really want to medicate that anyway. I also have issues with it and find myself holding my breath and swallowing when it gets bad. He has had tons of invasive checking of his sinus passages at Children's hospital between ages 2 and 4 and nothing was wrong there... He plays soccer and floor hockey 4 times a week and thrives on the exercise so doesn't appear to be something that really affects air or oxygen intake. Anyway, good luck to all! Glad to have company. After reading the above I will just try not to let it bug me as much and try to help him be mindful of his breathing while reading and doing quiet work.

[MahaRahim]

Omg that sounds exactly like my 5 year old. Did you eventually find out the cause?

[MahaRahim]

Omg that sounds exactly like my 5 year old. Did you eventually find out the cause?

[guest1337]

i do this in my sleep and i HATE it cause it hurts so bad :( but i cant control my breathing