My youngest son (18 months old) just recently began preschool twice a week. Over the past week, he had two episodes of BHS. Basically, he got upset, started to crying but never actually made any noise, and knocked himself out by failing to breathe. He woke up about a minute later. Obviously, we should tell the teachers this occurred, but how much do I actually need to tell them about how to deal with it? Not that there's all that much one can actually do, but do you see this sort of thing often enough that it wouldn't surprise you terribly? My two older children went through the same preschool, and I have no fear the teachers there are doing anything untoward, but do you think I should consider the school as a possibility in bringing this on?
A quick question... what does BHS stand for? It's been a very long day and it may be something completely obvious but I can't think of what. I have worked in childcare for quite a few years and I can honestly say that I have never seen a child hold their breath long enough to make themself pass out. So if I were your sons teacher I would be petrified if I didn't know what was happening. So definitely give them general information. Without knowing exactly what BHS is, I can't give any advice on how much information to give to the teachers. I would definitely let the teachers know what BHS is, what kinds of signs to look for, what will happen during an occurrance, and what to do, if there is anything, to help your son. Going to school may bring on anxiety and strong feelings of separation anxiety, etc. for children. It depends on the child. I have had children in my center who have just not been able to deal with the separation from their parent. No matter what teacher the child was with, what activity they were doing, which classroom they were in... there was nothing that comforted that child. And the same had happened with this child at another center. We were the 2nd try for this child and mom saw that it wasn't the first center, or ours, that was causing this reaction from her child. He just wasn't ready to be away from mom. Incidently, this child was also a toddler (around 20 months old). How long has your son been attending the center? It could also be that he needs a little more time to adjust to it. I have noticed that children who attend the programs part time, a couple of times a week take longer to adjust. If he hasn't been there that long, he may just need a little more time. Good luck with the little guy.
Ah, sorry. . . BHS stands for "Breath Holding Syndrome". I don't particularly like the name, because it's not like he's intentionally holding his breath at all. If you've ever seen the silence of a kid just about to cry, imagine that but extended long enough so the kid passes out. It terrified my wife. For some reason, I understood exactly what was happening the first time and was only concerned that he started breathing again after passing out. Various medical websites claims this happens with as many as 5% of toddlers. It hasn't happened at school, so I don't think it's necessarily been brought on by it. If it has been, I'd agree it might be a separation anxiety. The incident I witnessed was over the weekend, though, and was because Mom took something away from him (a screwdriver, I think, so she took it away rather quickly. Um, and no, we don't usually leave screwdrivers around). Still, it could be a general raising of stress. It hasn't been long so far -- just a week or so -- if it had been much longer I would disregard it as a hypothesis.
Please tell the teachers. I've never seen a child do that either. We have a lot of food allergy kids and epi pens and that sort of thing at our center, so that might be our first thought-- that the kid was having a severe allergic reaction. And passing out (without being told ahead of time about the BHS) would likely mean an immediate call to 911 and the child on the way to the emergency room while we tried to contact the parents.
Definitely let the teachers know, so they know to watch for it, and as zawa says, to differentiate btwn that and asthma or allergic reactions. I had a little girl I babysat growing up who did the breath-holding/pass out thing on occasion (thankfully not when I was there!!)--she grew out of it. I've never heard it called BHS before (good to know though). I have a student in PreK now who due to other medical issues is at times in extreme pain, and sometimes when in extreme pain he will begin that pre-scream and get almost to the pass out point--what we do (and I've talked to the school nurse about it) is try to interrupt the scream, by shoulder-tapping, making loud (startling) noises, anything to "trick" him into breathing. So far he hasn't passed out. I also warn the bus monitor if it happens right before he gets on the bus.
