breath-holding spells are just a type of tantrum. while shocking to witness they are innocent and are likely to happen again until she gets out of her tantrum stage (about another year). clearly we can't give kids everything they want 100% of the time to avoid confrontation so you may see another one real soon. in this case your grand-daughter brought it on herself so make sure to point this out to her as a teachable moment. you will find lots of information on the internet regarding these breath-holding spells. hang in there grandma.
my granddaughter holds her breath when she cry's yesterday she fainted on me. how should i handle this. my granddaughter is 18mths and is now climbing on everything yesterday she fell off the chair no marks where left but do to the fact of being scared and hurt she holds her breathe when she cry's and therefor pasted out on me.