There are some simple things you can do if your child has a seizure. These things can keep your child safe and, later on, help their doctor find out what happened. To find out more, see What should I do if my child has a seizure?

It's a good idea to get any seizures checked out by a doctor. If you're worried at all, take your child to their doctor or the hospital, or call 911 for an ambulance. Children having a seizure for the first time should always see a doctor. So should children who have a seizure that lasts longer than five minutes.

The doctor will examine your child. Your child's seizure will probably have ended before you get to the hospital or see a doctor. So the doctor will ask you some questions. He or she may ask you:

Febrile seizures are caused by a fever, so your child's doctor will look for whatever may have caused the fever. This could be an ear infection, for example. Your child's doctor may prescribe treatment for the infection, such as

 

 

 

 

 

antibiotics
These medications are used to help your immune system fight infection. There are a number of different types of antibiotics that work in different ways to get rid of bacteria, parasites and other infectious agents. Antibiotics do not work against viruses.

 

 

 

 

 

antibiotics.

Most children won't need any more tests. But if your doctor can't find an infection that could have caused the seizure, they may ask for a urine sample or a blood test. This is to check for anything that might have caused the infection. Or the doctor might send your child to the hospital for a short while, to be kept an eye on. But most children who've had a febrile seizure will be able to go home as soon as they've seen a doctor.

Doctors are more likely to recommend that very young children should go to the hospital to be kept an eye on. That's because it can be harder for doctors to spot where in their body the infection is.

Your child may also need to go to the hospital if the doctor thinks they might have

 

 

 

 

 

meningitis
If you have a swelling in the thin layers of tissue that surround your brain and your spinal cord, it's called meningitis. It's most often caused by an infection with certain kinds of bacteria or viruses. Meningitis can give you a severe headache and a stiff neck. And you may find it difficult to keep your eyes open in the light. Meningitis is a life-threatening disease. If you have these symptoms, you should get to a hospital right away.

 

 

 

 

 

meningitis. Meningitis can sometimes cause a seizure. It's a serious illness, but it's quite rare in children with febrile seizures.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Trainor JL, Hampers LC, Krug SE, et al.
Children with first-time simple febrile seizures are at low risk of serious bacterial illness.
Academic Emergency Medicine. 2001; 8: 781-787.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Armon K, Stephenson T, Gabriel V, et al.
Determining the common medical presenting problems to an accident and emergency department.
Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2001; 84: 390-392.

 

 

 

 

 

² One study looked at 135 children who'd had a febrile seizure. None of them had meningitis.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Trainor JL, Hampers LC, Krug SE, et al.
Children with first-time simple febrile seizures are at low risk of serious bacterial illness.
Academic Emergency Medicine. 2001; 8: 781-787.

 

 

 

 

 

¹ Younger children may have some fluid taken from their spine to test for meningitis. This test is called lumbar puncture or spinal tap. Your child will be given a

 

 

 

 

 

local anesthetic
Local anesthetic is a painkiller for one area of your body. You usually get it as a shot. It makes that area numb. An example is the novocaine you get when your dentist fills a cavity.

 

 

 

 

 

local anesthetic, so they won't feel any pain.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Provisional Committee on Quality Improvement and Subcommittee on Febrile Seizures.
Practice parameter: the neurodiagnostic evaluation of the child with a first simple febrile seizure.
Pediatrics. 1996; 97: 769-775.

 

 

 

 

 

³

The kind of febrile seizures we talk about here are called simple febrile seizures. They're usually over in less than five minutes. Other types of seizures will be treated differently. To read more, see Other types of seizures.

Children recover completely from a simple febrile seizure. But if your child has had one seizure, they may have another. Children have about a 1 in 3 chance of having a second seizure if they get a fever again in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Smith MC.
Febrile seizures: recognition and management.
Drugs. 1994; 47: 933-944.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Fukuyama Y, Seki T, Ohtsuka C, et al.
Practical guidelines for physicians in the management of febrile seizures.
Brain and Development. 1996; 18: 479-484.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵ But these seizures don't happen very often. Only 1 in 10 children get more than three febrile seizures.

If your child has another seizure within 24 hours, or if they get repeated seizures, you should take them to the doctor or call 911 for an ambulance.

If a child has a febrile seizure, it may mean they have a slightly higher risk of getting epilepsy. Epilepsy is a serious condition where people get repeated seizures. But this is rare. Only about 1 in 100 normally healthy children who have a febrile seizure go on to get epilepsy.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Verity CM, Golding J.
Risk of epilepsy after febrile convulsions: a national cohort study.
British Medical Journal. 1991; 303: 1373-1376.

 

 

 

 

 

⁶

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Stenklyft PH, Carmona M.
Febrile seizures.
Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. 1994; 12: 989-999.

 

 

 

 

 

⁷

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Knudsen FU.
Febrile seizures: treatment and outcome.
Brain Development. 1996; 18: 438-449.

 

 

 

 

 

⁸

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Berg AT, Shinnar S, Levy SR, et al.
Childhood-onset epilepsy with and without preceding febrile seizures.
Neurology. 1999; 53: 1742-1748.

 

 

 

 

 

⁹

Some vaccines can cause a fever, which may trigger a febrile seizure. Children who get a seizure after a vaccination don't have an increased risk of epilepsy.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Barlow WE, Davis RL, Glasser JW.
The risk of seizures after receipt of whole cell pertussis or measles mumps and rubella vaccine.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2001; 345: 656-661.

 

 

 

 

 

¹⁰

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Vestergaard M, Hviid A, Madsen KM, et al.
MMR vaccination and febrile seizures: evaluation of susceptible subgroups and long-term prognosis.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004; 292: 351-357.

 

 

 

 

 

¹¹

Febrile seizures don't cause any problems with children's learning or development. Children who've had seizures do just as well at school as other children.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Verity CM, Greenwood R, Golding J.
Long-term intellectual and behavioural outcomes of children with febrile convulsions.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1998; 338: 1723-1728.

 

 

 

 

 

¹² Children usually grow out of having febrile seizures by the time they're 5 or 6.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Consensus statement.
Febrile seizures: long-term management of children with fever-associated seizures.
Pediatrics. 1980; 66: 1009-1012.

 

 

 

 

 

¹³

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