Febrile Seizures or Convulsions

Some children are predisposed to febrile convulsions or febrile seizures. With a high fever, often one that increases in temperature over a short period of time, the brain can become very irritated, and this will result in a seizure. These usually occur in children from 6 months to 6 years of age. Even though they only last for a few seconds, as a parent, it seems like an eternity as you watch your child lose consciousness and start convulsing. The shaking can be quite dramatic, and the kiddo can appear to not be breathing even though they are taking more shallow breaths. When they wake up, they often look as if they have just woken up from a nap. 

The good news with this type of seizure is that if a kiddo has a febrile seizure, they do not have an increased risk for epilepsy or more seizures than any other child. Having said that, after any first-time seizure, febrile or not, the kiddo should be examined by their pediatrician to make sure that the kiddo had a seizure only because of the fever and not something else. If you find yourself with a child who is having a seizure from a fever, make sure they are lying flat while the shaking is occurring. Once the shaking has stopped, call the pediatrician to discuss monitoring and looking for other possible causes of fever. When they wake up, you can give acetaminophen or ibuprofen to help control the fever.

For subsequent illnesses, it is often advised to treat fevers early in kids with a history of febrile seizure, but studies have not shown this as all that effective because it is not the level of fever that causes the seizure but rather the dramatic change in temperature over a short period of time. Meaning, a fever that has elevated by 3 degrees over 2 minutes has a higher likelihood of causing a febrile seizure than one that has elevated the body temperature by 6 degrees over 10 minutes or longer.