Febrile convulsion

[flou]

My Son had his third febrile convulsion yesterday. He had his first at 8 months, second near his first birthday and now his third about 18 months later. I had hoped he had grown out of them as he has had high temperatures and not had one. This one seemed to last longer than the other two but still he was only fitting for a couple of minutes, but felt like forever. We called 999 as he had stopped breathing and the paramedics came really quickly. Im just so scared its going to happen again and I don't want to be a neurotic mother. The doctors try to reassure me he will grow out of this, but after the first one they said that even though they are common most children don't have more than one.

 

[SarahBear]

It is true that most don't have more than one. I'm also pretty sure that the more a child has, the higher the indicated risk of developing epilepsy. I know how it is to be afraid of your child having seizures. Violet has epilepsy which started last January, while I was driving. That was the scariest moment ever. Anyway, we thought it was a febrile seizure, but she had another one about a month later and then the frequency increased from there. She was also hospitalized in April. Her seizures are now under control with medication. Anyway, Seizures are scary. It is hard to not be paranoid about them. You get used to it though... If h his seizures are just once every 6-12 months, then just keep an extra eye out when he's sick and he should be fine the rest of the time. Kids who have seizures are at a higher risk of things like falling and drowning though, so take extra caution around water and heights. However, with the seizures being that rare, just remember that any kid could fall, so try to hold back from holding him back. By the time he's 5, he should be out growing it. He's still young.

 

[Smanderson]

My youngest has febrile convulsions too, he had his first at 8 months, he had 3 in 24 hours. His second was at 15 months and his third last month (19 months) he had the epilepsy test and was all clear. The specialist told me its only slightly raised chances of developing epilepsy if they have convulsions and there are many other factors. I used to have them too and started at 9 months and had a few but not sure when it stopped. I can assure you I grew our of them with no long term effects. it's more likely to happen if it runs in the family. I understand your fear of it happening again but try to think that you now know what it is, how to help and that he will come out if it soo. I found stripping my son down to a nappy, opening a window and turning a fan on helps cool him and have managed to avoid convulsions this way.

 

[veganmum2be]

My son had his first at 3 years old and then another 4 when he was 5 years old but none after that.
It never gets less scary unfortunately, but if they keep happening you will be given medication to manage should they be prolonged.

 

[flou]

Thank you ladies for your reassurance. Its just so scary when it happens. Even though no one we know of on either side of our family has had febrile seizures but I do have epilepsy in my family and my husband was prone to really high temps as a child, and this is true for 2 out of 3 of his siblings too. Im guessing the mix of the genetics and the two traits has led to this in our little boy. Just hope he doesn't have another!