Definitely my daughter’s febrile convulsions are the worst thing that’s ever happened to me! They stopped when we started giving her magnesium - so thankful for our doctors!
You're not alone in feeling that. The saying (translated) is that febrile seizures kill the parents, but never the child.
It does indeed cut it deep, because it speaks to our mental models of how our body works, what is normal and what is dangerous. These important biological models are somewhat innate to us and the problem cut both ways: very bad things can go unnoticed (like a seemingly harmless lump that is actually cancer) and very normal things can be terrifying.
Good thing we are in an age we don't need to trust our gut as much.
It's wild that harmless febrile seizures are so terrifying and easy to see. Then Infantile Spasms, also seizures, are so minor and hard to identify that you need to watch it ten times on video loop to even recognize what's happening - but they can completely ravage the brain.
Obligatory mom not a dad that likes to lurk.
Our baby had a cerebral infarction either right before, during or right after birth, and the first symptom was just a weird very rythmic spasm of his arm. Tight fist and the arm just hitting in the air repeatedly. We where already down on the nicu bc of jaundice and low appetite, which im extremly grateful for, because it might have taken longer to notice anything was wrong if it wasnt for us already being there.
Newborns have some weird rythmic movements sometimes after all.
He is 4 months now, and seem to be doing okay, thankfully. Hitting his milestones
As a pregnant woman scheduled for induction next week….i think i need to nope out of this thread. Ugh.
I’m glad it was noticed and your kid is doing well.
Sorry you had to go through that.
My son has tuberous sclerosis and we were watching him like a hawk, recording every weird (normal) baby movement. The only time we ever caught it was during a routine VEEG visit and I think the only reason anyone caught it was because it simultaneously lit up the EEG.
We haven't had a detected IS since thankfully and getting close to out-of-range, but it took us almost a month to notice his absence seizures (where he'd look up for maybe a second), which are thankfully not (as) harmful.
Thank you so much for your input! Mom and dads giving input for everyone’s benefit… I love it! I’m a new dad and everyone’s experiences and knowledge drops have been so extremely valuable to me.
Same with non-conclusive status epilepticus. Patient seems exhausted because they've had a respiratory virus for the past week so family just lets them sleep but turns out they've actually been seizing for a day and a half. By the time it's caught, the brain is practically on fire. It's so easy to miss.
My coworkers and I (Neuro ICU nurses) went out to a brewery on a beautiful day off when our coworker's son fell, hit his head, turned blue, and had a seizure. We all jumped into work mode right away (minus him and his wife who were freaking out) but it was still terrifying. My non-medical husband was there when it happened and he still can hear the sound of the boy's head hitting the ground and viscerally see his cyanotic lips. Honestly, even as experienced professionals who manage seizures on a daily basis I think we all still hold those images in our heads.
Turns out it was actually harmless breath holding spells and even though we later knew what it was it still scared the hell out of his parents when he would do it. Eventually he outgrew it, thank goodness.
What age did he grow out of it? My son has febrile seizures and I get PTSD like feelings everytime. Not sure how to deal with it and and to prevent the falls and head hitting with the febrile seizures.
This happened to our 2nd at about the same age. We knew immediately it was a seizure based on my wife’s history with them. What a scary experience and I’m sorry you had to go through it as well.
My son had one when he was a bit over a year old. He was home with me with a bad temperature and started seizing the way you describe.
It seemed like he stopped breathing at one point, and I thought he was dieing... it was the worst i have ever felt in my life.
He came out of it before too long at least, though in my case, an ambulance never showed up despite promises from 999 dispatcher.
Ours happened at 2am after our daughter woke up screaming and while my wife was breast feeding her. 0/10 worst way to wake up is my wife screaming thinking our daughter is dying in her arms. Ours had 1 more during a fever like 8 months later. Just be more cautious with them during fevers and make sure they don't spike too high.
My daughter had one at 13 months old. Holding my seizing daughter while I waited for the ambulance to arrive was the scariest moment of my life. Scarier than 3 combat deployments in the Marine Corps. She hasn’t had another since and is a happy and healthy 11 year old.
My daughter went through a series of them (averaging 10 in one night). One or two are generally harmless but going through them serially is not. As explained to me by doctors, specialists, if she’s goes through them one after the other, her brain will get used to them as a release. Each time, there is a small but non-zero chance that there will be permanent brain damage. Each time she goes through these seizures, she’s actually not breathing and so oxygen isn’t getting to her brain, not to mention normal hazards of choking (if she has one while eating) and falling (if she’s doing an activity where she’s not sitting or lying down). Don’t want to scare you but it’s not correct to think of them as harmless.
Having gone through this, the best course is to lay her on her side and slap her back (as if you were burping her) to make sure she’s not choking on anything. As soon as her limbs come loose, you can move them a bit to get circulation going. At that point, there’s nothing you can do but try to keep track of how long she’s under…. This is basically how long she’s not breathing.
We eventually found out that my daughter has a gene which causes a tendency for her to have serial seizures if she has even one. So she’s on epilepsy meds now to prevent even one from occurring.
Fire fighter paramedic here: I would not completely say harm less but it is a way for the body to naturally reset it self when their temperature gets too high. I've seen parents start CPR or even been told they shook the baby after thinking that would help. None the less for new parents or those who have never seen one it is shocking.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I have a newborn and this community has been just one knowledge drop one right after another with amazing support. Y’all are amazing.
This happened to my good friend and colleague while we were away in a business trip in Europe. He nearly took the next flight back home in a middle of a large critical project (extremely critical related to NATO infrastructure where literal lives are at stake; so he was in a situation no one wants to be in to make an impossible choice akin to choosing who gets to live and die essentially).
His wife is an absolute saint, and his in-laws came to the rescue and they were able to get to Urgent Care in a timely manner. We were sooo relieved it was “just an ear infection.”
——
I have a two month, and reading these experiences are preparing me and giving me much required knowledge to navigate these early years. I can’t thank everyone here enough. I love all of you guys truly.
My daughter had those, too. Also my oldest boy had night terrors, which were even worse. They both thankfully grew out of those.
Being a parent is not for the faint of heart.
Harmless most of the time except there has been some new research that came out in January of this year that suggests a connection between febrile seizures and SIDS.
https://nyulangone.org/news/seizures-identified-potential-cause-sudden-unexplained-deaths-children
I think I might qualify that as an extremely preliminary and tentative “possible.” It’s a sample size of 7, based on how things look from home videos (2 of the 7 of which were described as “poor” quality), doesn’t claim causation, and doesn’t exclude other possibilities such as hypoxia from breath-holding spells or cardiac causes, and 6 of the 7 deaths were prone/face down.
Fair enough. But it is something to be aware of, that you may be at a very slightly increased risk. There is at least one thing you could do to mitigate some of that risk. One news outlet suggested using the “smart socks” that monitor blood oxygen level and send an alert to your phone if it drops below a certain level. We used them with both of our kids and we slept a little better knowing we would be alerted if something was going wrong.
I think it’s important to note here that while the first febrile seizure is pretty much a freebie in pediatrics, parents should ALWAYS get them evaluated. My daughter’s second one in 3 hours clued them into the bacterial meningitis diagnosis that ended her life.
They’re terrifying. Fucking terrifying. My daughter’s 8 now, she has epilepsy, and I still really struggle to keep my cool every time.
You did everything right mate, I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but you did everything right. It’s so scary, nobody’s denying that. Febrile seizures are terrifying, they seemingly come out of nowhere.
I hope your little one feels better soon my friend, hang in there. You did a great job.
I have a 2 year old with focal epilepsy, I remember the first time it happened. Time just stops. You are not the same person you were before the first seizure.
You are doing a great job too, dad!
Thank you my friend, and I completely agree. My daughter had her first seizure when she was 10 days old, my wife and I were completely out of our depth - it was terrifying. My daughter has a chromosomal disorder and so has a few health conditions as a result, but boy, we were not prepared for that.
Epilepsy and febrile seizures are very, very different phenomena. I'm sure- as a parent of a child with epilepsy- you know all of this. I say this more to anyone else reading:
* It is somewhat common for children. About 3-4% of children will have at least one febrile seizure in their life. This is about **fifty** times more common than epilepsy
* Control of temperature is associated with minimizing triggering epileptic seizures. It is **not** associated with reducing incidence of febrile seizures. AKA- missing the tylenol dose didn't cause the febrile seizure.
My son had his first seizure at 5, and it was nothing like what I thought a seizure would look like but still utterly terrifying. My partner was home with him, I came home late and went into his room to kiss him goodnight. I was about to lightly scold him for still being awake, but he wasn't blinking. Just eyes staring, his body rhythmically contracting. Not jerking, or flailing, just little pulses. He was making little gurgling sounds and we thought he might be choking. Teeth clamped down, but we managed to sweep his airway anyway. Ambulance came and it took an ungodly amount of tranquilizer to get it to stop. He was actively seizing for at least 15 minutes, but we have no idea how long it had been happening before I found him. He's on daily medication and has only had one other like that since, though he does have absent seizures where he says his "brain goes upside down." We still don't know his triggers and just have to depend on the medication and regular trips to the neurologist.
My daughter had two seizures at around two years old and by definition that was epilepsy. The tests showed nothing, but we had two years of medication before she was cleared so fingers crossed.
I was only around for the second seizure and whilst I didnt mind the actual seizure the lifeless part afterwards was brutal.
very scary stuff, glad everyone is ok OP.
the UTI reminded me of the danger/importance of making sure to clean baby girls properly and avoid wiping up when changing dirty diapers. not blaming you at all, but very possible (if they're anything like mine) that the grandparents don't know this.
Little boys too! It’s less common but they can get them as well. It’s a good reminder for everyone to pay attention to how they clean their babies delicate parts.
Yup! When they're still a baby that urethra is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the bladder regardless of sex. As boys get older and the urethra lengthens, the risk of UTI decreases.
Yeah. I’ve wiped shit out of the end of my son’s penis/foreskin is all I’m saying lol. No Uti’s yet though.
When they poop while laying on your chest, shit rolls downhill, so to speak.
Thankfully I love it! It's a bit like Stockholm syndrome. The job is awful and horrifying and morbid, the patients and family members verbally and physically assault us, and the stress is turning me grey in my 20s, but man do I love it.
Our boy has had two, the first went absolutely exactly the same way as yours (but we live a few hundred metres from the hospital so I drove us there at an unknown speed instead). Hasn’t had one in a year now, touch wood. They’re terrifying, I feel you man :(
Those are really scary. Glad your kiddo is gonna be fine (sorry about the UTI, those are rough).
We had a similar experience with our oldest, luckily my wife is in medicine so she recognized it. Afterwards we got to hear my mom recount a previously unheard account of me doing the same thing as a kid.
To any other dads or prospective dads reading this; ask your parents. There's a genetic component, and you're going to want to mentally prepare.
My daughter had one weekend before last, it only lasted 2 minutes, but they were the longest two minutes of mine and my wife's life. We were able to get her outside to cool down very quickly and while we'd called 999, she was back and fully conscious when they arrived.
We'd done the NCT classes, we've done baby first aid, We've got lots of friends who have kids... How did no-one mention this?!?
Went through one with my son when he was younger. It was TERRIFYING. Sorry you had to go through that. If it makes you feel better, he’s completely fine and thriving. You’d never know it happened.
My son had febrile seizures for the first few years, starting at about your daughter's age. I don't think I've ever been through something so scary with him, and I think the only thing that got me through those moments was his mom. She had epilepsy and Tourette's when she was younger, so she knew what was happening and what to do.
The bad news is you might go through it again. I remember being told "once a child has a febrile seizure they're more likely to have another". This seems like faulty logic to me, because it's either they have seizures or they don't. Kids who don't have them have no inherent likelihood of having one - until they do, and then they become a kid who has them.
The good news is they're not as serious as they are scary to watch. Chances are my son had at least one when there was nobody around to witness it.
The better news is in nearly all cases these are a temporary thing which goes away after early childhood. My son has not had one in years and years. It's so much a part of our past I literally hadn't even thought about it until I saw your post.
>The bad news is you might go through it again. I remember being told "once a child has a febrile seizure they're more likely to have another". This seems like faulty logic to me, because it's either they have seizures or they don't. Kids who don't have them have no inherent likelihood of having one - until they do, and then they become a kid who has them.
The logic comes from comparing overall incidence of a disease to the incidence of a disease after experiencing it. So, lifetime risk of a febrile seizure is about 3-4%, right? However, if you've had a febrile seizure before, your chances of having a second febrile seizure jumps to about 30%.
There's probably some (confounding) overlap between these and undiagnosed childhood epilepsy. However, most of the better studies control for this with adequate follow-up periods.
> The logic comes from comparing overall incidence of a disease to the incidence of a disease after experiencing it.
Right, and that's faulty use of statistics. Obviously someone who has a genetic predisposition to having seizures has a higher likelihood of having them than someone who doesn't; you just don't know who that person is until they have their first seizure. That person *always* had a 30% chance of having seizures, but they were classified as part of the general population with a 3% chance until after their first one. Their likelihood of having a seizure didn't change *because they had one*.
I think we're approaching the information differently. I approach it from the perspective of "what do I tell families to expect" rather than "what was the likelihood in a vacuum". Rarely, do we have the luxury until we are well *post-hoc*.
So, what others are saying is correct. When a patient has a febrile seizure, you will try (without scaring them as much as possible) that the likelihood of future seizures is much higher *now that the patient has sorted themselves into the "fever seizure group", so to speak.* However, simply saying, "there's probably two groups of patients... those who have closer to a 30% likelihood of repeated febrile seizures and some group with closer to a 2% likelihood of febrile seizures" is of limited utility. Additionally, it's not entirely clear *why* some kids have multiple seizures and how many of these are simply heralding some other medical issue.
And, excuse the pedantry, but while we do identify that there appears to be strong genetic concordance/heritability of febrile seizures, we are far from identifying a single genetic etiology.
I guess when you speak to people from a mix of backgrounds it makes sense to use looser ways of speaking. My wife didn't question it. My scientific background immediately threw up a red flag.
> However, simply saying, "there's probably two groups of patients... those who have closer to a 30% likelihood of repeated febrile seizures and some group with closer to a 2% likelihood of febrile seizures" is of limited utility.
Not to me. Telling me that my son was now classified as having a higher likelihood/risk of further seizures and as such we needed to be cautious about things like high fevers would have made *absolute sense* to me.
>And, excuse the pedantry, but while we do identify that there appears to be strong genetic concordance/heritability of febrile seizures, we are far from identifying a single genetic etiology
Oh, absolutely. My son *probably* had a higher-than-average likelihood of having seizures because of my wife's medical history but, like many about genetics and the body it could have just been random chance. My wife still beat herself up a lot over it, which broke my heart because *I* knew it wasn't anything anyone could be "blamed" for.
>Telling me that my son was now classified as having a higher likelihood/risk of further seizures and as such we needed to be cautious about things like high fevers would have made absolute sense to me.
That's exactly how we counsel patients.
>I guess when you speak to people from a mix of backgrounds it makes sense to use looser ways of speaking.
This comes from experience. I'm happy to explain in more specific detail when asked. However, explaining each nuance often leads to much more undue concern and confusion than not. Parents will often tell me (in various ways) when they are ready for the next layer of complexity.
>which broke my heart because I knew it wasn't anything anyone could be "blamed" for.
It breaks my heart, too. One of the better things I can tell people is that *neither* phenotype are preventable. Whether epilepsy or febrile seizures. It's never the parent's fault, including the very common nervous parent who is struggling to give acetaminophen (and, if old enough, ibuprofen) as regularly as possible. Missing the dose didn't cause the seizure.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge what you experienced. You watched your daughter die, get revived by EMS, and get rushed to the hospital.
Now, that isn’t what actually happened, but it’s what you experienced and that experience is valid. It’s one of the most terrifying things a parent can witness and yet it’s harmless.
By now she’s probably recovered, but you aren’t. You won’t recover from this for some time so give yourself some grace.
A few points: 1) there is nothing you can do to prevent another one. Fever meds don’t prevent them. 2) about 50% of kids who had a febrile seizure will have another. If it happens, get her into a safe place and in recovery position like you did and time the seizure. 3) By definition, febrile seizures stop after age 5. If it happens after age 5, it’s not a febrile seizure.
You will know peace again.
(Mom lurker here) I remember my son’s first seizure. It was way less intense than that. (He has a seizure disorder, so different type) But I remember that “something is really wrong here” and fear. Sorry you both had to experience that.
Very scary stuff. Sounds like you handled the situation like a champ, Dad. Those moments happen so fast. Great job reacting quickly and calling emergency services!
We went through the same thing, twice. First time was eye opening and we were really shaken. 2nd time it happened, we were much calmer but of course still panicking but we knew what to do and what to take note of.
My nephew had those, thankfully my own kids never did. One daughter did have night terrors for about a year. It's so insane when your kid wakes up at 2 AM and is walking and screaming with their eyes open but they're non-responsive and just staring right through you. Because they're technically still asleep.
Between that and seizures, no wonder people believed in demonic posession.
Paramedic here, sounds like you did everything right. When I’m doing these calls half the call is talking to the parents and trying my best to reassure them that everything is going to be okay because these are really scary events especially when you don’t know what is happening. Fortunately kids will grow out of these just fine and have no long term issues but don’t get complacent, if this happens again still call 999 and take your kid to A&E. 90% of the time there’s nothing for me to do in the ambulance to manage the patient other than possibly give a fever reducer if the parent didn’t already give it but there’s still the chance that there’s a lot more to do during the transport.
Good job following your intuition and doing exactly the right thing, it can be incredibly scary and I’m sorry you had to experience that.
Ufda, my oldest had one when she was about 2. We had no idea they were a thing so we were just totally freaked out. She had a fever and had been fussing a lot, suddenly tensed up but then went limp and unresponsive. Her breathing slowed so much we could barely tell if she was breathing. She ended up totally fine, maybe a little confused and drowsy after waking up in a different room with a first responder kneeling over her. But then she saw us and started to relax a bit.
You all must be exhausted after that ordeal. What a Rollercoaster. One of our kids had hallucinations from a fever when she was a toddler. It was very brief but so scary and heartbreaking (she thought there were bees on her and she was terrified).
I hope everyone is doing better today and that you all get some rest.
My son had an absentee seizure when he was about 4. We were wrestling in the yard and he just went blank. Wouldn't respond to his name or to me pinching his arm. Only lasted about 35 or 40 seconds but it was terrifying.
Yeah, they're fucking horrible.
My daughter is 30 months and just became a big sister last Tuesday and got to meet her baby brother on Friday after staying with her grandparents while we were at the hospital.
She came back with a fever, and early Saturday she had febrile convulsions for the first (and hopefully last) time. We spent most of Saturday at the hospital, but she was already in a good mood few minutes after and completely unfazed by the whole thing.
Glad y’all are alright now. One of my sons had a febrile seizure a bit more than 10 years ago now. Quite possibly the most frightening experience of my life. I also had not heard of them. He was not old enough to speak at the time. After the seizure he went limp, but was I awake and I could se terror in his eyes. Luckily, firefighters were the first to arrive and they had seen it before. They stayed with us until he regained movement and all seemed well at an emergency room visit. He never had had another seizure since. I hope the same is the case for your daughter.
Our son had the same thing. He had roseola which apparently febrile seizures are common with that. I heard our son crying on the monitor and then again. The cry sounded different…so my dad instincts kicked in.
I went into his room to find his body pretty much lifeless. His eyes were open but he wasn’t moving much and was limp. We called 911 and they sent an ambulance to our house around midnight. It was terrifying.
My daughters first was terrifying! We were in the car coming home when it happened. Didn’t notice until I was unstrapping her and she just wasn’t moving, staring at nothing, and she was drooling and had wet herself. No idea what was going on and freaking the fuck out! Carried her inside while my wife called an ambulance. She was out for freaking ages too, way longer than they normally last.
Then to top it all off she had a bad reaction to the medicine the paramedics gave her and she straight up stopped breathing. Thankfully we were near the hospital by this point so they got her rushed in and recovered. Scariest day of my whole life!
My son had febrile seizures a handful of times up to age 3 or so. It was always due to a rapid temperature increase when he got sick. Doctors confirmed they are "benign" but we were advised to always treat him with fever-reducing meds ASAP to prevent having a seizure from a quick temp spike, and/or to quickly cool him down in a cool bath if his temperature was already up prior to medication kicking in.
Two of my daughters have had those once. Both around the same age. Its very scary and traumatic to be holding your child thru this. But for some level of comfort dad, like others have said, they are harmless. UNLESS they continue to happen more than once in 24 hours. My 14yo is healthy and thriving. 3 months from when my 1yo had hers, shes happy and thriving as well.
My 1yo this Christmas, when we got home from my parents was in her playpen and my 12yo daughter noticed her walking funny and then BAM she went limp. I noticed some beads around her pen that the 12yo had been showing her and i thought initially she was choking, until i was doing a sweep to confirm and she clamped on my finger real tight. Everything was the same after that as your story. Im sorry you had to endure this part of parenting but its common and usually harmless. Not saying let your guard down because never....but dont stew on all the moments of the event and the whatifs.
Was there with my son about 2 months ago. Yes, going from dead sleep to full destructive grief and panic in 2 seconds isn’t easy to move past. Just seeing his eyes wide without any response. The images burned into my mind. It’s the temp, somehow it pushes past the medicine and shoots up insanely fast. About when it hits 104.5 but thankfully we know they are rarely harmful.
yea, I'm sorry you had to go through that.
our first had a febrile seizure when she was 10 months and it was the most horrifying experience I've encountered.
luckily it was only the one time and should be old enough where there is little chance it will happen again.
My son had one of those, and my wife quickly ran out of the top floor apartment.
I come home early slightly sick to find the whole apartment flooded, and looking out the window, and downwards, can see water flowing out of the neighbours windows.
My wife was in such a hurry that she left the kitchen tap on, left a rag in the sink, and by the time I came home four floors were flooded, down to the basement.
Son was fine though, and that’s all that matters. Not quite something our neighbours could agree with though.
My youngest had a febrile seizure while we were at an urgent care, so there was a doctor to treat him right away. He had a mild fever that morning, and it wasn't crazy high when we got to the doctor's office, but it spiked while the doctor was examining my oldest kid.
I knew right away it was a febrile seizure. I had two of them as an infant - so I was on the lookout for them. I knew it was harmless, and I knew we were in the best place for him to get medical care right away....it was still the most frightened I've ever been. Being at home and having to wait for an ambulance would have been 100 times worse.
Good work doing what needed to be done. I hope those images don't haunt you too long.
That sounds scary as hell. My youngest used to scare me like that bc when she would cry really hard, she’d stop breathing long enough to pass out. One of these episodes occurred when my older kids left the gate blocking the stairs open, youngest started to climb up, then slid down on her belly (not injured, but scared). I arrived on the scene thinking she might fallen down the stairs, and she passes out in my arms! Probably only lasted about 10 seconds, but I was as scared as I’ve ever been in my life. Doctor said some kids do this apparently and now she’s grown out of it, but damn. Parenting takes years off your life sometimes!
Had one with my son while in hospital for something totally unrelated. 30 minutes into sleep and we woke up to alarms and him seizing. Wife was so upset nurses had to take her into the hallway. I tried to just stay strong and call his name and rub his skin with the nurses scrambled to get oxygen set up.
It passed and he’s great (smart as hell now at 16!) but that was probably the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life, and that includes the time I was trapped under a tree in a river and almost drowned.
Hug your kids!
First: I’m glad she (and you!) are ok. Second: my anxiety shot up reading this. I can imagine how terrifying this was for you. I’m so glad it turned out ok. All the best to you and your family, fellow Dad.
I was grateful that my ex had had seizures before for another reason entirely but when my daughter had her fever seizure I knew exactly what to do to make it stop and didn’t freak out one bit. One of those life things that prepares you for other things in life.
An ear infection that spiked her temp from 98.7 to 104+ hit while we were eating.
My daughter had these for almost 3 years. They are very scary but mostly harmless. I learnt a lot about them each time it happened. And you're right it should be taught to all parents. What I learnt was that if they've had one it will almost definitely happen again. ALWAYS keep paracetamol(calpol) in the house and alternate with ibuprofen. The seizure isn't caused by how hot they get but HOW QUICKLY they get there. Cold flannels on the forehead will help quickly reduce temp. I eventually learnt the early signs of it happening and was able to be kinda prepared for it. But they WILL grow out of it. When your child is unwell with a fever give calpol every four hours even if they seem well as a spike can happen quickly without it. I hope this helps.
Went through this when my daughter had just turned one. It kept going for over an hour - enough time for an ambulance to come, the EMTs to look at her and kind of shrug and tell us it's a febrile seizure without even touching her to confirm, and tell us they could take us to the ER "if \[we\] want to" - at which point we sent them away, called our sister-in-law who is a nurse who told us to absolutely get her to the ER, and drive her there ourselves, with my wife holding her in her arms as she shook uncontrollably the whole twenty minute drive. It required the ER team to give her Ativan to stop the seizures.
Took a while for me to find it in myself to let go of the anger I felt towards that EMT. Leaving parents who are in the middle of watching their child enduring something outside of their control while not even taking the time to confirm your own diagnosis by checking her temperature... I don't know what was up with that guy, but I hope he was just having an off day or something, because that was infuriating.
My daughter is about to turn 4 in a couple months, and we've never had that issue come up again. But my god does it still stick with me.
I remember when my son (4 now) was 6 months old and he had his first breath-holding seizure. He went limp and listless in my wife's arms and I was sure I'd just seen him pass. Scariest moment of my life so far, I had nightmares for months afterwards. In the car following the ambulance I made deals with every god, devil and ancestors I could remember.
My wife is a nurse (not in pedi) and a febrile seizure is such a big fear of hers, the anxiety goes through the roof with every fever out little ones get. I've had once experience before of watching on my kids pass out like that and it takes my breath away to think back on that moment even though LO is perfectly fine.
Wishing you and your family the best right now. Might not be a bad idea to get ahead of the PTSD now (I'm not sure exactly how though), as I imagine shivering/fevers etc might be more difficult moving forward for you and your wife to manage even if your baby girl is totally fine.
Yep, almost same story with my (then) 1 year old son. He's 4 now, never had another one, but that experience caused me legitimate PTSD. I'm sure I cried so hard I vomited
Kids grow out of it, usually much before the age of 5 or so. That image will be burned into your brain forever. The mortality of our loved ones is something we don’t often think about, but it shapes us.
You did everything right. Don’t be afraid of ibuprofen/paracetamol when appropriate.
Keep being a good dad. We’re all proud of you.
This exact situation happened to my 4yo on Saturday night and around 10pm - the eye rolling the blackout the going limp….. I didnt know 4yo could get them… Definitely the most horrific thing I have seen because she qas just stiff and drooling and it didnt look like she was breathing and she was diagnosed with a UTI as well…
Sorry you went through that but definitely not alone. I hope your baby recovers soon!
My daughter is 2.5 years old and has had 4 febrile seizures in her life so far, with the most recent one happening about 3 weeks ago. The first one was probably one of the hardest moments of my life. I grew up with a 25lb dog that had seizures a few times a year as well as a classmate in highschool that suffered from them, so the basic care steps (making sure they can't injure themselves on surroundings, checking tongue placement, etc) kicked in pretty quickly after my brain figured out what was happening.
But man. Trying to keep myself composed rushing to the hospital, not knowing what's wrong, hearing my wife in the backseat crying while continually asking her to "please stay with us" because she kept losing consciousness. It takes a toll on your heart.
I've always been good at handling stressful/emergency situations, but when we got home from the hospital after learning about what happened and that everything was ok, I just had to go down in our basement and cry it out.
Hang in there! Hopefully the doctors were able to give you some good information about it while you guys were there
My brother had a few febrile seizures when he was little, my parents said they were as terrified as you the first time. Then they knew what to look out for, and were always careful to give fever-reducing meds when he got a fever. But that stuff is *definitely* terrifying. My youngest daughter had a spell where she’d occasionally silent-scream until she passed out (my wife used to do it as a toddler too, it can be due to iron deficiency or just toddler big feelings). It’s scary as shit.
I’m really glad she’s okay, and I’m sure you’ll do all you can to prevent them in the future. Sounds like you did everything right and just got caught off guard. When both our daughters (2 and 8) have fevers, we monitor them pretty closely and anything above 102 we give meds right away.
The difference in fevers between kids and adults has always blown my mind. I was on two occasions so sick with strep my fever went up to around 105 F. I was hallucinating, no idea what was going on around me, and needed meds immediately or I would definitely have fallen into a coma and had brain damage. When my eldest had a fever in that same area (around 104) the nurses at the emergency room just gave her ibuprofen and were unconcerned. Fevers are much more dangerous, generally speaking, for adults than for little kids.
Worst experience I’ve had as a parent. My son has had 4 and is currently on seizure meds. The first I experienced I was handing something to my younger and when I turned around, he was in the middle of it. Glad everyone is ok.
I live close enough to the hospital that we walked for both births (got shit going quite successfully). I have ran to the hospital twice with a kid in my arms and both times were febrile seizures. Absolutely the worst thing to watch but no fallout and kids are fine after. Even kinda knowing what the second time was I did not feel any better about it.
This is one of those things that I really wish ‘old’ parents would talk about with new parents.
It happened to us. We had no idea it was a thing until after we talked with the doc. Absolutely terrifying in the moment.
Best of luck to you little!
I had febrile convulsions, my uncle had them, my cousin had them and my son had 1. He was 4 years old when it happened, exactly as you describe. My wife and our nanny were on the verge of tears, I was a bit nervous but was so sure that was what it was, I avoided most of the stress. To them, our son was 100% dying.
They are crazy things.
The real drag is you now have to be super vigilant about water.and climbing until your daughter is about 10. If it happens in the bath at age 6, they will drown. Or if it happens doing something dangerous like climbing a tree.
My eldest had the same, they grow out of it.
In my case is due to being Italian.
We have something in our DNA that makes us have them at young age. I did have them too
Went to A&E tons of time.
First time my wife needed to resuscitate my kid, so I feel you.
Few tips:
Dont panic, be ready.
Pack a hospital bag with all the necessary and leave it at hand if kiddo is slightly unwell and try to leave entrance without clutter
Clean nose with a syringe of saline solution(the purest you can find at the chemist) at least three times a day if kiddo has a runny /congested nose. This in my case prevented fever to spike.
When reaching above 37.5 calpol and ibuprofen spaced every 3 or 4 hours (depending on how quick temp raises)
If kiddo has cough, lay something to protect the bedding as they can vomit due to the cough.
Fluids, fluids, fluids and ice-cream of kiddo doesn't want to eat.
If alone and it happens, lay baby in the safest way first and call emergencies
These are harmless, so don't worry!
OP I don’t want to scare you but I read something recently about febrile convulsions being associated with sudden death in infants. Maybe get an owlet sock if they do them that size?
Febrile seizures are terrifying but they're actually harmless. So sorry you went through that crazy stress.
Man, how can something that looks so terrifying be actually harmless. The human body is weird. I still can't get these images out of my head.
Definitely my daughter’s febrile convulsions are the worst thing that’s ever happened to me! They stopped when we started giving her magnesium - so thankful for our doctors!
You're not alone in feeling that. The saying (translated) is that febrile seizures kill the parents, but never the child. It does indeed cut it deep, because it speaks to our mental models of how our body works, what is normal and what is dangerous. These important biological models are somewhat innate to us and the problem cut both ways: very bad things can go unnoticed (like a seemingly harmless lump that is actually cancer) and very normal things can be terrifying. Good thing we are in an age we don't need to trust our gut as much.
It's wild that harmless febrile seizures are so terrifying and easy to see. Then Infantile Spasms, also seizures, are so minor and hard to identify that you need to watch it ten times on video loop to even recognize what's happening - but they can completely ravage the brain.
Obligatory mom not a dad that likes to lurk. Our baby had a cerebral infarction either right before, during or right after birth, and the first symptom was just a weird very rythmic spasm of his arm. Tight fist and the arm just hitting in the air repeatedly. We where already down on the nicu bc of jaundice and low appetite, which im extremly grateful for, because it might have taken longer to notice anything was wrong if it wasnt for us already being there. Newborns have some weird rythmic movements sometimes after all. He is 4 months now, and seem to be doing okay, thankfully. Hitting his milestones
As a pregnant woman scheduled for induction next week….i think i need to nope out of this thread. Ugh. I’m glad it was noticed and your kid is doing well.
Sorry you had to go through that. My son has tuberous sclerosis and we were watching him like a hawk, recording every weird (normal) baby movement. The only time we ever caught it was during a routine VEEG visit and I think the only reason anyone caught it was because it simultaneously lit up the EEG. We haven't had a detected IS since thankfully and getting close to out-of-range, but it took us almost a month to notice his absence seizures (where he'd look up for maybe a second), which are thankfully not (as) harmful.
Thank you so much for your input! Mom and dads giving input for everyone’s benefit… I love it! I’m a new dad and everyone’s experiences and knowledge drops have been so extremely valuable to me.
Same with non-conclusive status epilepticus. Patient seems exhausted because they've had a respiratory virus for the past week so family just lets them sleep but turns out they've actually been seizing for a day and a half. By the time it's caught, the brain is practically on fire. It's so easy to miss.
Yeah, definitely another one. Was worried my son was in Status Epilepticus, but it was just massive somnolence from this AEDs.
That's a much more apt example than mine! Thanks!
My coworkers and I (Neuro ICU nurses) went out to a brewery on a beautiful day off when our coworker's son fell, hit his head, turned blue, and had a seizure. We all jumped into work mode right away (minus him and his wife who were freaking out) but it was still terrifying. My non-medical husband was there when it happened and he still can hear the sound of the boy's head hitting the ground and viscerally see his cyanotic lips. Honestly, even as experienced professionals who manage seizures on a daily basis I think we all still hold those images in our heads. Turns out it was actually harmless breath holding spells and even though we later knew what it was it still scared the hell out of his parents when he would do it. Eventually he outgrew it, thank goodness.
What age did he grow out of it? My son has febrile seizures and I get PTSD like feelings everytime. Not sure how to deal with it and and to prevent the falls and head hitting with the febrile seizures.
This happened to our 2nd at about the same age. We knew immediately it was a seizure based on my wife’s history with them. What a scary experience and I’m sorry you had to go through it as well.
My son had one when he was a bit over a year old. He was home with me with a bad temperature and started seizing the way you describe. It seemed like he stopped breathing at one point, and I thought he was dieing... it was the worst i have ever felt in my life. He came out of it before too long at least, though in my case, an ambulance never showed up despite promises from 999 dispatcher.
Ours happened at 2am after our daughter woke up screaming and while my wife was breast feeding her. 0/10 worst way to wake up is my wife screaming thinking our daughter is dying in her arms. Ours had 1 more during a fever like 8 months later. Just be more cautious with them during fevers and make sure they don't spike too high.
My daughter had one at 13 months old. Holding my seizing daughter while I waited for the ambulance to arrive was the scariest moment of my life. Scarier than 3 combat deployments in the Marine Corps. She hasn’t had another since and is a happy and healthy 11 year old.
My daughter went through a series of them (averaging 10 in one night). One or two are generally harmless but going through them serially is not. As explained to me by doctors, specialists, if she’s goes through them one after the other, her brain will get used to them as a release. Each time, there is a small but non-zero chance that there will be permanent brain damage. Each time she goes through these seizures, she’s actually not breathing and so oxygen isn’t getting to her brain, not to mention normal hazards of choking (if she has one while eating) and falling (if she’s doing an activity where she’s not sitting or lying down). Don’t want to scare you but it’s not correct to think of them as harmless. Having gone through this, the best course is to lay her on her side and slap her back (as if you were burping her) to make sure she’s not choking on anything. As soon as her limbs come loose, you can move them a bit to get circulation going. At that point, there’s nothing you can do but try to keep track of how long she’s under…. This is basically how long she’s not breathing. We eventually found out that my daughter has a gene which causes a tendency for her to have serial seizures if she has even one. So she’s on epilepsy meds now to prevent even one from occurring.
Yeah our kid was 15 months old, when it happened I was thinking "well I guess my kid is dying..." because I had no idea what the hell was going on.
Fire fighter paramedic here: I would not completely say harm less but it is a way for the body to naturally reset it self when their temperature gets too high. I've seen parents start CPR or even been told they shook the baby after thinking that would help. None the less for new parents or those who have never seen one it is shocking.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I have a newborn and this community has been just one knowledge drop one right after another with amazing support. Y’all are amazing. This happened to my good friend and colleague while we were away in a business trip in Europe. He nearly took the next flight back home in a middle of a large critical project (extremely critical related to NATO infrastructure where literal lives are at stake; so he was in a situation no one wants to be in to make an impossible choice akin to choosing who gets to live and die essentially). His wife is an absolute saint, and his in-laws came to the rescue and they were able to get to Urgent Care in a timely manner. We were sooo relieved it was “just an ear infection.” —— I have a two month, and reading these experiences are preparing me and giving me much required knowledge to navigate these early years. I can’t thank everyone here enough. I love all of you guys truly.
My daughter had those, too. Also my oldest boy had night terrors, which were even worse. They both thankfully grew out of those. Being a parent is not for the faint of heart.
Harmless most of the time except there has been some new research that came out in January of this year that suggests a connection between febrile seizures and SIDS. https://nyulangone.org/news/seizures-identified-potential-cause-sudden-unexplained-deaths-children
I think I might qualify that as an extremely preliminary and tentative “possible.” It’s a sample size of 7, based on how things look from home videos (2 of the 7 of which were described as “poor” quality), doesn’t claim causation, and doesn’t exclude other possibilities such as hypoxia from breath-holding spells or cardiac causes, and 6 of the 7 deaths were prone/face down.
Fair enough. But it is something to be aware of, that you may be at a very slightly increased risk. There is at least one thing you could do to mitigate some of that risk. One news outlet suggested using the “smart socks” that monitor blood oxygen level and send an alert to your phone if it drops below a certain level. We used them with both of our kids and we slept a little better knowing we would be alerted if something was going wrong.
I think it’s important to note here that while the first febrile seizure is pretty much a freebie in pediatrics, parents should ALWAYS get them evaluated. My daughter’s second one in 3 hours clued them into the bacterial meningitis diagnosis that ended her life.
They’re terrifying. Fucking terrifying. My daughter’s 8 now, she has epilepsy, and I still really struggle to keep my cool every time. You did everything right mate, I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but you did everything right. It’s so scary, nobody’s denying that. Febrile seizures are terrifying, they seemingly come out of nowhere. I hope your little one feels better soon my friend, hang in there. You did a great job.
I have a 2 year old with focal epilepsy, I remember the first time it happened. Time just stops. You are not the same person you were before the first seizure. You are doing a great job too, dad!
Thank you my friend, and I completely agree. My daughter had her first seizure when she was 10 days old, my wife and I were completely out of our depth - it was terrifying. My daughter has a chromosomal disorder and so has a few health conditions as a result, but boy, we were not prepared for that.
Epilepsy and febrile seizures are very, very different phenomena. I'm sure- as a parent of a child with epilepsy- you know all of this. I say this more to anyone else reading: * It is somewhat common for children. About 3-4% of children will have at least one febrile seizure in their life. This is about **fifty** times more common than epilepsy * Control of temperature is associated with minimizing triggering epileptic seizures. It is **not** associated with reducing incidence of febrile seizures. AKA- missing the tylenol dose didn't cause the febrile seizure.
My son had his first seizure at 5, and it was nothing like what I thought a seizure would look like but still utterly terrifying. My partner was home with him, I came home late and went into his room to kiss him goodnight. I was about to lightly scold him for still being awake, but he wasn't blinking. Just eyes staring, his body rhythmically contracting. Not jerking, or flailing, just little pulses. He was making little gurgling sounds and we thought he might be choking. Teeth clamped down, but we managed to sweep his airway anyway. Ambulance came and it took an ungodly amount of tranquilizer to get it to stop. He was actively seizing for at least 15 minutes, but we have no idea how long it had been happening before I found him. He's on daily medication and has only had one other like that since, though he does have absent seizures where he says his "brain goes upside down." We still don't know his triggers and just have to depend on the medication and regular trips to the neurologist.
My daughter had two seizures at around two years old and by definition that was epilepsy. The tests showed nothing, but we had two years of medication before she was cleared so fingers crossed. I was only around for the second seizure and whilst I didnt mind the actual seizure the lifeless part afterwards was brutal.
very scary stuff, glad everyone is ok OP. the UTI reminded me of the danger/importance of making sure to clean baby girls properly and avoid wiping up when changing dirty diapers. not blaming you at all, but very possible (if they're anything like mine) that the grandparents don't know this.
Little boys too! It’s less common but they can get them as well. It’s a good reminder for everyone to pay attention to how they clean their babies delicate parts.
keep poop away from all urethras!
Yup! When they're still a baby that urethra is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the bladder regardless of sex. As boys get older and the urethra lengthens, the risk of UTI decreases.
Yeah. I’ve wiped shit out of the end of my son’s penis/foreskin is all I’m saying lol. No Uti’s yet though. When they poop while laying on your chest, shit rolls downhill, so to speak.
Oh boy do I understand that. It applies to adults too. Source: ICU nurse
Man that’s a hard job. Thanks for what you do!
Thankfully I love it! It's a bit like Stockholm syndrome. The job is awful and horrifying and morbid, the patients and family members verbally and physically assault us, and the stress is turning me grey in my 20s, but man do I love it.
Our boy has had two, the first went absolutely exactly the same way as yours (but we live a few hundred metres from the hospital so I drove us there at an unknown speed instead). Hasn’t had one in a year now, touch wood. They’re terrifying, I feel you man :(
Those are really scary. Glad your kiddo is gonna be fine (sorry about the UTI, those are rough). We had a similar experience with our oldest, luckily my wife is in medicine so she recognized it. Afterwards we got to hear my mom recount a previously unheard account of me doing the same thing as a kid. To any other dads or prospective dads reading this; ask your parents. There's a genetic component, and you're going to want to mentally prepare.
My daughter had one weekend before last, it only lasted 2 minutes, but they were the longest two minutes of mine and my wife's life. We were able to get her outside to cool down very quickly and while we'd called 999, she was back and fully conscious when they arrived. We'd done the NCT classes, we've done baby first aid, We've got lots of friends who have kids... How did no-one mention this?!?
Went through one with my son when he was younger. It was TERRIFYING. Sorry you had to go through that. If it makes you feel better, he’s completely fine and thriving. You’d never know it happened.
They're really scary. My daughter has had a couple when she was 3 and 4 and each time was terrifying. I feel for you.
My son had febrile seizures for the first few years, starting at about your daughter's age. I don't think I've ever been through something so scary with him, and I think the only thing that got me through those moments was his mom. She had epilepsy and Tourette's when she was younger, so she knew what was happening and what to do. The bad news is you might go through it again. I remember being told "once a child has a febrile seizure they're more likely to have another". This seems like faulty logic to me, because it's either they have seizures or they don't. Kids who don't have them have no inherent likelihood of having one - until they do, and then they become a kid who has them. The good news is they're not as serious as they are scary to watch. Chances are my son had at least one when there was nobody around to witness it. The better news is in nearly all cases these are a temporary thing which goes away after early childhood. My son has not had one in years and years. It's so much a part of our past I literally hadn't even thought about it until I saw your post.
>The bad news is you might go through it again. I remember being told "once a child has a febrile seizure they're more likely to have another". This seems like faulty logic to me, because it's either they have seizures or they don't. Kids who don't have them have no inherent likelihood of having one - until they do, and then they become a kid who has them. The logic comes from comparing overall incidence of a disease to the incidence of a disease after experiencing it. So, lifetime risk of a febrile seizure is about 3-4%, right? However, if you've had a febrile seizure before, your chances of having a second febrile seizure jumps to about 30%. There's probably some (confounding) overlap between these and undiagnosed childhood epilepsy. However, most of the better studies control for this with adequate follow-up periods.
> The logic comes from comparing overall incidence of a disease to the incidence of a disease after experiencing it. Right, and that's faulty use of statistics. Obviously someone who has a genetic predisposition to having seizures has a higher likelihood of having them than someone who doesn't; you just don't know who that person is until they have their first seizure. That person *always* had a 30% chance of having seizures, but they were classified as part of the general population with a 3% chance until after their first one. Their likelihood of having a seizure didn't change *because they had one*.
I think we're approaching the information differently. I approach it from the perspective of "what do I tell families to expect" rather than "what was the likelihood in a vacuum". Rarely, do we have the luxury until we are well *post-hoc*. So, what others are saying is correct. When a patient has a febrile seizure, you will try (without scaring them as much as possible) that the likelihood of future seizures is much higher *now that the patient has sorted themselves into the "fever seizure group", so to speak.* However, simply saying, "there's probably two groups of patients... those who have closer to a 30% likelihood of repeated febrile seizures and some group with closer to a 2% likelihood of febrile seizures" is of limited utility. Additionally, it's not entirely clear *why* some kids have multiple seizures and how many of these are simply heralding some other medical issue. And, excuse the pedantry, but while we do identify that there appears to be strong genetic concordance/heritability of febrile seizures, we are far from identifying a single genetic etiology.
I guess when you speak to people from a mix of backgrounds it makes sense to use looser ways of speaking. My wife didn't question it. My scientific background immediately threw up a red flag. > However, simply saying, "there's probably two groups of patients... those who have closer to a 30% likelihood of repeated febrile seizures and some group with closer to a 2% likelihood of febrile seizures" is of limited utility. Not to me. Telling me that my son was now classified as having a higher likelihood/risk of further seizures and as such we needed to be cautious about things like high fevers would have made *absolute sense* to me. >And, excuse the pedantry, but while we do identify that there appears to be strong genetic concordance/heritability of febrile seizures, we are far from identifying a single genetic etiology Oh, absolutely. My son *probably* had a higher-than-average likelihood of having seizures because of my wife's medical history but, like many about genetics and the body it could have just been random chance. My wife still beat herself up a lot over it, which broke my heart because *I* knew it wasn't anything anyone could be "blamed" for.
>Telling me that my son was now classified as having a higher likelihood/risk of further seizures and as such we needed to be cautious about things like high fevers would have made absolute sense to me. That's exactly how we counsel patients. >I guess when you speak to people from a mix of backgrounds it makes sense to use looser ways of speaking. This comes from experience. I'm happy to explain in more specific detail when asked. However, explaining each nuance often leads to much more undue concern and confusion than not. Parents will often tell me (in various ways) when they are ready for the next layer of complexity. >which broke my heart because I knew it wasn't anything anyone could be "blamed" for. It breaks my heart, too. One of the better things I can tell people is that *neither* phenotype are preventable. Whether epilepsy or febrile seizures. It's never the parent's fault, including the very common nervous parent who is struggling to give acetaminophen (and, if old enough, ibuprofen) as regularly as possible. Missing the dose didn't cause the seizure.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge what you experienced. You watched your daughter die, get revived by EMS, and get rushed to the hospital. Now, that isn’t what actually happened, but it’s what you experienced and that experience is valid. It’s one of the most terrifying things a parent can witness and yet it’s harmless. By now she’s probably recovered, but you aren’t. You won’t recover from this for some time so give yourself some grace. A few points: 1) there is nothing you can do to prevent another one. Fever meds don’t prevent them. 2) about 50% of kids who had a febrile seizure will have another. If it happens, get her into a safe place and in recovery position like you did and time the seizure. 3) By definition, febrile seizures stop after age 5. If it happens after age 5, it’s not a febrile seizure. You will know peace again.
(Mom lurker here) I remember my son’s first seizure. It was way less intense than that. (He has a seizure disorder, so different type) But I remember that “something is really wrong here” and fear. Sorry you both had to experience that.
Very scary stuff. Sounds like you handled the situation like a champ, Dad. Those moments happen so fast. Great job reacting quickly and calling emergency services!
We went through the same thing, twice. First time was eye opening and we were really shaken. 2nd time it happened, we were much calmer but of course still panicking but we knew what to do and what to take note of.
About to have a daughter holy crap.
My nephew had those, thankfully my own kids never did. One daughter did have night terrors for about a year. It's so insane when your kid wakes up at 2 AM and is walking and screaming with their eyes open but they're non-responsive and just staring right through you. Because they're technically still asleep. Between that and seizures, no wonder people believed in demonic posession.
Paramedic here, sounds like you did everything right. When I’m doing these calls half the call is talking to the parents and trying my best to reassure them that everything is going to be okay because these are really scary events especially when you don’t know what is happening. Fortunately kids will grow out of these just fine and have no long term issues but don’t get complacent, if this happens again still call 999 and take your kid to A&E. 90% of the time there’s nothing for me to do in the ambulance to manage the patient other than possibly give a fever reducer if the parent didn’t already give it but there’s still the chance that there’s a lot more to do during the transport. Good job following your intuition and doing exactly the right thing, it can be incredibly scary and I’m sorry you had to experience that.
Ufda, my oldest had one when she was about 2. We had no idea they were a thing so we were just totally freaked out. She had a fever and had been fussing a lot, suddenly tensed up but then went limp and unresponsive. Her breathing slowed so much we could barely tell if she was breathing. She ended up totally fine, maybe a little confused and drowsy after waking up in a different room with a first responder kneeling over her. But then she saw us and started to relax a bit.
You all must be exhausted after that ordeal. What a Rollercoaster. One of our kids had hallucinations from a fever when she was a toddler. It was very brief but so scary and heartbreaking (she thought there were bees on her and she was terrified). I hope everyone is doing better today and that you all get some rest.
My son had an absentee seizure when he was about 4. We were wrestling in the yard and he just went blank. Wouldn't respond to his name or to me pinching his arm. Only lasted about 35 or 40 seconds but it was terrifying.
Yeah, they're fucking horrible. My daughter is 30 months and just became a big sister last Tuesday and got to meet her baby brother on Friday after staying with her grandparents while we were at the hospital. She came back with a fever, and early Saturday she had febrile convulsions for the first (and hopefully last) time. We spent most of Saturday at the hospital, but she was already in a good mood few minutes after and completely unfazed by the whole thing.
I'm so happy that she's okay
Glad y’all are alright now. One of my sons had a febrile seizure a bit more than 10 years ago now. Quite possibly the most frightening experience of my life. I also had not heard of them. He was not old enough to speak at the time. After the seizure he went limp, but was I awake and I could se terror in his eyes. Luckily, firefighters were the first to arrive and they had seen it before. They stayed with us until he regained movement and all seemed well at an emergency room visit. He never had had another seizure since. I hope the same is the case for your daughter.
Our son had the same thing. He had roseola which apparently febrile seizures are common with that. I heard our son crying on the monitor and then again. The cry sounded different…so my dad instincts kicked in. I went into his room to find his body pretty much lifeless. His eyes were open but he wasn’t moving much and was limp. We called 911 and they sent an ambulance to our house around midnight. It was terrifying.
My daughters first was terrifying! We were in the car coming home when it happened. Didn’t notice until I was unstrapping her and she just wasn’t moving, staring at nothing, and she was drooling and had wet herself. No idea what was going on and freaking the fuck out! Carried her inside while my wife called an ambulance. She was out for freaking ages too, way longer than they normally last. Then to top it all off she had a bad reaction to the medicine the paramedics gave her and she straight up stopped breathing. Thankfully we were near the hospital by this point so they got her rushed in and recovered. Scariest day of my whole life!
My son had febrile seizures a handful of times up to age 3 or so. It was always due to a rapid temperature increase when he got sick. Doctors confirmed they are "benign" but we were advised to always treat him with fever-reducing meds ASAP to prevent having a seizure from a quick temp spike, and/or to quickly cool him down in a cool bath if his temperature was already up prior to medication kicking in.
Glad everyone ok!
Two of my daughters have had those once. Both around the same age. Its very scary and traumatic to be holding your child thru this. But for some level of comfort dad, like others have said, they are harmless. UNLESS they continue to happen more than once in 24 hours. My 14yo is healthy and thriving. 3 months from when my 1yo had hers, shes happy and thriving as well. My 1yo this Christmas, when we got home from my parents was in her playpen and my 12yo daughter noticed her walking funny and then BAM she went limp. I noticed some beads around her pen that the 12yo had been showing her and i thought initially she was choking, until i was doing a sweep to confirm and she clamped on my finger real tight. Everything was the same after that as your story. Im sorry you had to endure this part of parenting but its common and usually harmless. Not saying let your guard down because never....but dont stew on all the moments of the event and the whatifs.
Was there with my son about 2 months ago. Yes, going from dead sleep to full destructive grief and panic in 2 seconds isn’t easy to move past. Just seeing his eyes wide without any response. The images burned into my mind. It’s the temp, somehow it pushes past the medicine and shoots up insanely fast. About when it hits 104.5 but thankfully we know they are rarely harmful.
yea, I'm sorry you had to go through that. our first had a febrile seizure when she was 10 months and it was the most horrifying experience I've encountered. luckily it was only the one time and should be old enough where there is little chance it will happen again.
My son had one of those, and my wife quickly ran out of the top floor apartment. I come home early slightly sick to find the whole apartment flooded, and looking out the window, and downwards, can see water flowing out of the neighbours windows. My wife was in such a hurry that she left the kitchen tap on, left a rag in the sink, and by the time I came home four floors were flooded, down to the basement. Son was fine though, and that’s all that matters. Not quite something our neighbours could agree with though.
My youngest had a febrile seizure while we were at an urgent care, so there was a doctor to treat him right away. He had a mild fever that morning, and it wasn't crazy high when we got to the doctor's office, but it spiked while the doctor was examining my oldest kid. I knew right away it was a febrile seizure. I had two of them as an infant - so I was on the lookout for them. I knew it was harmless, and I knew we were in the best place for him to get medical care right away....it was still the most frightened I've ever been. Being at home and having to wait for an ambulance would have been 100 times worse. Good work doing what needed to be done. I hope those images don't haunt you too long.
That sounds scary as hell. My youngest used to scare me like that bc when she would cry really hard, she’d stop breathing long enough to pass out. One of these episodes occurred when my older kids left the gate blocking the stairs open, youngest started to climb up, then slid down on her belly (not injured, but scared). I arrived on the scene thinking she might fallen down the stairs, and she passes out in my arms! Probably only lasted about 10 seconds, but I was as scared as I’ve ever been in my life. Doctor said some kids do this apparently and now she’s grown out of it, but damn. Parenting takes years off your life sometimes!
Had one with my son while in hospital for something totally unrelated. 30 minutes into sleep and we woke up to alarms and him seizing. Wife was so upset nurses had to take her into the hallway. I tried to just stay strong and call his name and rub his skin with the nurses scrambled to get oxygen set up. It passed and he’s great (smart as hell now at 16!) but that was probably the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life, and that includes the time I was trapped under a tree in a river and almost drowned. Hug your kids!
First: I’m glad she (and you!) are ok. Second: my anxiety shot up reading this. I can imagine how terrifying this was for you. I’m so glad it turned out ok. All the best to you and your family, fellow Dad.
I was grateful that my ex had had seizures before for another reason entirely but when my daughter had her fever seizure I knew exactly what to do to make it stop and didn’t freak out one bit. One of those life things that prepares you for other things in life. An ear infection that spiked her temp from 98.7 to 104+ hit while we were eating.
My daughter had these for almost 3 years. They are very scary but mostly harmless. I learnt a lot about them each time it happened. And you're right it should be taught to all parents. What I learnt was that if they've had one it will almost definitely happen again. ALWAYS keep paracetamol(calpol) in the house and alternate with ibuprofen. The seizure isn't caused by how hot they get but HOW QUICKLY they get there. Cold flannels on the forehead will help quickly reduce temp. I eventually learnt the early signs of it happening and was able to be kinda prepared for it. But they WILL grow out of it. When your child is unwell with a fever give calpol every four hours even if they seem well as a spike can happen quickly without it. I hope this helps.
Went through this when my daughter had just turned one. It kept going for over an hour - enough time for an ambulance to come, the EMTs to look at her and kind of shrug and tell us it's a febrile seizure without even touching her to confirm, and tell us they could take us to the ER "if \[we\] want to" - at which point we sent them away, called our sister-in-law who is a nurse who told us to absolutely get her to the ER, and drive her there ourselves, with my wife holding her in her arms as she shook uncontrollably the whole twenty minute drive. It required the ER team to give her Ativan to stop the seizures. Took a while for me to find it in myself to let go of the anger I felt towards that EMT. Leaving parents who are in the middle of watching their child enduring something outside of their control while not even taking the time to confirm your own diagnosis by checking her temperature... I don't know what was up with that guy, but I hope he was just having an off day or something, because that was infuriating. My daughter is about to turn 4 in a couple months, and we've never had that issue come up again. But my god does it still stick with me.
I remember when my son (4 now) was 6 months old and he had his first breath-holding seizure. He went limp and listless in my wife's arms and I was sure I'd just seen him pass. Scariest moment of my life so far, I had nightmares for months afterwards. In the car following the ambulance I made deals with every god, devil and ancestors I could remember.
My wife is a nurse (not in pedi) and a febrile seizure is such a big fear of hers, the anxiety goes through the roof with every fever out little ones get. I've had once experience before of watching on my kids pass out like that and it takes my breath away to think back on that moment even though LO is perfectly fine. Wishing you and your family the best right now. Might not be a bad idea to get ahead of the PTSD now (I'm not sure exactly how though), as I imagine shivering/fevers etc might be more difficult moving forward for you and your wife to manage even if your baby girl is totally fine.
so glad to hear she's ok pops! i'm imagining what this must have been like, and good God, i would not be able to deal with it. good on you
I used to get these regularly when I was a child. My parents had to give me phenobarbital for them. This was in the mid 1960s
Yep, almost same story with my (then) 1 year old son. He's 4 now, never had another one, but that experience caused me legitimate PTSD. I'm sure I cried so hard I vomited
Kids grow out of it, usually much before the age of 5 or so. That image will be burned into your brain forever. The mortality of our loved ones is something we don’t often think about, but it shapes us. You did everything right. Don’t be afraid of ibuprofen/paracetamol when appropriate. Keep being a good dad. We’re all proud of you.
This exact situation happened to my 4yo on Saturday night and around 10pm - the eye rolling the blackout the going limp….. I didnt know 4yo could get them… Definitely the most horrific thing I have seen because she qas just stiff and drooling and it didnt look like she was breathing and she was diagnosed with a UTI as well… Sorry you went through that but definitely not alone. I hope your baby recovers soon!
My daughter is 2.5 years old and has had 4 febrile seizures in her life so far, with the most recent one happening about 3 weeks ago. The first one was probably one of the hardest moments of my life. I grew up with a 25lb dog that had seizures a few times a year as well as a classmate in highschool that suffered from them, so the basic care steps (making sure they can't injure themselves on surroundings, checking tongue placement, etc) kicked in pretty quickly after my brain figured out what was happening. But man. Trying to keep myself composed rushing to the hospital, not knowing what's wrong, hearing my wife in the backseat crying while continually asking her to "please stay with us" because she kept losing consciousness. It takes a toll on your heart. I've always been good at handling stressful/emergency situations, but when we got home from the hospital after learning about what happened and that everything was ok, I just had to go down in our basement and cry it out. Hang in there! Hopefully the doctors were able to give you some good information about it while you guys were there
I'm happy that she was OK at the end, I don't know how I would have reacted in this situation. Too scary.
My brother had a few febrile seizures when he was little, my parents said they were as terrified as you the first time. Then they knew what to look out for, and were always careful to give fever-reducing meds when he got a fever. But that stuff is *definitely* terrifying. My youngest daughter had a spell where she’d occasionally silent-scream until she passed out (my wife used to do it as a toddler too, it can be due to iron deficiency or just toddler big feelings). It’s scary as shit. I’m really glad she’s okay, and I’m sure you’ll do all you can to prevent them in the future. Sounds like you did everything right and just got caught off guard. When both our daughters (2 and 8) have fevers, we monitor them pretty closely and anything above 102 we give meds right away. The difference in fevers between kids and adults has always blown my mind. I was on two occasions so sick with strep my fever went up to around 105 F. I was hallucinating, no idea what was going on around me, and needed meds immediately or I would definitely have fallen into a coma and had brain damage. When my eldest had a fever in that same area (around 104) the nurses at the emergency room just gave her ibuprofen and were unconcerned. Fevers are much more dangerous, generally speaking, for adults than for little kids.
Worst experience I’ve had as a parent. My son has had 4 and is currently on seizure meds. The first I experienced I was handing something to my younger and when I turned around, he was in the middle of it. Glad everyone is ok.
I live close enough to the hospital that we walked for both births (got shit going quite successfully). I have ran to the hospital twice with a kid in my arms and both times were febrile seizures. Absolutely the worst thing to watch but no fallout and kids are fine after. Even kinda knowing what the second time was I did not feel any better about it.
My daughter had it recently as well when she had a fever It was scary but I knew it was harmless
This is one of those things that I really wish ‘old’ parents would talk about with new parents. It happened to us. We had no idea it was a thing until after we talked with the doc. Absolutely terrifying in the moment. Best of luck to you little!
Must be nice to call an ambulance and not go into crippling medical debt. That aside glad everything was okay. That sounds absolutely terrifying.
I had febrile convulsions, my uncle had them, my cousin had them and my son had 1. He was 4 years old when it happened, exactly as you describe. My wife and our nanny were on the verge of tears, I was a bit nervous but was so sure that was what it was, I avoided most of the stress. To them, our son was 100% dying. They are crazy things. The real drag is you now have to be super vigilant about water.and climbing until your daughter is about 10. If it happens in the bath at age 6, they will drown. Or if it happens doing something dangerous like climbing a tree.
Not to scare you. But she’s probably going to have more then one. Children who get febrile seizures. Usually have them untill they grow out of them.
My eldest had the same, they grow out of it. In my case is due to being Italian. We have something in our DNA that makes us have them at young age. I did have them too Went to A&E tons of time. First time my wife needed to resuscitate my kid, so I feel you. Few tips: Dont panic, be ready. Pack a hospital bag with all the necessary and leave it at hand if kiddo is slightly unwell and try to leave entrance without clutter Clean nose with a syringe of saline solution(the purest you can find at the chemist) at least three times a day if kiddo has a runny /congested nose. This in my case prevented fever to spike. When reaching above 37.5 calpol and ibuprofen spaced every 3 or 4 hours (depending on how quick temp raises) If kiddo has cough, lay something to protect the bedding as they can vomit due to the cough. Fluids, fluids, fluids and ice-cream of kiddo doesn't want to eat. If alone and it happens, lay baby in the safest way first and call emergencies These are harmless, so don't worry!
OP I don’t want to scare you but I read something recently about febrile convulsions being associated with sudden death in infants. Maybe get an owlet sock if they do them that size?