Febrile convulsion usually occurs in children from 3 months to 6 years old when the fever is over 38 degrees, especially children 12-18 months old (According to statistics of the Journal of Pediatrics).
Parents often feel panicked, extremely worried when their child has a febrile convulsion because they fear that bad things will happen to their child… The loss of temper will lead to deal with a child having a convulsion at home in a wrong way. It can cause danger to the child such as: Gathering around the child will cause to be deprived of oxygen; putting your hand in the child’s mouth for fear that the child will bite the tongue …
A convulsion is an “electrical storm” in the brain. The brain controls body actions as well as emotions by transmitting electrical signals throughout the body. If the signal transmission is interrupted by some reason, a convulsion will occur.
When a child is infected with a virus or bacteria, these germs usually multiply comfortably at an average body temperature of 37.5 degrees. When the body detects foreign germs, the body will increase its body temperature to eliminate them, cause a fever. However, for children, their body can’t handle germs properly, because they have not fully developed like adults, so if their temperature rises too suddenly, it will cause a febrile convulsion.
Febrile convulsion does not cause damge to brain and nerve system, paralysis, disability, mental retardation, or death. So parents shoud keep calm and the way to deal with febrile convulsion is as simple as normal fevers.
What shoud you do when your child has a febrile convulsion ?
- Protect the child’s head, take off some clothes on child.
- Wait for the convulsion to subside, counting the number of minutes of the convulsion.
- When the child stops convulsing, put the child on his or her side.
- The child need rest to gradually wake up.
- If convulsion lasts longer than 5 minutes, take the child to the hospital.
