Tips for Parents

Caring for Your Child During a Seizure

Care during a seizure is intended to keep your child safe and when necessary to stop a seizure. Most seizures stop on their own within 3 minutes. To keep your child safe during a seizure, take the following steps:

• Stay calm!
• Do not try to stop the movements. Your child may resist or even strike out.
• Clear the area around your child of any hard, sharp or hot objects. If walking around, gently lead your child away from dangers, such as doors or stairways.
• Place something flat and soft beneath your child’s head.
• Do not try to put anything between your child’s teeth.
• For a tonic-clonic seizure, gently roll your child onto one side until he/she is fully awake.
• Allow your child to rest if he/she is sleepy. Stay with your child until the seizure is over and your child can respond when you talk with him/her.

Most doctors prescribe a “rescue medicine” for seizures that occur frequently or last too long. Important things to know about the rescue medicine are:

• The name of the medicine
• How much to give
• When to give
• How to give
• What to do if your child’s seizure continues after giving the rescue medicine.
• The rectal rescue medicine can sometimes be “pooped” out immediately after it is given. Ask your child’s doctor or nurse what to do if this should happen.

CALL “9-1-1” if:

• the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes or if you give rectal diazepam (Diastat®) and the seizure doesn’t stop within 5 minutes of giving the Diastat®.
• your child has one seizure after another without waking up.
• your child appears bluish or gray after the seizure is over or seems to have problems breathing after the seizure is over.
• your child is injured during the seizure or the seizure occurred in the water.
• your child might be pregnant.

Be sure to record what your child did during the seizure, how she/he acted before and after the seizure, and how long the seizure lasted on the “Seizure Calendar.” This information is very helpful to the doctor.

Seizures in the School:

• Talk with your child’s school nurse and teacher about your child’s seizures
• There should be a written seizure action plan that the school has in place for how to care for your child during a seizure. This plan should be developed with input from you and your child’s doctor or nurse.
• Keep in mind that there may need to be a separate seizure action plan for the bus ride to and from school.
• Find out if the school personnel know how to administer the rescue medicine. Training can be arranged for them if they do not know how to do this.

This publication was made possible by a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (#1H98MC03907-02-00), and its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the HRSA