Healthy Lifestyle Radio Storytime

What are febrile seizures?

Febrile seizures in infants and young children are seizures caused by fever. During a febrile seizure, the child often loses consciousness and extremecen, moving limbs on both sides. Less commonly, the child becomes rigid or has twitches in only a portion of the body such as an arm or leg, or left or right side only. Most febrile seizures last a minute or two, although some can be as short as a few seconds while others last for more than 15 minutes.

Most children with febrile seizures have rectal temperatures greater than 102 degrees F. Most febrile seizures occur during the first day of fever in children.

It is considered that children prone to febrile seizures have epilepsy, since epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures that are triggered by fever.

How common are febrile seizures?

About one in every 25 children will have at least one episode of febrile convulsions, and over a third of these children will have additional febrile seizures before they outgrow in which there is a tendency to have them. Febrile seizures usually occur in children between the ages of 6 months to 5 years and are particularly common in children in the age of learning to walk. Children rarely develop their first febrile seizure before 6 months or after 3 years of age. The more advanced the age of the child is when the first febrile seizure less likely that the child will have more.