May 27, 2010

When your child has a fever...this could happen

Tonight, because my little one’s sick again…. I am writing about something very close to my heart, that most parents don’t know about and that I think you all should! One of the scariest moments of my almost 30yrs of life came when my little boy had a sudden fever, which caused him to have a febrile seizure. I am here to give you some of the facts about febrile seizures, because it is more common than you may think. Approximately 1 in every 25 children will have at least one febrile seizure in their life and more than 1/3 will have another before they outgrow the tendency to have them. Each seizure can look different in every child, in our case he became completely lifeless and unresponsive, his eyes were rolled back in his head, bleeding from the mouth and shaking, this all lasted about 5 minutes total, which seems like a lifetime when you are holding your lifeless baby in your arms. Although extremely frightening, fever seizures are usually harmless.
The big question is what to do if this happens to your child? So, here’s what the experts say.
Parents and caregivers should stay calm and carefully observe the child. To prevent accidental injury, the child should be placed on a protected surface such as the floor or ground. The child should not be held or restrained during a convulsion. To prevent choking, the child should be placed on his or her side or stomach. When possible, the parent should gently remove all objects in the child's mouth. The parent should never place anything in the child's mouth during a convulsion. Objects placed in the mouth can be broken and obstruct the child's airway. If the seizure lasts longer than 10 minutes, the child should be taken immediately to the nearest medical facility. Once the seizure has ended, the child should be taken to his or her doctor to check for the source of the fever. This is especially urgent if the child shows symptoms of stiff neck, extreme lethargy, or abundant vomiting.
I’m here to tell you that staying calm was NOT on my list of things I did!! I immediately paniced and called 911, but it is good to have the facts, just in case. I pray no one reading this every has this experience, but wanted to share some of mine.

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