If your baby is having a seizure, the most important things to do are keep them safe from injury, place them on their side, and time the seizure. Call 911 if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes. Most seizures in infants stop on their own within a minute or two, but the experience can be terrifying for a parent who has never seen one before. Knowing what to do, what not to do, and what comes next can make a real difference.
What to Do During the Seizure
Your first job is to prevent injury. Move anything hard or sharp away from your baby. If they’re on an elevated surface like a changing table or couch, gently ease them to the ground. Place something soft and flat under their head. Loosen any clothing around their neck that could restrict breathing.
Turn your baby gently onto their side with their mouth pointing slightly downward. This keeps saliva or vomit from blocking their airway. Do not put anything in their mouth. Babies will not swallow their tongue during a seizure, and placing objects in their mouth can damage their teeth, jaw, or gums.
Stay calm and look at the clock. Knowing how long the seizure lasts is one of the most useful pieces of information you can give a doctor. If you can, note what the movements look like: is the whole body stiffening and jerking, or is only one side involved? Does their skin change color? Are they conscious or unresponsive? These details matter for diagnosis later.
When to Call 911
Call emergency services if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes, if your baby stops breathing or turns blue, or if they have more than one seizure within 24 hours. A first-time seizure in any baby under 2 years old warrants medical evaluation, even if it stops quickly. If the seizure involves only one side of the body, that’s also a reason to seek emergency care.
After the seizure stops, if your baby’s mental state hasn’t improved within about 15 minutes, or if one side of their body seems weak or paralyzed, get them to an emergency room right away.
How to Hold Your Baby After It Stops
For babies under 1 year old, the recovery position looks different than for older children. Hold your baby in your arms on their side, with their face leaning slightly downward and their head a little lower than their stomach. Keep the back of your hand near their mouth so you can feel their breath. A wet hand makes this easier to detect. If they stop breathing, lay them on their back and begin infant CPR.
After a seizure, most children enter a recovery phase where they may seem unusually sleepy, confused, or limp. In children, this period averages about 38 minutes but can vary widely. The most common experience is fatigue and sleepiness, which about 90% of children with seizures experience afterward. More than half will feel this for over an hour after every seizure. Some children also get headaches. Let your baby rest, keep them on their side, and monitor their breathing closely until they seem more like themselves.
What to Record for the Doctor
If possible, have someone video the seizure on a phone. If you can’t record it, write down what you observed as soon as it’s over. Doctors will want to know:
- Duration: how long the seizure lasted from start to finish
- Movements: jerking, stiffening, going limp, or repetitive motions like lip smacking or eye blinking
- Location: whether movements started in one part of the body and spread, or involved the whole body from the start
- Side: whether movements were on the right, left, or both sides
- Awareness: whether your baby seemed conscious or completely unresponsive
- Physical changes: skin color, breathing pattern, drooling, or loss of bladder or bowel control
- Recovery: how long it took for your baby to become alert again and whether they responded to your voice or touch
Febrile Seizures: The Most Common Cause
The most common reason babies have seizures is a fever. Febrile seizures happen in children between 6 months and 5 years old, with the highest risk between 12 and 18 months. Even a low-grade fever above 100.4°F (38°C) can trigger one. These seizures often happen at the beginning of an illness, sometimes before parents even realize their child has a fever.
A simple febrile seizure lasts anywhere from a few seconds to 15 minutes, affects the whole body rather than one side, and doesn’t happen again within 24 hours. These are frightening to watch but generally not harmful. A complex febrile seizure lasts longer than 15 minutes, occurs more than once in a day, or affects only one side of the body. Complex febrile seizures need more thorough medical evaluation.
If your child has prolonged febrile seizures lasting more than 5 minutes or has clusters of febrile seizures during illnesses, their doctor may prescribe a rescue medication to keep at home. These are typically given rectally or nasally and are designed to stop a seizure that won’t end on its own.
What Seizures Look Like in Babies
Seizures in infants don’t always look like the dramatic, full-body convulsions most people picture. In newborns especially, seizures can be subtle and easy to miss. Quick, repetitive jerking motions involving one arm, one leg, or the whole body may look similar to the normal startle reflexes healthy babies have.
In older infants and toddlers, seizures are more distinct. A generalized tonic-clonic seizure, the most recognizable type, involves the child suddenly crying out, going stiff, and then beginning rhythmic jerking of the arms and legs. Their skin may turn bluish, their breathing may become shallow, and their teeth or jaw may clench. This typically lasts a minute or two.
Other types are less obvious. Absence seizures cause a child to stare blankly for a few seconds, sometimes with rapid blinking or chewing motions. Myoclonic seizures produce sudden, brief muscle jerks in the neck, shoulders, or upper arms, often in the morning and in clusters. Atonic seizures cause a sudden loss of muscle tone, making the child go limp and collapse. Some focal seizures cause staring, mumbling, odd repeated movements like picking at clothes or lip smacking, or sudden emotional outbursts like screaming or fear. These last one to two minutes, and the child typically won’t remember them.
What Happens at the Hospital
After a first seizure, doctors will take a detailed history, including what the seizure looked like, any recent illness or head injury, whether your baby was born prematurely, and whether anyone in your family has a history of seizures or epilepsy. Bring your phone video if you have one.
Blood tests may be ordered to check blood sugar and electrolyte levels, though these often don’t explain the seizure on their own. The most important test is usually an EEG, which measures electrical activity in the brain and helps determine what type of seizure occurred and where in the brain it started. This can happen in the emergency room or as an outpatient appointment with a neurologist.
If doctors are concerned about a structural problem, a CT scan may be done in the emergency room to rule out bleeding or large abnormalities. An MRI, which provides much more detailed images of the brain, usually happens days or weeks later. In some cases, genetic or metabolic testing may be recommended to look for underlying conditions that increase seizure risk. Occasionally, a spinal tap is needed to test the fluid around the brain and spinal cord, particularly if infection is suspected.
For many babies, especially those who had a simple febrile seizure, the workup will come back normal and no ongoing treatment is needed. For others, these tests help build a picture that guides whether medication or further monitoring is necessary.