How to Stop a Child's Febrile Seizure

A febrile seizure is caused by a high fever. During a febrile seizure, your child's body may shake for just a couple of minutes or as long as 15 minutes. Toddlers most often experience febrile seizures, but children as young as six months old and as old as fove can have them. You can use these tactics to stop febrile seizures.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Stabilize your child. Before you attempt to stop the seizure, you need to make sure your child's in a safe position where she can't hurt herself. However, you shouldn't restrain her to stop the seizure.
2. Take a wet washcloth and put it on your child's head. You'll want to use cool water and avoid shocking him by applying ice cubes directly on his face.
3. Rub the towel over her face. Keep a bowl of cool water close by to keep the towel at a cool and comfortable temperature. If the water in bowl warms up quickly, you can place a couple of ice cubes in it.
4. Time the seizure. If the seizure lasts for more than five to 10 minutes, you should call an ambulance for assistance in stopping the seizure.
5. Take his temperature after the seizure ends. At this point, you can place him in a cool bath and give him fever reducing medication if a fever's still present.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't give the child any fever reducing medications, like acetaminophen or ibuprofen, during the seizure. You should wait until it's over with before giving any medication.
• Don't place your child in a tub of cool water to stop a febrile seizure. Your child could hurt herself inside the tub.