Seizures in Early Childhood

Seizures can become more frequent and persistent in early childhood - between the ages of one and five years old.

What type of seizures are common in early childhood?

A child may experience any of the following seizures in early childhood:

Myoclonic seizures

‘Myo’ means muscle and ‘clonus’ means jerk. These types of seizures involve one part of, or the whole, body. They can be subtle or mild and may cause a fall. Myoclonic seizures are brief but can happen in clusters close together. They often happen shortly after someone wakes up. Myoclonic seizures are classified as generalised seizures, which means both sides of the brain are affected at the same time.

Watch the Epilepsy Society video to find out what the experience of a myoclonic seizure may be like.

Focal impaired awareness seizures

These seizures usually involve loss of awareness and extra movements, such as smacking the lips, fumbling or fiddling with the hands. After the seizure, the person may be confused for a while. It may be hard to tell when the seizure has ended but the person might be tired and want to rest.

These seizures typically last more than 30 seconds with a further period of time needed for someone to fully recover.

Tonic-clonic seizures

In tonic-clonic seizures, the person’s body suddenly becomes stiff and then jerks rhythmically. These typically last one to three minutes. Toward the end of the seizure, the jerky movements slow to a stop and the person’s body relaxes. During this time, they may lose control of their bladder or bowels.

Atypical absence seizures

Absence seizures are usually brief, lasting up to 30 seconds, at most. The person can become blank and unresponsive for a few seconds and may appear to be ‘daydreaming’. These seizures may not be noticed because they are brief. They can be accompanied by head nodding or jerks.

‘Atypical’ refers to the results of an electroencephalogram (EEG) test or scan when someone has this type of seizure. An EEG is a recording of electrical activity in the brain.

Atonic seizures

In this type of seizure, the person’s muscles suddenly relax and become floppy. If they are standing, they can fall (often forwards) and may injure the front of their head or face. Atonic seizures tend to be brief and happen without warning. People usually recover quickly, apart from their possible injuries.

Non-convulsive status epilepticus seizures

These happen when there is continuous seizure activity and no major uncontrollable muscle contractions. But there may be subtle twitching or head nods. The seizures are characterised by an altered mental state and the person behaves differently to how they normally do. They are harder to recognise because symptoms are subtle. An electroencephalogram (EEG) test or scan may be needed to confirm their diagnosis.

When do seizures in early childhood happen?

At any time of the day and night when someone has a fever – and also when they don’t. Tonic-clonic seizures can happen in clusters and when someone is asleep.

How is it possible to tell that a child has had one of these seizures?

A medical professional can carry out an EEG between seizures. Usually after someone is two years old, it will start to demonstrate an abnormal EEG background activity.

What pattern do the seizures take?

Generally, as children get older, typically around four years of age, status seizures begin to settle. These are an individual seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, or a cluster of seizures that occur close together without recovery time in-between.

But people with Dravet Syndrome are still prone to status seizures, particularly when they are ill or have an infection.