What happens when a baby has a fever and convulsions?

We attach great importance to the physical health of our babies, but babies always get sick when we are not paying attention. Maybe we take good care of our babies, but they still get sick, which is a headache for parents. It is common for babies to have a fever, but sometimes babies have convulsions after having a fever. What's going on? So let’s take a look at what happens when a baby has a fever and has convulsions?

Convulsion refers to a sudden convulsion caused by a fever exceeding 38.5℃ due to reasons other than intracranial infection and other existing neurological diseases. The incidence rate in babies under 5 years old is 2% to 5%. Among them, babies aged 6 months to 3 years have the highest incidence rate, with more boys than girls. Convulsions also often occur in acute upper respiratory tract infections within 12 hours after the onset of high fever.

Generally, the attack is short-lived and lasts for less than 10 seconds, but in severe cases it may last for more than 10 to 30 minutes. The patient woke up quickly after the attack, and only one convulsion occurred during a high fever.

There are many causes of febrile convulsions in babies, which are often caused by bacterial or viral infections. Such as meningitis, brain abscess, tonsillitis, otitis media, upper respiratory tract infection and bacillary dysentery. The baby's nervous system is underdeveloped, and high fever causes the central nervous system to become overexcited.

In addition, the occurrence of febrile convulsions is related to genetic factors. 24% of the sick babies have a family history of febrile convulsions, and 4% have a family history of epilepsy. Studies have suggested that abnormalities in certain genes are the basis for the occurrence of this disease.

It is not just high fever that can trigger convulsions. There is also a type of afebrile convulsions, which often occur in some non-infectious diseases, such as intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral edema, epilepsy, cerebral hypoplasia, hydrocephalus, microcephaly, as well as nutritional disorders, metabolic disorders (such as hypocalcemic convulsions), hypoglycemia, food poisoning, drug poisoning and certain pesticide poisoning, etc.

We know the reasons why babies have convulsions when they have a fever. Sometimes parents may not know how to deal with these problems, but if you really encounter such a situation, don’t be nervous or afraid, because rationality is very important at this time. We should know some knowledge about relieving convulsions so that we won't be nervous when encountering such situations.