About epilepsy in children

There are many types of epilepsy. If your child has epilepsy, it means they have a tendency to have seizures (sometimes called fits). Epilepsy can begin at any age.

Epilepsy in babies

Babies can develop epilepsy before, during, or after birth. In the newborn, there are many different causes of epilepsy. In very premature babies, the most common causes are reduced blood and oxygen flow to the brain, and bleeding into the brain. Infections such as meningitis, encephalitis, and severe head injury, are also possible causes. In many babies, as with older children, the cause isn’t known.

Epilepsy in older children

Older children, who have had illnesses such as meningitis or encephalitis when younger, have a higher risk than other children of developing epilepsy. Rarely, epilepsy may be connected to problems with metabolism or to genetic disorders. Children can develop epilepsy as the result of a severe head injury, which can leave scar tissue on the brain.

Inheriting epilepsy

It may be that a lot of people in your child’s family have a tendency to have seizures. It’s not usually the epilepsy itself that a child inherits, but a low trigger point or ‘seizure threshold’. Everyone has a seizure threshold. If your child has a low seizure threshold, they are more likely to have seizures than a child with a high seizure threshold.

For around six in every 10 children, the cause of their epilepsy isn’t known.