Acknowledgement
Epilepsy Action would like to thank Patricia Braithwaite, Children’s Community Nurse at Pilgrim Hospital, UK, and Bernadette Waldron, Sapphire Nurse at Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK, for reviewing this information.

Introduction

Many people with epilepsy successfully care for babies and young children. Here are some tips for making children safer if your seizures are not controlled. Your health visitor or doctor will be able to give you more general advice and information about looking after babies and young children.

Quick tips

• If possible, share the care of a baby, especially at night. Some people with epilepsy find that lack of sleep or feeling very tired can trigger their seizures.
• When feeding a baby from a bottle or your breast, sit on the floor on a towel or a rug holding the baby. Surround yourself with cushions. This way, if you had a seizure the baby would not have far to fall. 
• When the child is taking more solid food, put them in a bouncer chair or car seat on the floor to feed. 
• When a child is in a high chair, make sure you cannot knock it over.
• Never bathe a baby on your own. 
• When carrying a baby up or down stairs, use a carrycot or car seat. This would help to protect the baby if you dropped them. 
• Use safety gates at all times. 
• Use a pram with a brake that comes on when you release the handle. REMAP can provide advice on safety brakes for prams. Contact them directly for further details.
  Tel: 08451 300 456 (UK only).
  Website: www.remap.org.uk
• When you take a child out, use reins attached to you and them. This will reduce the risk that they will wander away from you if you lose consciousness.

• Telling your child 
• Safety advice 
    
  
• See also - Epilepsy and caring for children: a comprehensive guide