PANIC! Did she faint or just fall asleep?!

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:23 pm

Please help, I don't know whether to worry or not... is this normal:
DH says that DD (just under 1 year old) seemed to pass out while he was feeding her. She was sitting up in the high chair and then between spoonfuls she rolled up her eyes and appeared to just conk out to sleep. He says she does the eyerolling thing when she falls asleep normally too (I wouldn't know, he puts her to sleep because if she sees me she only wants to nurse) but he was a little weirded out by how suddenly that happened and in middle of eating. He picked her up right away (either to see if she seemed OK or to transfer her to crib for nap) and she woke right up. She subsequently took a nap and has been cranky on and off all evening since.

So far, does this sound normal or worrisome? Do healthy kids conk out in middle of eating?

More background: This was around 7pm and she had woken up early and didn't nap all day. So it would be very reasonable to say she was just tired and in need of a sleep. She had fallen asleep at her usual nap time but she woke up within 15 minutes due to some noise going on, and she didn't fall back asleep.

But even more background: She fell and hit the back of her head rather hard on Shabbos. She's done things like that before but this was a really hard conk. She was standing and lost balance and fell straight back and didn't fold in middle like she usually does to catch herself. So I worry.

Still more background: Her sleeping habits have always been cuckoo but they have been particularly wacky this week. So that would explain why she is tired and cranky. But on the other hand, she usually fights sleep like crazy. I have only once seen her fall asleep spontaneously in the high chair, and that was when she was finished eating and just hanging out in there and I was not giving her much attention so she dozed off. But it was gradual - not like one second she was up and alert and the next she was out.

Someone please calm me down...

EmesOrNT

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:25 pm

she may have had a concussion.

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:27 pm

And no symptoms of a concussion for 4 days? Confused

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:27 pm

Unless she fell again today and the babysitter didn't tell me. I always worry when I send her to the sitter.

marina

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:32 pm

Look up the videos of seizures on youtube. You need to take her to see a neurologist for a seizure evaluation. Yesterday.

Last edited by marina on Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:35 pm; edited 3 times in total

Della

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:32 pm

I'm sure she's fine. But if she were my child, I'd call the doctor ASAP, just in case.

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:37 pm

Can't call the doctor yesterday, it just happened a couple of hours ago and I just found out when I got home! Think it's ok to wait until morning?

If it only happened once, will they be able to tell if it was a seizure? Or would she have to "perform" again? I just remember once staying in the hospital with a kid who was there because they were trying to evaluate his seizures and I had to press a button to alert the dr's right when it was happening... but maybe that was a special case.

Oh G-d, I'm so scared for my baby Sad

Della

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:39 pm

You have had another child with seizures? Call Now. That's what your doctor is there for. Call Now.

IMHopinion

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:48 pm

What r you doing posting on ImaMother now? Call your pediatrician NOW. I don't man to frighten you, but I'd better be safe than sorry.

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:48 pm

So I googled "seizure" and got epilepsy, and what happened doesn't fit any of the epileptic seizure descriptions here http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/.....ptoms but surely there are seizures that aren't epilepsy. They just don't come up front and center in google. I'm afraid to watch anything on youtube because I get traumatized a little too easily by videos and such. Maybe if I had a specific link to look at, but I am definitely not going to spend my night watching kids pass out on youtube, especially not if I might need to make an early morning before work run to the pediatrician.

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:50 pm

Monsey Mom wrote:

You have had another child with seizures? Call Now. That's what your doctor is there for. Call Now.

No it was respite for someone else's kid, when I was a teenager. Sorry if I was unclear.

My pediatrician doesn't have anything going on at midnight, the message just says to call 911 if it's an emergency. I don't think this is a 911 situation.

chocolate chips

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:52 pm

does your pediatrician have a 24hr hotlineyou can call to talk to someone in an emergency?
I know in the uk there is nhs direct...call and just double check you would rather be safe than sorry.

seeker

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 8:55 pm

No they just say call 911 for emergencies. This is definitely NOT an ER situation. After this incident she was acting totally fine albeit overtired and kvetchy.

Jewishmofm

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 10:10 pm

Concussion would not happen four days later. Concussions are anyway self healing, unless you see any other symptoms such as vomiting or disorientation. Just eye rolling and sleeping do not a seizure make. (I have a son with a tendency to febrile seizures, and a friend who is an epileptic) with all your "tired, unscheduled sleeping" I would assume it's just that. the kid was tired and just shut down. Call your doctor for reassurance, but do not panic (trust me, it certainly won't help your child to have a panicky mother!)

ldg

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 10:17 pm

I don't know if you should be worried or not but my oldest dd did this a couple of times when she was that age. She fell asleep during eating. She had a mouth full of food and was fast asleep.

leomom

Tue, Nov 15 2011, 11:39 pm

Please, don't worry. Sure, have a conversation with your doctor in the morning. Tired babies fall asleep anywhere, doing anything.

Don't watch babies having seizures on YouTube. Watch babies falling asleep while eating on YouTube!

Lots of tired babies conking out in their highchairs!

devorahh

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 4:38 am

I don't think I would be too worried. A one year old usually takes one or two long naps a day and since she didn't she must have been exhauste. My daughter has fallen asleep suddenly in high chair.

Liba

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 4:48 am

We have lots of sleeping in the high chair in the middle of eating pictures. My babies all did the eye rolling thing when falling asleep.

I wouldn't worry, especially if it was that easy to wake her. You can't just pick a kid up in the middle of a seizure and have them snap out of it. You can pick up a sleeping child and wake them though. Smile

Tired children fall asleep in the funniest ways.

Stayci

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 1:05 pm

I am quite familiar with seizure disorders, and I would have your child taken to a neurologist- if there is any additional reason for you to suspect this isn't just tiredness. Of course it can still be sheer exhaustion, but it's important to rule out life threatening problems.