Diagnosis

Febrile seizures occur in children with normal development. Your doctor will carefully review your child's medical history and developmental history to exclude other risk factors for epilepsy. In normally developing children, identifying the cause of your child's fever is the first step after a febrile seizure.

Simple febrile seizures

Children who are current with their vaccinations who have a first simple febrile seizure don't need testing. Your doctor can diagnose the febrile seizure based on history.

In children with a delayed vaccination schedule or a compromised immune system, your doctor may recommend tests to look for severe infections:

• A blood test
• A urine test
• A spinal tap (lumbar puncture), to find out if your child has a central nervous system infection, such as meningitis

Complex febrile seizures

To diagnose the cause of a complex febrile seizure, your doctor may also recommend an electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that measures brain activity.

Your doctor may also recommend an MRI to check your child's brain if your child has:

• An unusually large head
• An abnormal neurological evaluation
• Signs and symptoms of increased pressure in the skull
• A febrile seizure that lasted an unusually long time