Seizures in a Baby (Neonatal Seizures) and Birth Injury

There are several causes of Neonatal Seizures. One of the major causes of Neonatal Seizures and probably the most important cause is HIE which is hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and that merely means the baby did not get enough oxygen in the birthing process, this caused damage to the brain and as a result to that damage the baby had a seizure, which is basically an abnormal electrical discharge. Another cause of Neonatal Seizures or seizures after birth is trauma in the birthing process. This can be caused by the use of forceps, or vacuum extraction to deliver the baby, or from a traumatic, prolonged labor that maybe lasted many hours and during that process that baby could not fit down the birth canal, the baby was too big, the pelvis was too small. During labor the contractions pushed the babies head against the pelvis, this caused damage and bleeding in the brain, and those resulted in Neonatal Seizures. Sometimes, it’s very difficult to tell if a baby is having seizures in the Neonatal period. But what you want to look for mainly is shaking, movement on one side of the body or both sides, eyes rolling up into the back of the head, bicycle movement, different types of movements from the body that would suggest the baby is having a seizure and these are difficult to pick up, but a trained Neonatal nurse or caregiver should be able to pick seizures during the Neonatal period. mainly what you’re looking for, is your looking back at the birthing process and was it a traumatic process? was there an emergency c-section performed? these things might cue you in that there might be a reason for Seizures occurring after delivery. The most important test than can be performed is an EEG, and electroencephalogram. That tells you definitively that the baby is having Seizure activity. Another test that can be used if there is suspected seizure activity is head imaging, or called neuro-imaging, brain imaging. that can be an ultra sound of the brain, a cat-scan, or MRI. Seizures can be stopped and treated. the caregiver needs to pick up the Seizure and treatment and anti-seizure medication needs to be given such as phenobarbital. You can contact us at 888-419-2229 we’re happy to talk to you and investigate the matter for you.