Seizure???

I had an incident yesterday in which a child in my care (3yo) fell on some legos and was so mad about it he threw himself headfirst onto the hardwood. I ran and picked him up and his eyes rolled back and his arms and legs were flailing. I called the ambulance, they said his vitals were good, but wanted to take him to the children's hospital to check him out further. His mother meet him there and they apparently waited 6 hours, but never saw a doctor.
Now this is clearly a very emotional kid, so this could've a temper tantrum, but it was one of the scariest thing I've experienced in all my years caring for children. Now I'm very nervous about him coming back... am I looking for symptoms of head trauma? how do I feel about caring for a child that would do something like that? I don't know... what are your thought? Thanks!

While I do understand being nervous as I'm sure it was a frightening experience, try and see the situation for what it was.

There was nothing you did or didn't do that caused this *potential* seizure. And that's all it was. I can assure you that if the hospital doctors had concerns, they would have acted.

Seizures in childhood are not uncommon. Over the years, I've had two children prone to them. You would have covered these in your first aid training. During a seizure, do not pick the child up or restrict their movements in any way. Make sure the area around them is toy free and there's nothing they can hit their head on or which will hurt them. Time the seizure. Do not give a child or adults liquids or any food during or immediately after a seizure. You did the right thing in calling an ambulance to be on the safe side.

Moving forward - although you are nervous about this child returning, the reality it's unlikely this was actually a seizure but more like a temper tantrum. And the reality is, this won't be the first temper tantrum you will experience with this child or any others who come in his place or down the line. It's also realistic to understand that future children might well have a seizure too so while you are nervous, at least with this particular child you now know this *might* happen again. That's a positive because you know which child to watch vs the situation you were in before this happened when you were caught off guard and left feeling vulnerable due to experience.

After a seizure, it's typical that a child zones out for a while, and it incredibly tired. They can nap immediately afterwards and that's not uncommon to spend the rest of the day worn out. Seizures take a lot of energy from the body.

Going forward, I would better educate yourself so you are prepared going forward. Have a conversation with the parents and come up with a plan for just in case this was a seizure and just in case it happens again. It's an unusual age for a child to have their first seizure - it's typically around 2 years so I'm not convinced that is what happened. But have the conversation anyway. There's no shame in telling a parent, it frightened you and that going forward, you will be quicker to call an ambulance and that in the event of a seizure, you then have a preplanned course of action.

While not quite the same my nephew while in home daycare at about 1.5yrs of age got so upset with the caregiver (who had taken a toy away) that he held his breath and passed out. The caregiver called 911 as the child was unresponsive.

He was perfectly fine. They ran a bunch of tests to ensure all was well. The doctor they saw at emergency said his nephew had done the same thing numerous times. It is just a thing that some kids do when really upset and there isn't really anything to do.

My brother and sister-in-law bought a LOT of flowers, chocolates, and wine that evening and brought it to the poor caregiver. She kept my nephew in care, it didn't happen again. This was 3.5yrs ago now and the same caregiver still cares for my other nephew.

You can bet the caregiver was nervous and worried for some time after. But, all was well.

Are you sure it was a seizure versus something similar? It does sound like a seizure but I don't understand why the child wasn't seen by a doctor after having what I assume was his first seizure. My nephew had like a CAT scan and other big tests done after passing out just to rule out a bigger issue. That seems odd to me that a seizure wouldn't result in some testing. But, I am not a medical professional. I would hope after a seizure there would be follow up to at least figure out why since it may or may not be a sign of a bigger issue.

I would just read up on seizures and have a plan in place (like what you did, calling 911) and keeping the child safe until they arrive.

It sounds a lot like a seizure. Both of my own kids have seizure disorders and it manifests differently for both. My son fell on his legos for his first.
Seizures confuse kids a lot, and that can come out in angry behaviour. Some kids don't remember where they are or what they're doing.
With that said, it could very well have been a tantrum following an accidental fall into legos.
Little muffins this age are less likely to get concussions than older kids. He would have been screened at the hospital for that.