Safety at Home

Home is where your child spends the most time, so it's also the setting where seizures happen most often. With a few simple precautions, you can make your home much safer without shutting your child inside a bubble. The aim is to reduce injury during a sudden fall or loss of consciousness.

The Bathroom and Toilet

The bathroom is the riskiest area of the home, because water and hard surfaces are together in one place.

• Young children should never be left alone in the bathtub. During a seizure, even a few centimeters of water carries a drowning risk.
• If possible, choose a shower over a bath and provide a way to sit in the shower. Make the shower area non-slip.
• Set the water heater to a safe temperature that prevents scalding.
• Make sure the bathroom door can also be opened from outside, so that if it's locked from the inside, help isn't delayed. Talk with older children about “not locking the door.”

The Kitchen and Meals

• If seizure risk is active, keep the child's contact with the hot stove, oven, and boiling liquids under supervision.
• When using the stove, prefer the back burners and turn pot handles inward.

The Sleeping Area

• Keep the bed from being too high; if needed, position the bed close to the floor or place soft cushions beside it.
• For children with severe seizures, a pillow that won't block breathing (a breathable one) is preferred.
• For children who often have seizures at night, your doctor may recommend a seizure monitoring device (a monitor that detects movement or sound). Ask your doctor about the benefits and limits of these.

General Home Precautions

• Fit soft protectors to the corners of sharp-edged furniture.
• Choose safer materials instead of glass doors and coffee tables.
• Cover the floor with non-slip materials as much as possible; secure the edges of rugs.
• Add a handrail to stairs and, if needed, a safety gate.

Without going overboard

All these precautions should be scaled to the frequency and type of the seizures. There's no need to redo the entire home for a child who has one or two seizures a year.

Talk with your doctor about your child's level of risk and set your precautions accordingly. The goal is a home that is safe but normal.