EEG and a one year old

[bloodywhitecat]

Our one year old has an EEG tomorrow and I am dreading it, I have read the leaflet the hospital sent but most of it is irrelevant to a baby of his age so I am asking if anyone has experience of babies and EEGs?

Yes I've gone as an accompanying nurse.

What would you like to know?

My granddaughter had one a couple of weeks back , she won’t be 1 for a few weeks . They were fantastic, her DM breast fed threw out all her tests . GD just gave them the dead eye over her shoulder 🤣

I forget the names, is an EEG a heart scan? Does it involve sticking pads on her or a probe like a pregnancy scan? My daughter has had both multiple times form when she was a few days old and most recently at almost 2. What do you want to know? X

Just googled it, I got confused and can see an EEG is a brain scan not heart. (Would you believe I actually have a degree in psychology…🤦‍♀️) so my experience may not be relevant.

@fairgame84

Yes I've gone as an accompanying nurse.

What would you like to know?

Thank you, the leaflet talks about being asked to blink and over-breathe, he is not going to be do that, I am also a bit worried about keeping him still. He is visually impaired so things like an iPad don't work so well with him.

Does he need to have seizure activity during the test to rule epilepsy in or out or could be have a normal EEG but still have epilepsy?

DD had multiple EEGs around that age. It was fine. I had to breast feed her and then tell the technician when she was awake or asleep. She had to wear a sweet little cap with electrodes on - she looked like a little pixie - but the gluey gunk was fun to get out of her hair!

I can only go off how they do it at Sheffield. It's a lot more chilled out with babies.
They sit them on your lap and the video record the test. There will be lots of probes stuck all over his head which will randomly fall off and need replacing throughout!
They do some with lights on then turn off the lights and flash various lights at him and distract him while lights are going off. They like to do a period of sleep as well f they can so they encourage a feed before if possible. The last one I did they fed the baby during the test.
They don't need to see the seizure or abnormal movements during the test but it helps if it happens.
They don't expect a lot at this age. The eeg isn't a definitive diagnosis on its own, it's used alongside other tests to help work towards a diagnosis so don't worry about it not going according to plan.

Thank you, that is all very reassuring. He won't feed to sleep as he thinks morning sleep is for wimps but hopefully they will get what they need and he won't get too upset.

@19:38SomethingNastyInTheBallPool I am not looking forward to the sticky hair, he hates his hair being washed at the moment

How did it go, @bloodywhitecat?