8 Year Old Fainting

So here is what I know. I taught school for 10 years. Kids faint all the time. It is really more common than parents even know. They faint becasue they didn't have breakfast, or they had too much (a sugary cereal can cause their sugar level to spkie then drop suddenly causing fainting). They might faint because their blood sugar is too low or too high. Girls might even be starting to go through their cycle (yes even at 8).

One fainting spell does mean a trip to the doctor. The doctor will say "did she have breakfast? Was she tired? Did she over exhert herself?...Go home and monitor her if it happens again bring her back". So truly, if it a one time thing and there are no residual effects (headaches, glassy eyes, lethagic/lazyness) then chalk it up to stress and move on.

B. B.A.;B.Ed.
www.HeyYouGetReal.com

The problem with ONE symptom like fainting is that you can find associations everywhere. You will run across blood sugar problems and seizures, associative problems involing medications, etc.

The thing is to monitor her in every way. Are there any other changes? If so, you need to compile information and research on your own before you go to a doctor. This way, you will have intelligent questions ans might spur the doctor into actually talking things through with you.(forgive me if there are any docs here, but sometimes they are not really "in the room" with you until you engage them with educated questions)

I would assume it was an isolated incident and keep my eyes open for tiredness, bad color, moments of vacancy, diet, rest...etc.

It could be her blood sugar. My daughter hasn't passed out but there's been a few times where she'll be busy doing other things before breakfast and have to sit down. Once she eats and gets something in her system she's ok. Either way, I would take her to the doctor and have her checked out. They'll probably just do some bloodwork. I wouldn't just assume it was nothing until a doctor tells me so.

I would say to at least call her doctor. I fainted once years ago and was told that ANY fainting spell needs to be checked out. It was probably blood sugar, like other moms have said, or something equally benign, but to be on the safe side, just let her doctor know. And then you can know what to look for in the future. I never did figure out what caused me to faint, but I think it was blood sugar as well. Good luck!

When I was a kid I fainted a lot for many different reasons. I never had anything wrong with me that was a serious medical condition and things are fine. If for some reason she did again soon after I would take her. At your next yearly check up just mention it to you pediatrician or call and ask your doc if it is something they want to see her for. I am sure she is fine. :)

Hi E., what are you waiting for? I def. would get it checked out; for your piece of mind. I'd hate to know that something happened to my child if it possibly could've been detected. Research some stuff on neurology & I would also def. pay attn. to her mannerisms. Best wishes to you!!

Absolutely...My theory is, unless you carry a PhD, never assume you know how to totally diagnose a child. I don't think fainting is something common for a child that young, and it could have been nothing more than fatigue. But what if there is a "brain" problem of some sort and you don't find out until it's severe. Long term problems is what we try to avoid.
Good Luck and I pray that your daughter is well.

About 2 weeks ago this same thing happened to a young girl (((age 7))) at my church.

She was also in the bathroom getting ready for the day.
It was in the morning as well on a Sunday.

What happens is that children need sugar in their body's.

This young girl had not had any breakfast yet and it made her faint.

I think that when children get up they should go and brush their teeth and go pee and then EAT, then get ready for the day after they eat. It is impotant for them to get breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday (((Also snacks))).

I also think that you should take her to her doctor and talk to the doctor about what happened.

Talk to her teacher and let her know that you would like HER "the teacher" to keep an eye on her TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED and to call you right away if she see's that your daughter is sleepy in class or pale. These are signs that she needs sugar in her body RIGHT AWAY.

The best thing in the morning for children with their breakfast is to also drink O.J.

Go online to www.webmd.com and see if you can look this up.

I hope that this has helped you some.

God Bless you and your family.

From one mother to another. :)

maybe i'm a wus. but i've hit my funny bone when i was in school and fainted. i've had fainting spells from my sugar dropping to low. i've fainted from the sight of my own blood when i was a kid. now my 13 yr old son. will faint if he see's his own blood. he even fainted while the nursed were getting blood from him (the needle was still in his arm). and he has hurt himself and almost fainted as well. there are several different causes for fainting, some serios. she could have maybe taken a tooo hot of a bathe too. keep an eye on her. maybe call the nurse so that its documented. the doctors are probably going to put you thru all these cat scans, ekg's, etc. because fainting can be caused by so many things. i went thru all these test at the ER one time and they still couldn't tell me why i had fainted. took me for ever to pay that hospital bill off too. i would just keep an eye on her.

Talk to the doctor for getting her an EEG it checks the brian waves and also can detect any form of epilepsy it is common in girls! My daughter is 6 and she passes out and wakes up not knowing what happened but if you go to epilepsyfoundation.org you can learn more about it! Epilepsy is a seizure disorder! Nothing life thretening but it can be controled! With medication ofcourse! My name is K. and if you have any more ?s or anything you can call me at ###-###-####! Just talk to her doctor to have an eeg done first dont panick! It dont hurt and its just a flashing light test and brain wave test! My daughter thought it was the coolest test she has ever done!

Hi, E.! When my daughter was about 6, we were walking through Target, chatting along normally. She hit her elbow on the cart (funny bone, I guess) and started to whine, then she abruptly sat on the floor and fell back. At first I thought she was throwing a fit, which would have been unusual for her, but then her eyes rolled back a bit and she was limp. I picked her up and she immediately came to, and same thing, didn't know where she was, etc. I also didn't take her to get checked out, I figured it must have been something triggered by her hitting her funny bone. She's now 11 and it has never happened again. If she seemed totally fine, I would think your assessment was probably correct. I asked a nurse that I worked with about it, and she said if there was no other issue, it was probably nothing. Hope that helps.

You should probably get her checked. She could be a little anemic.

I would have them do blood work on her. Faint spells can be a number of things. Call the doctor, it might be something more than dehydration. I'm just saying because I used to faint all the time as a teenager and it turned out that I had diabetes and it went untreated for years.

My daughter was also experiencing fainting episodes. She is tall and skinny. The doctor will check her heart to be sure there is no problem. They will also tell you to increase the amount of water she drinks. My child was in 6th grade before she experienced any problems. Her problem was not serious but we needed to be sure. Seeing your doctor is my advice even if it may not be serious. Hope this helps, B.

I find this interesting because I have the same story. My 8 yr old daughter took a shower, I dried her hair & then was braiding it, suddenly she said she didn't feel good, her face went white & she fainted, lost control of her bladder too. I did take her to her dr. They did EKG, blood draw, urine tests, all came back fine. Recommended we see a neurologist who then said it was standard procedure to request an EEG and MRI. We did the EEG already (normal) and the MRI is scheduled for next week. It seems excessive to me but I don't want to not do something they recommend since I'm not a dr. I expect everything to come back normal, so hopefully it does. I think all these tests are more scary than the fainting episode.
If you have an update, would appreciate to her one. Thanks.

Hi E.,
I recommend you take your daughter to the pediatrician and have her checked out. It probably is nothing, but it is always better to be safe and make sure nothing else is going on. I'm a nurse in a pediatrics ER, and different things could cause the fainting. It could be dehydration or just from having her hair pulled too tight, but there are siezures and other conditions you need to rule out. So go and have her checked up, just in case.

E.,

I dont want to scare you but I think safe is better than sorry. My niece is 8 yrs old, and we live 1500 miles away. Last christmas (2006 not this last year) we flew home and saw her for the first time in a while. Immediately I was in shock and told them she did not look well. They said the doc did not say anything at her last checkup and they were not real concerned and yeah maybe something looks funny. She too had fainted a couple times when tired. Basically they did finally make an appt with doc again. Before they even got home the doc called and told them to drive straight to Riley's Childrens Hospital in Indianapolis, 4 hrs away. She was in total renal failure and now over a year later is on the list waiting for a kidney.

Now I am not saying that anything this serious is going on. However fainting is not normal, no matter what, and yeah she may look and feel fine now but the activity you described should not cause a healthy 8 yr old to pass out. I guess after seeing what has heppened so fast to my niece, how their lives have changed so dramatically so quickly, and the regret her mother and grandmother have for not taking her sooner, I guess I am just more for being careful. I am sure as her mother whatever you decide will be the right thing for you and her.

Take care and good luck to you

T.

I passed out several times as a child. As an adult, I have also, but as an adult it seems to be realted to blood-sugar issues. You might want to have your daughter's blood sugar checked.