Migraines are recurrent headaches often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and sound sensitivity. In children, a migraine can last from 2-72 hours.
Prevention
- Sleep – 8-10 hours each night
- Eat – 3 healthy meals a day plus snacks if needed
- Exercise – 5 times a week doing 30 min of aerobic activity
- Hydrate – 8200 ounces of fluids daily (avoid caffeine and artificial sweeteners)
- Limit Screens – take rest breaks (30 minutes on, 10-minute break)
- Participate – don’t avoid activities because of the headache
- Distract Yourself – do something that you enjoy when you have pain
- Desensitize – work through pain to teach the brain to ignore amplified pain signals
- Journal – see if a pattern emerges in symptoms
At the First Sign of Headache
- Drink fluids – Have a 16 oz sports drink quickly every time you get a headache (avoid G2/Propel)
- Aleve – 10 mg/kg/day in 2 divided doses
When to Schedule an Appointment
- The headache starts after a head injury
- The headache wakes the child from sleep at night
- Headaches more than once a month
- Children younger than 3 years old
- The symptoms are sudden/severe, occurring with vomiting, neck pain/stiffness, double vision/vision changes, confusion, loss of balance, or fever greater than 100.4°