Does anyone have children on Phenobarbital? Can you tell me any side effects that you see? Sleepy? My 3 week old baby had one seizure in the hospital due to "stress" and was put on Phenobarb for one year. Can you tell me a little bit about this medicine and anything I should know. We are having a hard time leaving her on it for a year.

It's very commonly prescribed for infants since it's probably the safest med out there to prevent seizures, and allow for normal brain growth (siezures kill brain cells- fortunately, we all have too many for them, but a little one is more likely to lose those precious early years if their seizures are not controlled- even if proactively. It's very common (not for you , but for kids who need it !!). She will more than likely get past the sleepy part as she gets used to the med- that's with anyone on Pb- it's pretty sedating. Watch her BM, too- it's known to cause constipation, which for someone who's susceptable to seizures, can be a risk. I've seen lots of kids on Pb. The worst part is going to be having levels drawn- she will not like that- but fortunately, at her age she won't remember- and you have the right to not be in the room when they do it if it hurts you to see her get labwork done-- lab techs are used to that. Or, if you want to hold her, you should be allowed to. Just make sure she's waking up to eat- get her up if you need to-- at her age, she should still be eating every 3-5 hours. Sleeping through meals is probably the biggest risk.

As a child I was prescribed phenobarb from when I was 3 years old until I was 11 years, which is when I switched neurologists. My new doc immediately switched my to Tegretol b/c of the side effects of pb. I was sleepy ALL the time - my parents saw a clear difference when I made the medication change. Pb is so old - you might see if there are any others that are safe on infants so as to avoid the grogginess.

Part of the problem is no testing on kids under certain ages, and except for the sedation, phenobarb is one of the safest...just takes monitoring food and loaded diapers. The newer meds (Tegretol is ok for kids, but I don't remember seeing a baby on it) aren't tested enough on anyone to know the longterm effects of them. But it's always worth asking the doc if there's something else. I'm not sure what the 'safe age' for Dilantin is. It comes in liquid, which can be a problem if not shaken very hard EVERY time it's given, since the active ingredients tend to sink to the bottom, so the first half of the bottle is nearly useless, then suddenly, there's symptoms of toxicity.

I was also put on pheno. at the age of 3 then later put on tegretol. pheno.would put me in such a deep sleep I had to be shaken to be awakened. I say try anything before pheno. Best wishes.

phenobarbital is now only used on adults... the side effects left children in a haze... tegretol or dilantin are used on children... phenobarbital isn't even used that often on adults....