Understanding Your Child's Episode
What is it? A panic attack or emotional meltdown is an episode where a child becomes overwhelmed by intense emotions or stress. During these episodes, the body's "fight, flight, or freeze" response can activate, causing emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms. While these episodes can be frightening to witness, they are often temporary and improve with calm support and coping strategies.
Common Types
- Panic or Anxiety Attack: Sudden fear, hyperventilation, chest tightness, racing thoughts, or fear of losing control.
- Sensory or Emotional Overload: Triggered by noise, crowds, transitions, frustration, fatigue, overstimulation, or changes in routine.
- Behavioral Escalation or Crisis: Aggression, unsafe behavior, severe emotional dysregulation, or self-harm statements.
When to Manage at Home
✅ You can manage your child's teething at home when:
- The episode improves with calming strategies.
- Your child returns to their usual behavior and can communicate.
- There is no severe chest pain, difficulty breathing, or loss of consciousness.
- There are no suicidal statements or threats to harm others.
- Your child is drinking fluids and can safely resume normal activities.
How to Treat at Home
🏠 Home remedies for Teething:
- Move your child to a calm, low-stimulation environment.
- Encourage slow breathing (box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, or paced breathing, a few ideas: https://copingskillsforkids.com/deep-breathing-exercises-for-kids).
- Use grounding exercises (identify 5 things they can see, 4 they can touch, etc.).
Provide reassurance using calm, simple language. - Reduce sensory stimulation with dim lights, headphones, fidget items, or a quiet space.
- Encourage hydration, regular meals, movement, sleep, and rest.
- Avoid excessive questioning during the episode.
- Identify triggers and practice coping skills outside crisis moments.
- Arrange therapy or counseling if episodes are recurrent or severe.
When to Contact Poppins
📱 Contact us again when:
- Episodes become more frequent or severe.
- Symptoms interfere with school, work, or daily activities.
- New anxiety symptoms, school avoidance, headaches, stomachaches, or sleep problems develop.
- You need additional support with coping strategies.
- You're just not sure and need reassurance.
When to Visit Your Pediatrician
🩺 Go to an in-person appointment when:
- Recurrent panic attacks or emotional meltdowns.
- Persistent anxiety affecting daily functioning.
- Concern for an underlying medical, developmental, or behavioral condition.
- Need for referral to therapy, counseling, or behavioral health services.
When to Go to the ER
🚨 Seek immediate emergency care if your child is:
- Difficulty breathing that does not improve with calming measures.
- Loss of consciousness or seizure-like activity.
- Severe chest pain.
- Suicidal statements, self-harm behaviors, or threats to harm others.
- Hallucinations, confusion, or inability to return to baseline.
- Aggression that caregivers cannot safely manage.
If your gut tells you something is wrong, don't hesitate to reach out. Need help? Reconnect with our on-demand medical team.
