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About syncope (fainting)
Syncope (sin coh pee) means faint or collapse.
Syncope is common. About 15% of children will experience fainting at least once before they reach adulthood.
The most common type of syncope is vasovagal syncope, which is a simple faint. It comes on quickly and children lose consciousness for only a few seconds. They make a fast and complete recovery afterwards. Vasovagal syncope is not dangerous for your child.
Warning signs of fainting
A child will often exhibit a warning sign as follows:
- dizziness or lightheadedness
- feeling sick
- blurred vision.
Causes of fainting
There are different causes of fainting, as follows.
- A quick drop in blood pressure. This means there isn’t enough blood getting to the brain and it causes fainting.
- Orthostatic hypotension. This means blood pressure drops too much when someone goes from sitting or lying down to standing up.
- Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). This means a child’s heart rate increases abnormally when they go from sitting or lying down to standing up. Typically, there is no fall in blood pressure, but children can feel faint and collapse. This condition is not dangerous for your child.
- Heart problems (this is a rare cause).
Children can also faint because of the following situations.
- Standing up for a long time in a hot crowded place.
- Standing up suddenly.
- In response to pain or fear, or an unpleasant sight or smell.
- After (but not during) exercise.
What to do if your child feels faint
If your child feels faint, do the following.
- Get your child to lie down, or sit down with their head between their legs, until they feel better.
- When they start to feel better, tell them they can get up slowly.
- If they start to feel faint again, ask them to sit or lie back down.
What to do at home to prevent fainting
Feeling faint is unpleasant and can have a big impact on your child’s life. You can make some changes to your daily routine to help stop your child from feeling faint.
Try to avoid triggers for fainting
Your child can do the following:
- Try not to stand up too quickly from sitting down.
- When sitting, try stamping their feet 20 times before standing up.
- Keep their knees slightly bent when standing up.
- If they need to stand up for a long time, keep wiggling their toes.
The following can help to delay or stop a fainting episode:
- Crossing their legs while tensing (squeezing) their leg, stomach and bottom muscles.
- Making a fist and squeezing their hand together as hard as possible.
- Squeezing both their hands together in front of their chest, as if shaking hands with themselves. Still keeping hands gripped tightly together, extend their arms slowly forwards, away from their chest.
Make sure your child is always well hydrated
Your child needs to drink enough to make sure their urine is not dark yellow in colour.
| Children under 10 years | Try to drink at least 2 litres of water a day. |
| Children 10 years or older | Try to drink at least 2.5 litres or water a day. |
- If it is a hot day, or they are exercising, your child may need to drink more than this.
- Your doctor may advise your child to drink more than this if they are experiencing fainting symptoms.
- If your child is struggling to drink enough water, try giving them some of their fluid in the form of sugar free sports hydration drinks or orange squash.
- Some children prefer to drink from a refillable sports bottle. This allows them to keep track of how much they drink in one day.
Make sure your child has a healthy, balanced diet
- Your doctor may advise increasing your child’s salt intake by up to 6g (1 teaspoon) a day. This can be achieved by adding salt to their food or eating salty snacks.
- Some children eat salty foods such as crisps, salted nuts, Marmite, olives and instant noodles.
- Fast foods like burgers, chips and pizza are often salty, but they also contain unhealthy fats and should be limited.
- Avoid alcohol because it dilates (opens up) blood vessels and can lower blood pressure and trigger fainting. Drinking alcohol can also contribute to dehydration, which can worsen fainting symptoms.
Tilt training exercises
If your child has been diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension or PoTS, we may suggest tilt training exercises.
You can ask your child can do these at home to help build strength in the lower half of their body and reduce fainting symptoms.
Do the following to perform tilt training exercises:
- Ask your child to stand still and lean their upper back against a wall, with their feet planted 15cm away from the wall.
- Ask them to lean against the wall like this for 2 minutes.
- Increase the amount of time they lean against the wall by 2 minutes every day. Do this until they can lean against the wall for 10 minutes.
- After 1 week, ask your child to move their feet so they are 30cm away from the wall. Repeat the exercise as above, starting with 2 minutes and building up to 10 minutes.
- Ask your child to do this every day for 6 months.
- Record your child’s symptoms during the tilt training every day.
- If they cannot complete the exercise, make a note of this. Also make a note of the reason for stopping (for example they began to feel faint).
Do these tilt training exercises every day. Do not take more than 2 days off from tilt training.
If your child feels they are about to faint, stop the session and try again the next day.
When to involve a GP
In most cases, syncope is not dangerous, but there are some (rare) causes of syncope which will require you to seek medical attention.
Make a GP appointment if:
- There are relatives in your family who died before the age of 50 due to heart problems or for unexplained reasons.
- Your child still experiences regular fainting symptoms despite trying the lifestyle changes mentioned above.
Only go to your nearest Emergency Department (A&E) if your child:
- May have been injured when they fainted (for example a blow to the head).
- Collapses in the middle of exercising.
- Experiences chest pain or palpitations (fluttering in the chest) when they faint.
- Has previously been diagnosed with heart problems (other than an innocent murmur).
- Is unresponsive to you for more than a few seconds.
- Exhibits jerking movements while they are unconscious.
- Is not fully recovered and able to stand up within a few minutes.
Contact information
Your nearest Emergency Department (A&E)
or
Paediatrics Admin Team, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm