Information for parents

Young migraineurs > Information for parents

It is very upsetting for parents / carers to watch their child distressed and unwell. As a parent / carer there are some practical approaches you can take to help your child deal with his / her condition.

It is useful for children to keep a migraine diary to try and find a pattern in their attacks. Improvements can be achieved by avoiding things that trigger their migraine, such as lack of food or long gaps between meals. You can encourage the child to keep the diary themselves as this can be a useful tool for your doctor to help diagnose the condition.

Helping during an attack:

• Be understanding and take your child's concerns seriously. 
• Allow your child to rest in a quiet, darkened room if possible - with or without company as he / she wishes.   
• Encourage your child to eat or drink a little if possible.    
• Encourage your child to sleep if at all possible.

• Vomiting may actually ease or relieve the attack.

What medicines should I give?

• Many children don't need medication; however, over the counter analgesics, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, may help (aspirin based products should not be given to children under 16 years).
• The painkillers are more likely to be successful if given soon after the onset of a headache.

• If over the counter medications are not helping or your child is having frequent attacks do visit your GP to discuss other options.

Maintaining good health

• Try to ensure your child drinks 1 - 2 litres of water each day. Dehydration can be a key trigger for an attack.
• Children should not go longer than three or four hours without food during the day, or 13 hours overnight. Your child should eat breakfast each morning and may also need additional snacks during the day to help prevent an attack.
• Keep a migraine diary to see if any particular triggers can be identified. 
• Aim for your child to have a good night's sleep (at least eight - ten hours a night).
• Ensure your child takes a break after 45 minutes of TV, a games console or a computer. The eye strain and / or flickering of the screen can trigger an attack. Make sure you don't do this for more than 3 hours a day and stop at least an hour before you go to bed.
• Fresh air and exercise are important - encourage at least 30 minutes a day of outside exercise if possible.
• Talk to your child about his / her migraine. Let them know it is OK to discuss it with you and to ask for help if an attack is coming.

• Discuss your child's migraine with teachers, friends' parents and others who may have to deal with an attack whilst your child is in their care. Knowing that they understand should also make your child feel more able to ask for help when necessary. If you would like a pack specifically designed for teachers, please click here.

There are a few hospitals which offer specialist migraine clinics for children. You will normally need to obtain a referral letter from your GP before requesting an appointment. The hospitals providing such clinics that we know about are:

In addition, children aged 16 - 18 years can usually be seen in most adult clinics / neurology departments; some clinics may also see children younger than this. Check with your local clinic for their age criteria. Click here to view the main clinics list for adults.

Information resources for parents

We have developed a range of information resources for parents. To download this information please click on the links below:

• Parents booklet - further information about migraine in children and practical hints and tips on how to manage your child's migraine at home.
• Young migraineurs booklets: for 8 - 10 year olds; for 11 - 13 year olds; for 14 - 17 year olds.
• Migraine diary sheets - to record all elements of your child's migraine attack. This will be useful in pinpointing potential triggers and your child's GP / consultant will also find this information useful when you go for appointments.
• Plan of action sheet - you can discuss the main points your child needs to remember to help manage their migraine.
• Young migraineurs Migraine ACTION! card pack - if your child needs to urgently leave the classroom, this card explains why and can be discreetly shown to the teacher before the child leaves.
• GP letter template for school - a letter from your GP may help your child's school to better understand the effects of migraine for your child.
• GP letter template for exam boards - a letter from your GP to outline the disruption caused to your child's schooling / exams.
• Educational talk for adults about childhood migraine - here is a useful presentation outline you may wish to use as part of an educational talk for adults about childhood migraine.
• Educational talk for children about childhood migraine - this is a useful presentation outline for children and young people to use for talks at schools, youth clubs etc. to raise awareness of childhood migraine.
• Parents young migraineurs media volunteer questionnaire - if you would like to talk to the media about your child's migraine and help raise awareness, please complete this questionnaire and become a media volunteer.
• Young migraineurs resources order form - order additional information booklets and resources.
• Join Migraine Action form - become a member and get all the latest updates about migraine in the media and useful approaches for effective migraine management.
• Fundraise for Migraine Action leaflet - get your child's school involved and raise awareness of migraine at the same time.

Help make a difference - take part in our new survey into migraine in children and young people

Migraine Action will soon be launching a new survey for children and young people. It is hoped that from the results gained we will learn lots about childhood migraine and the impact it can have on young migraineurs at home and at school or college. We will use the information gathered to plan future awareness campaigns and decide what action we need to take to help lots more young migraineurs in the future.

We have also prepared a short questionnaire for parents and carers to help us understand their experiences.  Please take now by visiting www.migraine.org.uk/surveys  or contact the office and we will send you a hard copy of this questionnaire.

 Plus: 

• If you are / have a child with migraine encourage them to complete a copy of our survey for young migraineurs which will be available shortly.
• To make the survey more independent we need to send the survey out more generally to people outside our membership. If you have contacts at your local school and could ask for a quantity of the survey to be distributed and completed there, please get in touch - this help will be invaluable.

We are looking to generate 2,500 responses from children around the UK - but this is a big task.  It is always a huge challenge to get enough responses to surveys to make the results worthy of media, medical and general interest, so please lend your support.

Register your interest by emailing info@migraine.org.uk or by calling 0116 275 8317.

Thank you.

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