I had my first migraine at 7 and now my

First, take two minutes and run your child through the red-flag list at the bottom of this page — if any line on it is true, call your local emergency number now and go to the nearest children's emergency department; if none of them is true, tonight is a dark-room, water-and-small-food evening at home, and you are allowed to just get through it.

I'm not a doctor and this is not a diagnosis — it is what a careful caregiver does tonight while you decide.

One thing that helps: your own first migraine at 7 does run in families, and it is a real thing to hand down. It also does not tell you what is happening in your child's head tonight. Only an examination does that, so let the red-flag list — not the family history — drive tonight.

1. What you already tried, and the better swap

You gave screen time while sick. Understandable instinct — you were trying to keep a bored, sick child quietly occupied. But screens are one of the commonest things that make a headache worse, especially in a child who is also tired and achy, so that is the one lever to retire tonight.

Swap it for this, all of it screenshot-able:

• Dark room, phone face-down, lights low. Already have the room; already right.
• Water within arm's reach. Small sips, every so often. A child who is sick often drinks less than usual, and a dry child gets a worse headache.
• Something small to eat from what you already have — a banana, toast, crackers, a piece of bread, soup. Skipping food is a named trigger for migraine, and sick kids skip meals without noticing. You do not need to cook anything.
• Lie still if they want to. Children with migraine-like pain usually want to lie still in the dark and quiet; that is expected, and it is not a sign of something worse.
• Instead of a video, write the three lines for tomorrow: when the headache started, what it was doing when it started, and what they ate and drank. That is the same information as a diary and it takes two minutes.
• If there is someone else in the house — the sibling, the elder — ask them to keep an eye out and to bring water, while you keep the room quiet. One job each is enough on a Saturday night.

2. What a headache in a child often looks like — for recognition, not for deciding

• Pain on one side, or a band around the head; throbbing rather than squeezing — but it can also be vague and hard to localise in a child.
• They want the lights off and the noise down, and they want to lie still.
• Light or noise bothers them more than usual.
• More tummy symptoms than adults: nausea, or vomiting once, and going off food.
• Children's attacks are often shorter than an adult's — an hour or two is not unusual.
• It often shows up on a sick day: a cold, a hot day, a skipped meal, a bad night's sleep, a long screen day at school.

If that is the shape of it, and none of the red flags below is true, most children in this situation do not need any tests — that is the encouraging part of the picture.

3. Avoid list — tonight and in general

• No new medicine, and nothing borrowed from your own migraine supply. Only what a prescriber has already advised for this child, and then follow the label or the prescriber exactly. I am not giving you a dose, and I am not changing anything.
• No opioids, no strong painkillers, no online prescription buying, no mystery powders or supplements. None of it.
• No aspirin for a headache — especially not for a sudden bad one.
• Don't count painkillers against a weekly quota at home. Medication overuse is a real thing, but the numbers belong to your clinician, not to a Saturday-night argument.
• Don't "just watch them through the night" if any red flag appears.
• Don't sit on a new or unusual headache for weeks because it might be migraine. One for the doctor.
• Don't send them back to school on Monday without one line for the teacher saying what happened.

4. Red flags — stop home care and get help now

Call your local emergency number now and go to the nearest children's emergency department if any of these is true tonight:

• The pain peaked within seconds — hit at full force almost instantly, worst ever.
• Fever along with the headache, a stiff neck, or the child becoming drowsy, floppy, confused, or hard to wake. A child may just be irritable and "not themselves" instead of saying it.
• One side going weak or numb, speech changing, vision changing, or a fit/seizure.
• The headache wakes them from sleep, is there on waking with vomiting, or is much worse when they cough, sneeze or bend forward.
• Vomiting with no other reason for it.
• They cannot drink at all, will not wake properly, are limp, or are breathing fast or working hard to breathe.
• A red or purple rash that does not fade when you press a clear glass firmly against it.
• A blow to the head at any point today, or the child is getting sleepier rather than better.
• Any child under 4 with a headache — treat that one as same-day, and tell me their age below.

A neck that is still and supple does not rule out the serious causes. Don't wait for the worst sign to confirm — that is what the check is for.

While waiting or travelling: keep the room dim, note the exact time it started and what they were doing, and write down any fever, vomiting, or what they had eaten and drunk. If they fit, don't put anything in their mouth and keep them away from hard objects.

5. When to see a doctor, and what "better in 24 hours" looks like

Book a clinic appointment (not the emergency department) if:

• This is the first or a new headache for your child — which, from what you've said, it is. One appointment is enough to start the diary and rule out the boring causes.
• It is not clearly easing by morning.
• Headaches start coming back week after week, or they are missing school because of them.
• You cannot tell a migraine-like pattern from a virus, and you are stuck guessing.

The good news is that most children with a headache and none of the red flags above need no tests — this appointment is usually about the pattern, not a scan.

What success looks like in the next 24 hours (not a cure, just a good night turning into a good morning):

• They can drink, and keep small sips and a little food down.
• They settle, and sleep more than one unbroken stretch.
• The pain softens or stops — a child improving rather than flattening.
• Nothing on the red-flag list appears overnight.
• You have your three written lines ready for the doctor.

If they wake the same or worse, the headache is still there at full strength after a good night's sleep, or new symptoms show up — that is the appointment, not another night of watching.

6. Your one question

How old is your child? Age changes the urgency — under 4 is a same-day door — and it changes what you should be watching for.

And if any red flag is already true, tell me which country or city you're in so I can point you to the right door rather than a guessed phone number.

I can't tell you what is causing this, and I won't give you a dose. If you tell me the age, I'll tighten the plan to tonight.

7. The one-pager

I have put this on a single page you can print or screenshot and fill in with a pen: child-headache-tonight-onepager-de9edee5.pdf — the two-minute write-up, the red-flag list, the tonight list, and the three questions to ask the doctor.