According to Dr. E. Steve Roach, chairman of the statement writing group and neurologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, approximately 10 in every 100,000 children in U.S. will suffer a stroke anytime.

In babies, the initial symptoms of stroke usually are seizures which involve only one arm or leg, said Roach in a news release. Seizures involving one member are so widespread that the loss of brain functions is thought to account for approximately10 percent of seizures in full-term infants, he added.

The risk of strokes in children is highest in the first year of life, especially in the first two months. Roach confirmed the astonishing fact that almost one in every 3,000 or 4,000 full-term newborns undergoes a stroke. The only segment of population that has a more increased risk of strokes than babies younger than a month old is represented by people aged 65 ore more.

The most widespread risk factors which cause stroke in children include sickle cell anemia and congenital or acquired heart disease. Other ones include head and neck infections, head traumas, dehydration and systemic problems like inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disorders.

"It's not that we're seeing more strokes," states Dr. Michael Kohrman, associate professor of pediatrics and neurology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He says that stroke is a main cause of disability in children, especially infants and prematurely born babies. Formerly, physicians called it cerebral palsy and intracranial hemorrhaging. But now “what we're really talking about is different forms of strokes."