The neonatal period is associated with a high risk of epileptic seizures and epilepsy development. Seizures in early life can significantly interfere with a normal CNS development, cause neural cell death, and negatively impact of the coordination and arrangement of synaptic connections during ontogenesis, which could result in a range of chronic cognitive and behavioral deficits. The negative effects of epileptic seizures on the brain function largely depends on the nature of provoking factors, so to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying development of epileptic seizures in the neonatal period and their consequences, various experimental models have been developed to reproduce pathological changes in animals, caused by specific stimuli. This review highlights the most common experimental models of seizures and epilepsy in the neonatal period, discusses their strength and limitations, and examines pathological, behavioral and neurophysiological similarities and differences between animal models and the equivalent human condition.