Low Grade Fevers and High Grade Fevers

I like to ask Dr. Sears:

"WHAT TEMPERATURE CONSTITUTES A FEVER?
Normal temperature – 97 to 99 degrees (36 to 37.2 Celcius).
Low-grade fever – 99 to 100.9 degrees (37.3 to 38.3 Celcius).
Common fever – 101 to 103.5 degrees (38.4 to 39.7 Celcius).
High fever – any fever over 103.6 degrees (39.8 Celcius)."
....
If your child of any age has one or more of the following symptoms, you should probably call your doctor right away:
High fevers of 104 (40 Celcius) or higher that don't come down to 101 or 102 (38.3 to 38.9 Celcius) with the treatment measures below.
Lethargy – this means more than your child just isn't acting right or laying quietly in your arms. Lethargy actually refers to your child being limp, lifeless, unresponsive, or won't make eye contact.
Irritability - this means more than just fussiness. A truly irritable child will cry for hours with minimal verbal interaction, and is almost impossible to console.
Meningitis – symptoms are high fever, stiff neck or pain in the back of the neck, vomiting, headache, bright light hurts the eyes. Before paging your doctor, you should also look up any other symptoms your child has, such as cough, vomiting, rash, etc and read those guidelines to determine your best course of action
...
ABOVE ALL, IF YOU HAVE A "GUT FEELING" THAT YOUR CHILD IS SERIOUSLY ILL; YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR RIGHT AWAY."

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t082100.asp

2 moms found this helpful

With my kids when it was under 100 ok something for the feaver, if it got any highter the Dr. was the next phone call. Normal is 98.6, with you if you get a feaver of 100 you feel blaa with kids their temps. go up high fast.

I go with 102 as my marker, so anything from 100.4-101.9 is low-grade. I don't usually medicate a fever under 102 unless they are acting really sick (they will often be playing even when they have a low fever). My kids often run high fevers (over 104, sometimes close to and even over 105), but I have become rather calm when dealing with those fevers. My son once spent 5 days in the hospital with dehydration and high fevers, and when his temp would spike, the nurses would continue to alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen, strip him down to nothing but a thin shirt (no pants), lower the temp in the room, and give him a sponge bath with cool water. So that is what I do at home now without panicking about the temperature, and I usually see the temperatures dropping within an hour. I just want to see the temps under 104. Keep in mind that fever is one of the ways that the human body fights off infection (which is why I generally don't medicate for a fever under 102).

From what I know, low grade is anything under a 100. If it goes to 100 to 102, it should be treated with tylenol or motrin ( montrin only if she is over 6 mos. Anything over 102 should go to the Dr, over 103, strait to the ER!
Hope this helps!

I was always told to call or bring baby to Dr if fever was 102 or higher. They can stand higher fevers than we can. Each baby is different though and you have to go by how they are acting/eating, what other symptoms they have (such as not being able to breathe due to congestion) and if they are sleeping too much, etc. Sponge baths with lukewarm water and alternating baby Tylenol and baby Motrin works well. But you can always call your Dr and ask the nurse what they recommend.

To me a low grade fever is around 99.0-100.0 and a high fever is over 102.0. Don't know if that is what others go by but that is just my opinion.

Usually low grade is under 101* and high grade is over 102*

my doctor told me that a babys normal temp should be 97.9-100.0 above that is high and below that is also bad

Dawn gave a great answer---straight from Dr. Sears!
When you don't have a thermometer around...at the grocery store, in the car....and are wondering...use the mom's palm trick.
It usually works.
Your palm on their forehead and the forehead is a little warm, that's low grade. The kid is sometimes acting grouchy, whiny, complains about something: ear, throat, teeth.....

My kids have had high fevers before where their forehead, neck and shoulders are very hot to the touch. You can tell by looking at their face and by how they are acting that things are not good.