Yes! Moms are the true intelligent experts!
Sleeping a lot and a bit of fever could be teething or fighting something off. I would go with fighting something off, since that seems like a lot of sleeping. Good job, keep monitoring her unusual behaviour and keep her home for a few days.
Have you ever heard of the book "How to Rasie A Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor"? (it's by a pediatrician who exposes the failures of modern pediatrics). Your post's tone just reminded me a bit of it- you might like it.
Here is my best fever advice.... (copied from a previous reply).
I rememember being very afraid too when my son would have fevers and/or diahrrea (esp. while teething), and becoming emotionally worn out from constantly comforting him. What helped me most was an article I read about holistic attitudes towards children's immune responses. It spoke of "honoring the illness"- that the goal of home remedies is not to stop the symptoms, just to reduce the severity. Honor what the body is trying to do and facilitate the conclusion of the process without complications.
When your child has a fever, holding her is often the most soothing thing you can do. As long as the fever doesn't go over 103/4 you probably are better off letting it take its course because we generate this type of heat on purpose in response to what our immune system understands we need to facilitate things. Our bodies are very wise, and the holistic attitude to "supressing" symptoms (such as taking pills to make fever diminish) is that rather than a surface acute condition which the body will have a struggle with, then overcome and be stonger for it- supressing the body's struggle will lead to a more chronic, internal problem. Just like with emotions- dealing with difficult situations to resolve them, even if it requires confrontations or turmoil we would rather avoid- facilitates healing rather than stewing over things inside and generating low level long lasting stress which takes a toll and then eventually begins to resurface in worse ways than it started. A child's ability to generate a good fever is a positive sign, because it is exactly this heat pattern which stops pathogens from replicating quickly if an infection is beginning. The more often we supress fever, the less the body will try to generate this heat.
My 14 month old recently came down with a sudden fever, and I made sure he was comfortable in cotton clothing so his skin can breathe well and wrapped him up on my chest in a baby carrier and just walked and walked with him in the dusky, calm evening. He just went limp in my arms and completely relaxed, his breathing became steady with mine, and he is now sleeping peacefully in his crib. I think when they sense that we believe in what their body can do to heal itself and we are not worried, they just receive our empathy and progress in their recovery.
***After I posted the above reply, I went through some long days... turned out the kids both got "scarlet fever". We got them through it drug free (although my dr. told me they would basically become seriously ill if I did not administer antibiotics- my mother's intuition told me homeopathy was a better, more illness-specific route to treat them, and they have recovered and thrived). I am so glad I use my doctor pretty much only for diagnosis- and yet, sometimes a diagnosis (or the search for it) can really hamper our ability to "treat" or nurse our children to health. When you focus on the idea that there is a specific disease and it must be treated in a specific way, you LIMIT your healing potential as a mom. When you look at the symptoms and choose common sense, symptom-related treatments, and go with your gut feeling on whether you can handle it or need outside help, you will probably have such a better experience! For instance, how I treated their scarlet fever was a) light foods- pureed cooked veggies and homemade chicken stock b) homepathic rememdy belladonna which adresses heat signs and redness c)homeopathic remedy ferrum phos for help handling extended fever (given to the one whose 103.8 fever lasted 48 hours- the morning after he took it, his fever broke) d)herbs- cleavers for lymph drainage and swollen glands, astragalus for immune system boost, and chamomile for soothing e)lots of extra cuddling.
It's funny; extended family members were so concerned that I was not "treating them"- and yet, I think I gave them a lot more attention than someone who would have given them some spoonfuls of pink dyed liquid that killed all their important immune boosting flora (antibiotics actually means, "anti-life") that help them fight things off and aid their digestion- and called it "treatment". Sure, antibiotics have their place- but I think I am more qualified to judge what that place is than a doctor since I can sense if my kids are fighting things off on their own or need invasive help better than someone who looks at them for 10 minutes.
All of this just to say- you really are the best expert on your child. And many times, unless its serious or your child is not recovering, they are not going to tell you anything you can't figure out yourself with some basic tools (internet, otehr moms, couple a reference books).