High Fever

Fevers are a way of the body getting rid of an infection. sometimes giving the kid tylenol and motrin to make the fever go away actually makes the fever last longer because the fever is not able to do its job. I try to stay away from them unless my baby is uncomfortable...or unless it is bedtime so that she can sleep better. Like the others said...keep giving as many liquids as possible. My daughter tends to run fever like that for about 4-5 days...and then they just go away as quickly as they came. If it goes over 104 and won't go down...I would take him to the doctor.

I use a cool wash cloth, as well. Just softly rub it on their head, face, hands, wherever it's hot. It's relaxing and helps the fever. I hope he's better soon. :(

DeDe,

I know it doesn't help much, but my son runs extremely high fevers as well. Whenever he begins to get warm, we pump him full of motrin. Just know that for a child, 101 to 102 is not "dangerous" as it is in adults. There are times when my son's fever would get up to 105! It is scary - I know!
We also use popsicles, and occasional baths. Just make sure the baths are a comfortable temperature for him. To hot, and it will increase his fever, to chilly, and it will cause him to shiver and that will increase his temperature. It is like the Three Bears... you have to make it juuuuuuussst riiiiiight. You can also put a cold washrag on his neck; right on his artery. That cools the blood through his entire body, hence dropping his temperature.
After three days though, you should start to see improvement today.
E.

cool bath or cool wash rag on his head.

sometimes those two don't work and really, it's kind of okay b/c it's their body fighting the infection. i'm not stupid, i know the fever makes them tired and miserable, but if your child is still "there" i.e., responds to their name and you can see your little one through the fog, then they can run a fever like that and be just fine. on the flip side, they can run a somewhat low fever, but if they're listless, unresponsive, just kind of zoning out all the time, THAT fever can be more dangerous.
my (4yo) son had a fever we couldn't get down after a day of vomitting and we had to just kind of ride it out. thankfully it lasted just only about 24 hours -- we gave him small sips of watery juice, a few bites of applesauce here and there, and let him veg out watching Thomas all day and sleep and kept him cool. the next morning like magic he was his old self.

There is a new strand of pneumonia that is going around this region that presents with the same symptoms. If things don't improve, you may want to get another opinion.

I have four children with whom I work (I'm a speech-langauge pathologist) who have had it in the last three weeks. Each presented with the same symptoms.

I normally do not share this type of information, but knowing four young children who have experienced similar symptoms, and the stories that have been on the news about this pneumonia - I thought I would just let you know.

I hope all is well soon : )
S.

My lil one had the viral throat infection with cold sores too. The doc said nothing but alternating the pain medicine. I always use Motrin seems to work better than tylenol for me. If that is not working that much put a damp cool cloth on him and wipe him down. I always put ice in her water and she loves that. Give him popsicles and cool stuff. Although I did feed her a lot of warm oatmeal when sick-fills them up when they are not feeling good and picky on food. Another thing I may have been a little dumb but I always thought you just read the label to see how much to give turns out I was not reading to see how concentrated it was too-had not been giving her enough before. I never knew you looked at that too-lol. Good luck and just baby him and give him tons of love-they always want their mommy when feeling bad. Hope he gets better soon. Try cool mist humidifer too-easier for them to breathe.

We all got the same virus, and my son (6 1/2 mo) got croup. Anyway, his fever only lasted 1 1/2 days, as well as my husband's. He was tons better after that, despite a running nose (still). Me, on the other hand, had a fever for 5 days before I went to my allergy/asthma doctor and was told I had an infection (my cough got severely worse due to my asthma, almost had to make an ER visit).

When I called the on call pedi about my son's fever, they said not to worry until it got to be 105. I personally think that's way too high (thank God it never got above 101, which is high enough to me). Mine got to be close to 101, but that's high for me. With my body, if I get a fever of 101, I'm 99.9999% sure it's an infection. If your baby still has a fever after 4 days, I would make an appt and get him to a doc. If his doc doesn't want to do something, find one that will. The longer it goes untreated, the longer it will take to heal (I've lost my voice for 2 days now and have been sick for almost a week and a half). Keep doing the cool washcloths to temple, underarms, neck and tylenol.

when my 4 year old son has a high fever I not only use the tylenol and motrin, I place luke warm rags on his head and body. my doctor told me not to use cold water

First, I would make sure you are giving him the correct dosage. One time that happened to me and since my daughter had grown the dosage changed and I had to increase it slightly. You could sponge him down with a wet washcloth or put him in the cool bathtub (they usually don't like that). Also, if it's been more than 3 days I would take him back to the doctor. My 2 1/2 year old just had that same fever for 3 days accompanied by the cough and she is finally getting better.

You're doing the right thing with the tylenol and motrin. In our experience with these high fevers, they've never lasted more than 4 days. Two things have happened when we've had this sort of thing with our kids (about 4 times). It either goes away as mysteriously as it came, or as soon as the fever breaks, he gets a rash. By the time the rash comes, he feels much better, and we're told that he's no longer contagious 24 hours after the rash appears.

Be sure to give him LOTS of cool fluids, as much as he'll take. They sell those cool patches at the drug store too, like http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100355&a...

Good luck! Hope your little boy feels better soon!

in addition to all the other advice, a cool washrag with rubbing alcohol on the temple can also help. If it continues consider seeing an ENT; maybe it's not a virus. my daughter kept getting 104.5 fevers earlier this year and turns out she had to get her tonsils and adenoids removed; no more fever. Keep him cool; cooler shirts and pants. Hold him to keep him calm and put the cool compress on the forehead and on the base of the neck; alternate. good luck hope it clears up soon.

My daughter did the exact same thing about a month ago. It would not go down. When it went too high I put her in a lukewarm bath; not too cold as you don't want them to shiver which will make the fever worse. I took mine to the doctor's twice (two different drs) and they both said it was viral and that it would get worse before it got better. Which it did. It got worse and then got better. I just kept alternating the meds, kept cool rag on her head, frequent baths and let her eat lots of popsicles. Eventually she got better. HOpe all will work out well.

Here's an article I wrote recently with several ideas for supporting a child's fever from home.

http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/treating_...

You'll also find links to more specific articles about using aromatherapy to cool a fever and using homeopathic remedies as well so be sure to check those articles out since there are more ideas there.

Blessings, A. <><

P.S. Sometimes using the fever redcuers can actually increase the amount of time your child is sick - you might try supporting his body's healing process gently for awhile and see if he's able to break the fever on his own without fever reducers.

My boys had those same symptoms about 3 weeks ago (fever for several days with a bit of a cough). Doctor tested for strep but it came back negative. All in all, it took 5 days or so to run its course. :)

I wouldn't get too worried unless it stays at 102 for more than an hour or so, or if it gets any higher. My kid had the same thing and all we could do was give the motrin drops every four hours or so and just a cool bath if she felt really warm. Make sure he gets lots of fluid, mainly juice and water, and lots of rest. It took my daughter over a week to feel somewhat back to normal. The viruses going around this year are pretty harsh and seem to be lasting a lot longer than usual. It's that time of year, I guess. Good Luck!

Current medical thinking is that fever is not a problem unless it reaches like 107. Fever is actually a good thing - it's the body's way of making the unwanted cells "uncomfortable" and die off. So, my doctors tell me that it is more important to treat me son's comfort level, not the fever itself. If he's uncomfortable, bring it down. Otherwise, let it do its job.

If the fever isn't causing him to "act sick", please keep in mind that fever is the body's first line of defense in killing off an invader.

That said - tepid (not cold) fluid by mouth and tepid baths work wonders when motrin and tylenol wear out their magic.

S.

Hi DeDe I know what your going threw my 3 yr old had a 103 temperature for 3 days (she had the flu) I also switched between motrin and tylenol but doesnt help much. Try giving a luke warm bath or a cool towel on the forehead when sleeping also if you have a humidifier in the house use that so that he breathes comfortably (because of cough)this helps a lot. Its good to let him have popsicles to suck on and keep him hydrated w/apple juice,gatorade,or ginger ale . I hope this helps.

My pedi has always advised that 101 and 102 are high fevers and she has said to just keep giving tylenol and motrin. My son started running temps of 104 when he had RSV last year and the pedi still didn't seem too concerned with the fever part. Just keep the fluids in him and maybe give him a cool wash cloth. Cool baths are not recommended any more as that can cause the fever to spike once they get out of the water. Good luck!