Just a Fever?

(This is a 102-103 fever for those in the US that haven't googled it yet.)
This is not unusual. Keep her rested and hydrated and let the fever do its work. You should see a cycle with the fever, it will get higher in the afternoons, so keep her quiet during those times. I usually gave fevers a day or so to do their work, and only gave medicine if the kid was uncomfortable and/or couldn't sleep. My oldest used to only get fevers, no other symptoms, at that age.
And the temp of the fever isn't really all that high, especially if her behavior hadn't changed much.

Has she ever had a febrile seizure before? I never treat my boys fever unless they are uncomfortable and unable to sleep. Otherwise I let the fever run it's course and do its job. Neither of my kids ever had a febrile seizure. With a lot of the childhood viral infections my kids had the fever before they showed any other symptoms.

She's sick. Kids don't get fevers of 103 without being sick. I would cancel any of her activities, because kids with fevers are contagious and she's needs rest. At 4.5 they are not super self aware. I would pay attention to your observations more than her answers to your questions.

If she gets a sore throat, a rash, or headache take her to the pediatrician. If she still has a high fever tomorrow call and ask your pedi if you should bring her in.

She likely woke up because the fever was making her uncomfortable, and I'm all for letting your immune system function but if she's uncomfortable, I would give her a dose of Acetaminophen.

I would guess it's a virus of some kind. You don't have to have cold symptoms to have a virus.

Once a temp gets to 103F, I wake my kids to give them motrin. I know many people don't, but I was never comfortable letting fevers get high. If I tried to let it go without a dose of fever reducer, I'd be up all night checking constantly to make sure it didn't spike even higher. I found that if I use a syringe to give the medicine, they only had to about 1/2 wake up to take it, and went right back to sleep.

most kids do not get febrile seizures.. My kids get fevers.. one of my kids often hits 103 to 104 and has never had a seizure..

I give my kids 48-72 hours for the fever to break .. if it does not then I take them to the dr.. but generally the fever breaks and they are fine in 2 or 3 days..

Our bodies start fighting off diseases and germs before we even actually see symptoms. A fever tells us our body is fighting this stuff off and losing a bit of the fight. That doesn't mean it's bad or serious. It just means the body is fighting. Continue to look for other symptoms.

We don't use the temp you described. I have no idea if your child is hot or cold. Please use Fahrenheit.

Does your child have a history of febrile seizure? If not, then I think you can relax here. Its just a fever--my kids get them just like this sometimes with no other symptoms. If she is acting normal, then keep her hydrated and let the fever work. If she is uncomfortable then give her some meds, but I wouldn't get too worked up over a fever of 103F, it really isn't that high and fever is not, in and of itself, cause for alarm at that temperature.

My oldest did have febrile seizures and so fevers scare the heck out of me now. My kids get medicine for anything over 100, this is per the instructions from the neurologist who treated my daughter at Children's National Medical Center.

Our youngest would get that same look my daughter would get before a seizure would hit, but he never actually had one.

If it's that high, I would also consider a cool bath...not cold, but not a warm bath either. It brings their temp down, but not too quickly. That's also what we were told to do.

And a seizure occurs when the fever spikes, not just from it being high. I would absolutely get my kid to the doctor with a fever that high though.

You need to get that fever down...

converted to Farenheit that is 39.6 is 103.28. Call the doc/nurse.

Tylenol or Motrin will help.