Re-occurring Fevers

I would take her to banner desert children's hospital or phoenix childrens hospital for a second opinion. my 2 yr ols was sick like that an her doc kept saying it was viral infection then she was sick. this went on for acouple weeks. then i took her to her old doc and she had bronchitis. now she has to use a nuebulizer to help her when shes sick. so i would take her in for a second opinion

I am no help...but this is happening to me!!! My son has been sick with cold symptoms for a few weeks, he is 16 months too. Every time I take him to the Dr. they say it's nothing, just a cold!!! He has not been on any antibiotics this entire time. Now his fever is 103.5 and I can barely keep it down to 102 with motrin. We're going to the Dr. today...I am so worried now that you say it could be pneumonia! Please let me know what happens with her, and I will do the same. Good luck!

Hi A.
If she is having sinus issues I would try a chiropractor. Mine told me that chiropractic care can take care of ear and sinus infections very easily. In fact my 4 year old when he was 2 kept getting them and I was tired of putting him on antibiotics to only get it again. And my 1 1/2 year old has been adjusted since he was 3 months old and hasn't had one. It couldn't hurt to talk to one to see if they can help. Mine is Dr. Mike Peterson and he is with Tri chiropractic on Warner and McQueen. ###-###-####. You don't have to get her adjusted, maybe call or go there to get another opinion. It is well worth it. Take care
R.

A., is she teething? I know this seems like a dumb question, but often when kids teeth their fevers can go up to 104 for no apparent reason. Also, as I had explained to someone who had written about ear infections, when kids teeth, it causes a back up of fluid in their eustachian tubes- which connect to their sinuses (by the way, kids don't really develop sinuses until they are like 21- they have some small sinus cavities but they don't get full blown sinus cavities until they hit adulthood- now they can still get "sinus infections" but they aren't like sinus infections that adults get and with kids they are typically accompanied by a cough.) Kids also typically don't develop allergies until they are 4-5; however, maybe your daughter is allergic to something- and an allergy could cause continual mucous production and lack of signicant drainage could cause back-up and lead to an "infection." You could ask the doctor about allergy medicine for her- I think allergra makes a pediatric product that doses down to 6 months- or I experimented with childrens benadryl- if I gave them benadryl at night before they went to bed and they woke up less "buggary" in the a.m. then I assumed it was allergies and we put my kids on rhinocort aqua for daily use. The problem is - it is very hard to be compliant with kids. When they feel well, we forget to give them their medicine, but if you don;t use this EVERY DAY- it is not effective. The anti-histimine has to be in the system when they experience the allergic cascade- it does not work for histamines that have already beed released. With that being said- If you have been very good about giving her - her antibiotic everyday, and the full course, then maybe she doesn't have something that is bacterial- it could also be viral, or again, it could be teeth. Another way to help dry up nasal mucous production are the ocean drops- they make nasal saline drops for babies and that will also help dry up her nasal passageways and help keep her decongested. Good Luck!!!

my daughter had this promblem and we were like this is wierd cause she is normally so healthy. Her fevers even with tylenol and Motrin never really dropped. Well she had pnemonia. Usually a fever is a sign of some sort of infection .

My son had some problems when he was 3 months old and it turned out to be menengitis. i would get a second opinion.

It sounds like her immune system is probably down, and needs lots of good food in her body with good vitamins and minerals. When you give your body that much antibotics it shuts down your immune system. My son went through this too after he was on meds. I gave him some baby aphadofolis it's in powder form at the health food store. This will help. It's kind of expensive but it sure works. there was something else to that I gave him, email me and remind me to go look it up.

K.

If it keeps coming back, perhaps it is viral rather than bacterial. My oldest son had a similar but not identical incident when he was appx 1 year old, give or take. They checked him for everything from pneumonia to a urinary tract infection and it turned out to be nothing, they called it an FUO (fever of unknown origin)

I am not sure how pneumonia "works" as only one of my kiddos has ever had it just once, but is there a chance that the antibiotics did not knock it out on the first round, like some ear infections behave with antibiotics?

16 months is a big time for teething, which my kids all would get "high" fevers when they were working on teeth. I would ask about the possibility of a UTI, a recurrance of the pneumonia and maybe ask if they think a white blood cell count could point them in the direction of bacterial vs viral. There is so much going around right now it is very possible that the multiple incidences are totally unrelated to each other and a fever is just a fever.

M.

It sounds to me you have a compound problem. When children get sinus infections, it could take several rounds of antibiotics to clear it up. There are a number of things you can do to help prevent sinus infections. Saline is number one. it is compleltly safe, and very benificail. Use the childrens saline, and this will help much more than one may think. You may also try it for yourself, it will help keep you healthy. Humidifiers are another great preventiive. Also, check her for teething. Alot of sinus infections are related to teething, due to the increase of mucus. It also causes fever. Now, I don't mean to scare you, but in rear cases, sinus infection can reach the brain. I'm not saying this has happened, but it can be harmful, as you have found out from the pneumonia. Saline, Saline, Saline, it will really help. And, if you feel your doctor isn't doing enough, you have the right to see another. Best of luck to you.

HI, I just had the same problem with my son. He is 17 months old and he had a fever anywhere from 101-105 for a week. I took him in several times in that week and the doctors kept telling me it was a "viral thing" and he would get over it. Finally, I got pretty ticked off and took him in again and demanded tests to be run and sure enough he had pneumonia. While we were doing his treatments in the hospital his fever got up to 108. It was pretty scary. He is getting better now, but his fever won't go away. The only thing that seems to help for me is baths and ibuprophen. I don't like keeping him on meds either but I think until he is over the pneumonia his fever will continue. Is your daughter still on the amoxicillin? - C.

My 18 month old had similar problems with fevers and ear infections and was even diagnosed with strep throat. Most babies under 2 are not supposed to get strep. Turns out after taking her to a "holistic" doctor (one that believes in natural type healing) we found out she was allergic to dairy products, including milk. Once we took her off dairy products, she never had ear infections or high fevers like that again.

I think I would take her to a different doctor and get a 2nd opinion. It seems like your doctor is playing guessing games and just keeps using different antibiotics, but isn't finding the cause of the fevers.

I also have no answers but my son is 14 months and I have encountered the same problem over the last two month it seems like between my two sons I never leave the doctors office. Last week they diagnosed him with right lobe pnuemonia and I don't know how severe she was but I keep thinking my son is gonna choke because his cough is so intense. he is on antibiotics and breathing treatments but it is so frusterating the other problem for us is our almost three year old has bad asthma so we hope this is no indication that he too will develope asthma Good luck to you and your definately not alone.

This sounds like what my son went through when he was that little. He had pneumonia and RSV at the same time. It seemed like he was sick forever. We later found out after getting a second opinion that he had some congenital heart defects that was making his immune system not work right. I am not saying that is what is going on with your child but i would get a second opinion. God Bless

ALSO: The doctor told me to rotate Motrin and Tylenole every 4 hours to keep the fevers down

You should have kept giving her amoxicillin. It's not good to switch up so many medicines on an infant in such a short time span. Maybe you should also switch pediatricians and get a different opinion. I really hope your daughter gets better soon.

Hi Ashely,
First check if she's teething. Is she drooling a lot? Biting a lot on hard things? If so, this is normal for babies to run fevers like she is with teething involved. If not, it could be an ear infection. That's also common with babies. Does she show signs of discomfort other than fever, like lethargy,or long periods of fussiness? Or does she seem responsive and alert when she's awake? Try some Motrin for her. See if that will bring down her temp. Also put a cool wash cloth on her little head to help the temp go down. Another clue to an ear infection is if she's pulling, or tugging at her ear constantly. You'll need to see the doc if she shows signs of this. Also, I did some research on your medicines, and with the AUGMENTIN, and AMOXICILLIN, there are "infrequent side effects" that includes breathing problems. Omnicef didn't have breathing problems listed in their side effects. So, with that said, this is probably where your baby was getting her troubles in breathing. Now, did you finish the Omnicef as directed by the doctor? It's imperative that you always finish doses given by the doctor, (when it comes to antibiotics), to completely get rid of the illness. If you don't, you have a chance of getting a relapse. If your baby isn't showing signs physically, of illness, and just has a fever, I would make a good guess it's teething. Try getting her temp down using the suggestions I gave, and if she is still running a fever and it doesn't break withing 12 hours, call your doctor. You can also call anyway and talk with the nurse about your concerns and they can evaluate from what you say, if the baby needs to come in, or she can give you advice on what to do. My Mom also said that children will run a fever with no signs of being sick, and then in a couple of days, it will break. I know this because my son just went thru that.
Also, there was a flu bug that was going around that was affecting people pretty badly. Since your baby already got some antibiotics, she may not get it again. Are you bundling your little one up too warmly? It was about 81 degrees outside today. Warm enough for pants, or shorts, and a short sleeve top. If you dressed your child up too warmly when it's hot outside, then chances are she will spike a temp..just from body heat. I know after children get their immunizations, they will spike a temp also,but only for a short period. I hope my suggestions helped you. Let me know how she's doing. Best wishes, G.

Hi. I know how stressful it can be when your child keeps getting sick. I strongly reccomend looking into a more natural route. My son has always responded to herbs and homeopathics far better than anything doctors have told me. My son is two and a half and has had three bouts of croup. The first time I took him to the hospital, and they gave him breathing treatments and antibiotics. I later found out that croup is a viral infection and antibiotics do nothing to help it. That made me pretty fed up with doctors that they just hand out antibiotics like candy to such little children, so i started him on homeopathics, and they helped immensely. The second time he got croup, I started him on homeopathics and herbs immediately, and the illness was shortened. The third time, he was over it in three days. (it usually lasts 7-10 days).Please look into it, I now feel really good about what goes into my kids body, he is very healthy. At least get a second opinion, I question any doctor that keeps pumping out more and more medicine, without looking for the core problem.

My 13 month old son had a 103 fever last night. When I called his doctor they said he was probably just teething and to give him motrin or tylenol. But to watch for unresponsiveness, dry diapers for more than 12 hours, purple rashes, and/or trouble breathing. I would say check for teething and check the side effects of the medication. Perhaps there is a bad reaction to the medicine.

check for mold in your house. ask the doctor about a also giving her an ahtihistamine a logn with the antibiotics or on a regular basis. whash everything and keep thigs clean. wash hads and teach her to do the dame. often aas possible. getl antibacterials all over the house. humidifier in her bedroom

Did you give her anything else besides antibiotics? Cold Symptoms aren't going to go away on Antibiotics alone. When my kid has an ear infection mostly because he has a cold before/after or during. We give him Tylenol or if he has cough too..he has Robitussin Cold & Cough or just Cough, and then later on he takes Delysym. Then it's gone away.

Some kids get croup or bronchitis here. Check to see if she has asthma or allergen to antibiotics.

Is she in daycare, are you taking her to the gym day care, etc?

You might need to get a second opinion or take her to a pediatric urgent care or Banner Desert or Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Good Luck! Hope she feels better.

Something has been going around (I'm in the ABQ area). Our entire family has had it. They're saying it's RSV. Fever, congestion, cough. My daughter had congestion & a cough, then that went away & she got a fever, then got the congestion & cough back. It's also affecting the ears, but in taking all to the dr., no infections found. I, myself, has had it for around 2 wks & I've never been this sick for this long. I was under the impression that fever was the sign of an infection, but the ped. said "no", and Tylenol or Motrin is what I should give. I was also told that Benedryl is the best for the mucus Giving Dextro?? (DM - cough suppresant) doesn't work all that well with children because they can't cough out the mucus. I know Augmentin is a stronger antibiotic than Amoxicillin (both are in the same Penicillin family), but I'm questioning why they gave an antibiotic for cold symptoms - for the "slight sinus infection" - yes. Most colds cannot be cured with antibiotics. Maybe she has this RSV cold thing that's going around & the antibiotics are delaying her body from fighting it off. Good Luck!