How can you fix a fever? What to eat, when to worry? Why DO fevers get worse at night? Plus, vomiting, low-grade fevers in children. This post has all the info on fevers!
Children’s fever can’t be cured, but it does have remedies to make your baby, toddler or kid feel better. Fever in children is a lot different than fever in adults. Let’s talk symptoms, how to take their temperature, and what you should do if its in an infant.
You hear your sweet baby crying, you go in and press your lips to their cheek only to feel fire on your lips. Does that make you cringe inside? Fevers can be really scary for moms, but this blog post will go over what to watch for and what to not worry about. Children’s fever is just body’s way of fighting the good fight. Fight on!
Hilary is an RN, BSN who has worked in various medical fields for the past 12 years, however, none of the information on this blog, should be substituted for the care of a physician. The information provided on this blog is informational only and shouldn’t be taken as medical advice. If you have questions, please ask your doctor or healthcare provider. If you think you have a medical or psychiatric emergency, please call 911. Also, please don’t delay contacting a physician due to something you have read on here.
Pulling Curls doesn’t take responsibility for your health. That’s your job. We’re just a nice read.
Children’s Fever
*Might I preface this with the fact that if your mommy-gut is REALLY worried, just have them be seen. I have a disclaimer at the bottom of the post, but regardless. Mommy gut is an important factor, you know your child. If something seems really off, I’d have them checked out.
1. Fever in babies & newborns
How old are they? Newborn babies might not have a strong enough immune system yet — fevers can be worrisome. That means up to about 2 months of age. If your baby has a thermometer reading over about 99°F you should call your doctor. The hospital, most likely, went over that with you before you went home with your newborn. The fever isn’t the issue, it’s their ability to fight anything off at such a young age. A doctor just needs to check them out. Often it’s just a virus and they can head back home — but you’ll want to make sure.
2. Taking temperatures
I am not a huge taker of temperatures, but it is a good idea to get an idea of what number you’re looking at. Sometimes kids feel REALLY hot on the outside (often due to clothing, ambient temperature or blankets), but their insides aren’t as hot.
Now, this is just a number… we’ll learn more about it later. I’m an axillary thermometer fan. For small children I recommend a quick-read axillary thermometer — like this one. You can read more about thermometers here. They are usually the cheapest, and least prone to user error.
Howeve, if you have a child who HATES the temp in the armpit having one of these is pretty handy as well. I’vd had a couple (first one was a total fail) and the Exergen seems to be pretty accurate.
FYI we don’t even do rectal temps in the hospital anymore. Unless your doctor specifically says that they need a rectal thermometer read, I always do axillary. But, listen to your doctor. I, personally, haven’t had a lot of luck with the the ear kind.
3. Why do fevers get higher in the evening?
If it’s late afternoon/early evening that’s a time that fevers in ALL of us tend to spike due to our circadian rhythms (even in adults). SO, a high fever at 5 pm isn’t as worrisome as a high one when they wake up. IN FACT, if I take my kids temperature after a nap, they’re all headed to 99. They are just hot sleepers. Go figure.
4. Symptoms with a fever?
What else is going on? Are they pulling at their ears? Are they coughing? Does their throat hurt? Do they have goopy eyes? Are they still playing or are they lethargic as a dishrag on the couch. It’s THOSE symptoms that you need to pay close attention to. Lethargy for long periods in a little one is an indicator that something may be need to checked out. Call your pediatrician.
5. It’s just a number.
Kids can get REALLY high fevers. You have to realize that when you take YOUR temperature, you’re a lot further away from your core body temperature, than a kid. Plus, you have all this surface area to let you heat off from — kids don’t. I don’t care much at all until we hit 105 °F. At that point I know we’re all pretty uncomfortable. BUT, it’s just the body fighting the infection. Check what your symptoms are showing you.
How to fix a fever
Well, the official party line is to call your doctor. But, a few things to try are:
1. A lukewarm bath for a fever
It’s NOT fun to have a fever of 105. They want to cool off, and you want to help them. I plop them in a lukewarm bath (tending to more warm than more cold) and take a washrag and ring it over their skin to help take the edge off. Make sure you never leave the tub side, even if the child is older, they go in and out of feeling good at that point. You need to stay within reach at all times. You actually don’t want to cool them down TOO fast — then you could head for a febrile seizure (see below).
2. Medications for a fever
Tylenol can be given to newborns and ibuprofen can start around 6 months, but ask your pediatrician/healthcare provider for your child’s dosing/what medications you can give next time you have an appointment. I love these two drugs. I hate miserable kids, I’m so glad these were invented, what a lifesaver. I keep plenty on hand all the time.
If you take a temperature, and the medicine you give doesn’t bring it down at ALL {I’m talking even a 10th of a degree} in about an hour you should probably call your healthcare provider.
3. Hydrate when you have a fever
Make sure you’re trying to get fluids in your wee one. If they’re over one you can try whatever you want — gatorade, pedialyte, juice, water, anything they’ll take is good. Try a few things. I don’t usually do a lot of milk if they have a high temperature, just because they don’t usually feel like it.
I try to keep some otter pops on hand all the time to use when fever strikes. Maybe have a special water bottle for when they’re sick (that won’t spill all over, like this one).
**Febrile seizures are SCARY but they are just the brain’s response to fever. It’s just to hot in their little heads, so they have a seizure. It does NOT mean that they’ll have them forever and while a call to your doctor would probably put your mind at ease, they will probably just give you tylenol and motrin and head on home. SO scary, but not a huge deal… all things considered.
Fever Faq’s
Child throwing up no fever
Could be for many reasons — you’ll still want to follow my protocol on my stomach flu post.
Same for if you have vomiting and diarrhea — it could be food poisoning, or even a small stomach virus that isn’t triggering a fever.
When to tke child to ER for fever
104 is when I start to get concerned, but I’d ask your doctor what # they are concered about. Beyond just the fever number, other symptoms like extreme lethargy may warrant a visit to the ER.
Low grade fevers in children
These can happen for many reasons.
Keep in mind that many children have a low grade fever in the evenings, just due to their circadian rhythms — especially if they’ve had a good nap.
Just keep an eye on it. If it’s an actual fever (vs just high after a nap) it’s their body fighting the infection!
Fever and vomiting in children
I have a whole post on vomiting and fevers.
I hope that puts your mind at ease a little bit about the hot tiny people in your lives. Having a fever is no fun but in the immortal words of my high school fight song…. fight on you white blood cells, fight on to victory!
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And check out all my other children’s health posts:
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Heidi says
Great tips. It’s so hard to know what to do for your kids. This is a great resource.
Hilary says
Thanks, I hope so. Fevers can be scary!
Angie says
This is good info. Luckily my MIL is a nurse, so our first call with little ones has usually been to her. All kids are different. For some reason, mine have a strange reaction to fevers, and each has been over 106, and one at 107 – on the ER thermometer. If they get a fever, it just keeps climbing, and fast. So we’ve learned to rotate acetaminophen and ibuprofen around the clock for at least 24 hours then check regularly to make sure it has gone away. If it goes over 101, we’re in for a miserable time! Although I usually wait on medicine to see if it goes over that mark. I tell them we need their “good guys” to cook out the “bad guys” for a while. We once had to have our little E ice packed in the ER when the medicine wasn’t working fast enough and her temp was crazy high. Always some unknown virus that has to run it’s course.
Question though: Is it a bad idea to let them snuggle up in their warm blankets when they have a temp? They feel so cold and just want to wrap up, but I’m never sure if I need to wait until the medicine begins to work so they’ll cool off, or just let them use a blanket.
Hilary says
I let them use one blanket, although they’ll try for more. That’s my same rule in the hospital too. You can ice pack their feet/arm pits that cools them pretty quick (although the thought of ice packs on my feet is pretty yucky).
Mimi says
In response to your comment about febrile seizures, the younger a child is, the more at risk they are for having recurring problems. I developed epilepsy because I had one febrile seizure, not even a very long one, but at a young age. If your child is between 6 and 15 months old and this happens, I would rather take the time to at least call the on call doctor rather than risk them developing further problems like I have had.
Hilary says
Huh, I had always heard from our MD’s that it doesn’t correlate with seizures later in life. However, it would make sense that if you were prone to getting siezures that it might start as febrile ones when you’re small. I agree, a call to the doctor is warranted, although you might be disappointed by what you get from it. 🙂
Heather says
I work in peds and this is actually a lot of what we recommend to our parents, with the exception of the bath. Even a leukwarm bath can bring a temp down too quickly and induce febrile seizures. Room temperature/slightly cooler rags are a great alternative.
Hilary says
That’s a really good point. You definitely don’t want the water to be hot or cold. Probably tending more towards the warmer side. My kids would never keep rags on them. I always felt like the bath worked better (which is what my peds recommended when I worked for them). But, I can certainly see how it would be problematic.
sarah says
2 of my 4 kids have now had seizures when temps get over 105. Its one of the scariest things ever to watch your child have a seizure. My doc said it must run in our family and to start giving meds at 101. I used to wait and let the fever do it’s thing. Now I don’t mess with waiting. I wish I knew why my kids’ fevers go up so high.
Hilary says
So scary!
Megan says
Thank you for thia information. Febrile seizures are very scary! Especially when you dont already know about them! My son was a little over 1 when he had one. I gave him fever reducer before he went to bed then an hour or 2 later he woke up crying. I went in the room and he began to have a seizure. I took him to the er and they said it was a febrile seizure. So I’m thinking it could have been caused by the medicine cooling him off too fast? What is your opinion?
Hilary says
I have heard bathing in too cold of water can cause a seizure, but I’m not sure. I’d ask your pediatrician!
Jaclyne says
When you give a fever reducer, the temperature falls, and spikes again after it wares off. Often the seizures occur during the rapid fall of rise (too cold of bath, or the fever reducer wearing off)
If you begin a fever reducing regime you must need to diligently maintain??
I am currently skin to skin with my youngest who I can feel is hot this evening. The older kids have never had Tylenol. And I rarely check the number. “Let it burn”
Hilary Erickson says
I mostly don’t want my kids feeling miserable, there is always a threat with a seizure — for sure.