My son will be a year old next week. He came down w/ his first fever yesterday. Gave him acetominophen before bedtime and he was nice and cool after that kicked in. At 11:30 I checked on him he felt hot had a 102 temp. I debated whether or not to wake him to give more medicine. He is eating normally and acting normally. I went through this with my other son,now 8 years old, and I know I would wake him in the middle of the night when he was 2 as he had a couple of febrile seizures, so I always wanted to keep fever at bay. I did let the one year old continue to sleep and fever went down, but did not break on its own. He awoke crying at 5 am w/ a 102 and I gave him more acetominophen then. Just wondering what you would have done.
TIA!
Thanks Mamas! I am sure I will be going through this again tonight so I just wanted to see what you thought. I use a temporal thermometer so I can get an iea of the fever w/out waking him. Since it is his first one, I just wasn't sure what I should do. I do get different readings on it, sometimes 104 or 105 if he had just been laying on that side, so I usually wait another 20 minutes or so to see if it has changed.. He has been good all day, but I have given him Tylenol and Motrin. But acting normal, eating well, not cranky. Very droolie, and chewing on fingers. Maybe molars are coimg in? I am going to give Motrin at 8 pm and put him to bed and then I will check him around 2 or 3 am to see how he is doing.
Thanks so much for your input! If he still has fever tomorrow, I will take him to Doc on Monday.
I would have let him sleep. Fever is not in and of itself a bad thing. If he woke and was uncomfortable I would have given more meds to help him sleep, but he needs to rest to let his body fight the infection, so I wouldn't have woken him.
A fever is actually a good thing as it is fighting off infection in the body, so as long as the temp isn't dangerously high and your child doesn't seem to be feeling too miserable, then I always try to keep a close eye on them and wait it out. However, the 102 or 103 mark is usually when I give in and give the medicine. I think you did the right thing!
HTH,
A.
I wouldn't have woken him either. I would have checked on him and seen if the fever went higher. If not, I would've just waited until he woke up.
Sleep is the best thing for an ailing baby. If they're not crying or fussing at the 4 or 6 hour mark (or whatever intervals recommended by your pediatrician), it's okay not to wake the child unless of course the fever is seriously high.
My kids had fabulous pediatricians who told me that kids temperatures/fevers increase later in the day and at night and it's not always cause for alarm. Also, it's possible for them to have a 102 fever and not be phased much at all by it like adults are. Since your baby is eating and acting normally, I wouldn't have woke him either.
Just keep an eye on him and consult the doctor if the fever persists and definitely let him sleep if he's happy doing so.
Just my opinion.
Best wishes.
I would have given him the meds after you checked him in the night and he was hot. Fever in a little one is too dangerous. In the day I'm a little more "wait and see" because you can give a popscicle, have them play in a cool tub etc but at night, you have no other recourse...
Since I gave him med before bed, I would not have woke him up, but would have watched to see if it gets worse. If it did, I would wake him up
We worked with the mantra - NEVER WAKE THE BABY. It has always worked for us. A temperature of 102 is not dangerous - it is a physiologic response which helps the immune system fight off the virus - many mammalian immune mechanisms work better at elevated temperature. You can tell the difference between 102 and 105 by touching his head without waking him up.
Dr told me not to give meds for a fever unless it was above 102. It's the body's way of fighting infection, so unless he had a history of the seizures, I would have done the same as you. Hope he's feeling better!
When I used a medicine dropper, I never had to wake the baby to give him medicine. I would just sit him up so he didn't choke, stick the dropper in his mouth, and he would automatically start sucking. I would squeeze the dropper VERY slowly, once again, so he wouldn't choke. It was kind of funny how he would latch on to it and start sucking while he was asleep.
I used to never wake a sleeping baby. I figured if he was uncomfortable or the fever was bothering him, he would wake up. I was being selfish and didn't want to set my alarm to check his fever. Well, when he was 15 mpnths, he woke up crying and his fever was 105.2!!!! Never, ever again! I figure, he'll wake up long enough to slurp up a small syringe of medicine and not even remember it in the morning. My oldest is now 8, I have two more, and one more on the way and I will never not wake up to give medicine if needed, I even bought a head swiper thermometer so that I can check before I wake them up for uneeded meds..
My little girl has febrile seizures. I always wake her. She goes right back to sleep. I'd rather wake her but it's because of the fear of seizures. For me, temperatures are always a danger because they can spike fast in little ones. But I know I've let her sleep instead of waking for her meds before she ever had a febrile seizure so, I guess it depends on the baby and the situation.
If they are sleeping, keep it that way!
I woke mine once to give him medicine; he promptly threw it up all over me!
Better to let him keep sleeping in my experience!
If it was time for more I would of woken him. I freakout at high fevers :(
