my 7 month old has had a fever for the past 3 days. today will be day 4.
for the life of me I can't remember when I should take him to the doctor when a fever refuses to break. his temp has run between 99 and 102 but will not go below 99 even after Tylenol.
when I was a mom for the first time I would have freaked out by now, but after having a few kids I have calmed down about when they get sick and only take them to the doctor if I can't fix it with the basic home remedies, so my kids don't have to see a doctor too often.
But it's been a really long time since I've had a child with a fever that lasted more than a day or two so now I'm starting to get a bit worried.
maybe the trick was to ask for input. about 3 hours after I posted this his temp was back to normal. He woke up with 102 and was down to 97.8 by 11am. I've been keeping a close eye just in case it shoots up again. If it does I'm taking him in right away. Yesterday he was quite content to snuggle up which he almost never does, he wants to be free and today he was more himself.
Thank you for all of your input. I appreciate it so much :)
Must be going around...I have 3 kids and they all had temps ranging from 101.5 - 104.4 over the past couple of weeks. I had the youngest two into the doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong. They did RSV, Strep, and mono testing - all negative. One had a very high white blood cell count, meaning she was fighting something bacterial. No answers though. As agreed to by others, Motrin is better than Tylenol for fevers.
Try motrin for the fever, it works better than tylenol. I would just give a call to the doctor's office and speak with the nurse to see if your baby should be seen or not.
Just call your clinic. Mine always has the doctor or nurse call back or connects me to their nurse line. Each practices follows a basic guideline for when to bring your child in.
I was on the phone last week for a half hour with the nurse and learned something very helpful, (Health Partners) they said a fever between 100-102 is beneficial -it's our body's way of cooking whatever bugs a person might have, 102-104 is moderate and 105 is a trip to the ER/urgent trip. Giving tylenol with a low-grade fever is supressing the beneficial effects. Hope this helps!
I am a triage nurse. A fever is defined as a temp over 100.5 Viral fevers only last 3 days so any fever longer than that should be checked by a doctor. Tylenol and Motrin are only supposed to lower a temp by 1-2 degrees.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Call your pediatrician and ask if they want to see him. This is the great thing I've discovered about being a parent: you don't always have to be the one to make the decision. Let your doc decide. You're not paging them in the middle of the night - you're just calling the office. For great non-hysterical medical advice (when I want to know WHEN to call my doc) I like askdrsears.com or "Your Child's Health" by Barton D. Schmitt, M.D. You don't have to keep the flowcharts of "what to do" in your head - you just go look in the book.
"Your Child's Health" says call your doc w/a fever that lasts longer than 3 days. Good luck!
My daughter is 6.5 and I still freak out with fevers and will bring her immediately. It's usually a ear infection or strep with her.
A 7mo. old should definately go in......
Also tylenol doesn't work for crap. You should rotate tylenol with motrin that works the best.
The last time I had a fever I wrapped up in as many blankets as possible and what I called sweated it out. Sure enough it broke my fever. I'm not sure if that's really safe but I was miserable.
I had spoke to a nurse yesterday and I have a 1 1/2 yr old and he has had a fever on and off for 3 weeks and she said that since he was acting fine then they want to see him if it lasts for 3 days.
The nurse has told me that alternate motrin and tylenol but, if they are throwingup that motrin is hard on there stomach so just to use Tylenol.
I hope that he feels better soon!!
You should take your baby in after 24 hours of not being able to break a small fever. Though if the fever is really high and you cannot get it to break with something, and taking their clothes off and stuff, then you need to take them in right away. But if your baby still has a fever I would call your doctor right away to see if they want you to bring the baby in or not.. If you have urgent care I would take your baby there too if it is staying up there..
i second the motrin. our 4 year old had a fever that lasted about 3 days, but the motrin took care of it.
our peds office likes to see kids after 3 days of fever that won't break... even after meds.
good luck & hope your little one feels better soon!
Strep has been going around like crazy lately. My younger daughter got it from school and then passed it onto my other kids and my husband. I didn't even know my older 2 kids had it until they were tested. I would bring him in because you don't want it to get worse. I always bring my babies in when they have a fever because that's an indication of an infection.
Good luck,
J.
Mom to 4, going on 5 through another adoption :o)
I think all medical questions should be directed at your pediatrician. If you don't want to bring your child in, why don't you call the Dr.'s office for advice. They are the experts and that's a long time for a baby to have a fever that doesn't break. Please call their office and get their advice.
