Need some fever wisdom, please...

[Meagan]

Is 103-104 too high a fever in a child who is resting comfortably and taking in plenty of fluids?

Owen has been hovering around 103.5 for the past few hours (it was 104 for a bit, but we moved him to a cooler area and it went down a smidge). It's making me nervous even though intellectually I know a fever that high can be totally normal and even beneficial. He pretty much refuses to take anything resembling medication so I'm not sure how we'd be able to bring it down medicinally anyway.

What's your personal approach to high fevers?

[boomerang]

The usual disclaimer, this is not medical advice etc etc BUT...

Adam has been periodically running fevers like that today and honestly it worries me intellectually but I go much more by behavior. He is my child whose health can go south very quickly and wind up in the hospital so I watch him closely, but I kind of have a sense about it. If he is excessively listless and weak with a fever that high I am much more likely to take him to the ER than if he's resting comfortably and still taking in fluids. It's actually so much more about behavior that there have been times that I've been far more worried about a child with a 102 temp than a child with a 104 temp.

Something we do to help bring down fever is put cool washcloths on his forehead - most likely they will heat up within a few minutes and need to be rinsed with cool water again. We were doing that with Adam all evening and were able to get him to eat a little bit. After the washcloth cooled him down and he ate a bit we were able to give him a bit of tylenol to help him sleep on the assumption that sleep would do more to help his body fight off the virus for the next few hours than the fever. Edited to add that there's also the method of putting them in a cool bath, which does work very well and J is a fan of it, but it makes them so miserable that I just can't bring myself to do it.


Is 103-104 too high a fever in a child who is resting comfortably and taking in plenty of fluids?

Owen has been hovering around 103.5 for the past few hours (it was 104 for a bit, but we moved him to a cooler area and it went down a smidge). It's making me nervous even though intellectually I know a fever that high can be totally normal and even beneficial. He pretty much refuses to take anything resembling medication so I'm not sure how we'd be able to bring it down medicinally anyway.

What's your personal approach to high fevers?

[Kathy]

I try to make someone with a high fever comfortable if they are uncomfortable, but I don't do anything to reduce it. A fever is one of the immune system's arsenal of weapons to treat infection and only works if it's let be. I don't see a need in most cases to bring a fever down.

[bannanabette]

I've had people tell me they swear by the wet sock treatment as a way to lower fever naturally. I'm so not a doctor but here's a link to it: http://www.ehow.com/how_5414195_lower-fever-soaking-socks.html

[Amanda]

Is 103-104 too high a fever in a child who is resting comfortably and taking in plenty of fluids?

Owen has been hovering around 103.5 for the past few hours (it was 104 for a bit, but we moved him to a cooler area and it went down a smidge). It's making me nervous even though intellectually I know a fever that high can be totally normal and even beneficial. He pretty much refuses to take anything resembling medication so I'm not sure how we'd be able to bring it down medicinally anyway.

What's your personal approach to high fevers?

Meagan, if he's "resting comfortably and taking in plenty of fluids," I don't do anything.

If the kid is miserable, hallucinating, thrashing, loudly unable to sleep in the wee hours of the night when the rest of the family needs sleep (which is a greater need when sick or trying not to get sick, IMO), then I address the fever. I start with cool cloths to the forehead and homeopathic belladonna. If the kid is utterly miserable and exhausted I might give a single dose of a fever reducer, but that is very, very rare and it goes against what I believe about fevers (I'm in Kathy's corner).

I don't worry about how high they are. My kids tend to run really high (102-104) sometimes. I don't even take their temperature anymore, I just judge my response based on how they are acting/feeling. A really really really sick kid will be lethargic and eerily quiet, IME.

I think of fevers as something that have to stay at a certain temp for a set amount of time to kill the bad germs (kind of like cooking raw meat for a set amount of time at a certain temperature to make it safe to eat). If you reduce the fever, you're prolonging the process and generally the misery. But again, in my house, a kid who is beside themselves with discomfort, especially at nighttime, might get a one-dose respite if I felt I couldn't manage their comfort in any other way (I try numerous comfort measures and distractions first.)

Don't worry! It sounds normal to me. I would not medicate.

[sarahs]

How's he feeling today Meagan? Hope you had an easy night.

I'm another who goes by the child's comfort and behavior. And I am definitely NOT anti-medication. I just use as little as I feel is necessary. I'm more likely to use meds to get rid of the headache that accompanies the illness than the fever. And I agree with Amanda about using meds to help everybody get sleep.

[kinsey]

DS had a really high fever - and was acting completely normal!! That was what freaked me out, not so much the fever, but more the lack of bodily acknowledgement of the fever lol.


The fever came down a bit, and then it hit him and he was definitely "acting sick"...

I'm with the others - I don't generally treat a fever, I think it has a purpose (and kids' fevers can go much higher than adult fevers w/out need for concern) and I tend to let it run when possible.

If the kid is completely uncomfortable/unable to rest, then I will consider meds to bring the temp down enough to allow for rest. This doesn't happen much w/DS, he usually conks out w/no problem. DD is my restless girl, she's just more "fussy" in general, so when she's sick, it's amplified (o goody. lol). So she's more likely to get some fever reducer, if I don't think it will backfire and allow her to feel so good that she won't rest. She's a tricky one! LOL


Hope your little guy feels better soon.

[MorgnsGrl]

Dante has occasionally run fevers as high as the low 104s (104.1, 104.3) and been fine. I personally don't think I'd worry until it neared 105 unless the child was really out of it.

[Meagan]

Thanks everyone. Everyone's fevers wound up coming down overnight. Clara seems pretty much fine now, with just a small cough, Isaac and Jacob have no fever but a bad cough, and Will, Owen, and I are running fevers in the 101-102 range with coughs. OUCH this is a painful cough. I'm not coughing constantly but it feels like once I commit to one, it's really deep, if that makes sense. Then I feel like there's something in there I'm trying to dislodge that's just beyond my reach.

We usually don't even keep a thermometer in the house, but this was Clara's first real illness, and I think we were just feeling kind of jumpy--especially with all the SWINE FLU hype. Of course, she got well faster than anyone else.

I'm not sure if this is even a higher fever than Owen usually runs--he is often extremely hot to the touch while sick, especially at night. Only usually it doesn't last two days. Poor little guy, this is hitting him the hardest. He just threw up....now one more thing to worry about.

[Meagan]

Something we do to help bring down fever is put cool washcloths on his forehead - most likely they will heat up within a few minutes and need to be rinsed with cool water again. We were doing that with Adam all evening and were able to get him to eat a little bit. After the washcloth cooled him down and he ate a bit we were able to give him a bit of tylenol to help him sleep on the assumption that sleep would do more to help his body fight off the virus for the next few hours than the fever. Edited to add that there's also the method of putting them in a cool bath, which does work very well and J is a fan of it, but it makes them so miserable that I just can't bring myself to do it.

I suggested to Owen that he take a cool bath and he freaked out at the very suggestion. Even a cool cloth was unbearable to him. So I can't see us using that method either!

Just curious Holly, when you've taken Adam to the ER, do they seem concerned about the fever per se, or just what it might indicate about his illness overall? I'm just not sure why there are these guidelines about calling a doc when your child has a 102 fever...seems so arbitrary.