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My 8 month old has been very feverish for the last couple of days. We are assuming it is teething related, because she isnt stuffed up, sneezing, or coughing. It's just the fever.

My mother suggested that it would be best to not give the baby any fever reducer, and let her work through it. However, after several hours of high temperatures, I gave her medicine.

How do you moms (and dads) handle fevers?

Fevers are one of the things that stress me out with the kiddos...I talked to our peds once about fevers and teething though and she said that if our little man ran a fever at all while teething it would be a low temp. I went and did some research after talking with her and most of the things I read said that teething does not cause high fevers, if any fever at all. It turned out with our little man that he was at the beginning of a cold....he got the fever first then a few days later the sniffles started. When Caeli was around she got a high temp with no other symptoms....then a few days later she got a weird rash...it turned out to be fifths disease...sounds way worse than it is...but I would keep an eye on her....
When mine get temps, I usually keep an eye on it and let it run it's course unless it gets above 101 during the day or they are uncomfortable. It is true that if it is high during the day, that it tends to go higher in early evening and during the night.

Wow..I hate it when my kids don't feel good. If it goes over 99.9 we usually give fever reducer. Its not so much the fever itself its how terrible they feel while they are running it. I know some docs say it is good to let the fever run its course because it has a purpose but when they feel so terrible it just seems cruel. In addition getting too high of a temp can be life threatening and I have two kids that tend to spike really high temps fast if I don't keep tabs on it.

You did good Nate, we all try to listen to our mom's but sometimes 'daddy knows best'

Well, it's not that teething itself causes a high fever, it's that when the little ones teethe, they tend to put more things in their mouths to attempt to soothe the pain of teething, and more stuff in the mouth usually includes more germs, more germs means more likely that it's a bacteria that can cause illness and/or fever.

Fevers scare me, too...a fever of 108 contributed to my stepdaughter's death....I pay clooooooose attention to those in my little guys.

If you tend to shy away from meds for a fever, try a cool bath and remember to give plenty of fluids.

My mother is very anti meds unless it is a life/death situation. She feels that they are riskier than the issue being treated. That being said she is a bit radical. However, I tend to agree that the fever is a sign the body is fighting infection and it should run its course, keeping a very close eye on it of course to ensure it dosse sno get too hight, or stay too high for too long. My ped tends to agree w/ me. She said it is more important to watch the child and see how they are acting then worry too much about a temp (provided it is not over 104). Fevers scare me though!

quote:

Originally posted by TripleAmom:

If you tend to shy away from meds for a fever, try a cool bath and remember to give plenty of fluids.

Yes a cool bath works great ... just be careful if the fever is too high try sponging them off instead of immersing them in water. My daughter who is 15 now ran a fever of unknown origin for 21 days when she was 2...and one night it spiked to 105.3 and the dr told me to put her in a lukewarm bath. It was warm not too cool as I had done it before...but she went into really violent convulsions...talk about a scared mom!! Then when my daughter who is 3 now had pneumonia we were admitted to Shands and she had a fever of 106.3 they sponged her and told me immersing them when it's that high can cause convulsions.

My 3 year old has been running a 102ish fever for a couple days now, on and off. I called Peds After Hours yesteday because that's the only symptom she had except for bloodshot eyes. The nurse did tell me that with children, it's not really the number on the thermometer, more how the child is acting. Emma has been her usual rambunctious self so they said that it's probably just a little virus and not to worry too much. I just went in to check on her and she's cool as a cucumber (my mom always says that). Fevers kill viruses so it's OK to let them go as long as they're not too high.

I am anti-meds, too, when I can help it. I don't give meds for every little thing, is what I mean. If they are completely miserable, I do give them the meds. But, I try to let it work itself out. One of the reasons we get fevers is so the body can kill off the infection. So, I think it's okay to let your body try to fight it off naturally first. And meds second. So, what about natural remedies? Does anyone know of any that seem to work?

I say what my Ped. told me if they are uncomfortable in any way or extremely cranky give them med. if not let it run it's course. lol I hate it when they get sick.
My baby had a temp. when teeth were coming out, but it was 'cause 3 were coming out @ the same time. poor baby was soo cranky and hurting, that I gave her motrin. After that more teeth came out and she's been fine.

I can agree with everyone on here, however, with the current recalls on the fever-reducing med for children under 2, I still give my babies tylenol and motrin (my ped recommended alternating the 2 every 4 hours), if they have a persistent fever of above 100. When I give them the meds, though, I give them a little less than the dose that is recommended, as to be sure I don't overdose. Also, my 2-year old is petite, so I go by the dosage for weight-not age. Everytime that I do this procedure, the fever is at least down to 99 within 24 hours, and usually gone by the next day (unless they have the flu).

Keep us updated on your little one, Nate

Hi to all the MOM's out there, your going to love this ! As a child, my daughter would run very high fevers with urniary tract infections ( 104). While in a emergency room one night, they had done the cool bath thing. And that wasn't working, so they gave her a popcicle. They said that giving the child sugar will bring the fever down and it does work.

Violet was up (and fussy) early today, but she no longer seems feverish at all. Woohoo!

She still never showed any other symptoms of getting sick, so Im not sure what caused the fever. It seemed too high to be generated by teething. But in any event, it seems to be gone now.

Knock on wood

Glad to hear that, Nate!