Common Symptom: Fever
Fever is usually one of the first symptoms we recognize by feeling our child’s forehead. Fever presents itself when something else is going wrong in your child’s body, usually an infection. Infections can be bacterial or in most cases, viral. For viral infections, they normally just have to run their course. There are a couple of things we can do to make you and your little one sleep a little easier. The first thing to understand about a fever is that you do not have to treat a low-grade fever. A low-grade fever is usually defined as less than 100°F. Call the doctor if:
- Infant younger than 3 months old and has a fever over 100.4ºF, rectally
- Infant between 3-6 months old and has a fever over 101ºF
- Children 6 months and older with fevers greater than 103ºF
Read here for tips on How to use a digital thermometer rectally.
The reason we normally try to bring that fever down is to make our child feel more comfortable and to help prevent dehydration.
Treatments:
If your child is less than 6 months, use Infants’ Tylenol Drops (acetaminophen). If your child is 6 months of age or older you can use either Tylenol or Infants’ Motrin (ibuprofen). For a useful dosing chart for both Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen see:
