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Home › Articles › Toddler Health › Baby Fever

Baby Fever

When Should You Worry When Baby Has a Fever?

By Lisa A. Goldstein

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

As a baby, Stacy DeBroff's daughter ran extraordinarily high temperatures when she was ill – often hovering between 104 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The Newton, Mass., mom practically glued the phone to her ear while talking to the pediatrician on call and watching out for any signs such as seizures.

Having an infant or toddler with a fever is, indeed, scary. The good news is that parents shouldn't be concerned about most fevers, says Dr. Marcus DeGraw, medical director of the Pediatric Subspecialty Services and Child Protection Team at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, Mich. Any fever in a child 2 months or younger, however, should be reported to a physician, as this age is more susceptible to serious infections. A physical exam and laboratory samples may be needed to explore the fever further.

Fretting Over Fever
What's the classic definition of a fever, anyway? According to Dr. DeGraw, most pediatricians feel that any temperature, taken by any method, that is 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher is considered a fever.

"Fever is a normal body function in most situations," says Dr. DeGraw. "It is one of the weapons your body uses to fight off infections and other body insults. Fever is a good sign that the body's ability to fight off infections is working properly."

When notifying your child's health care provider, Dr. DeGraw says not to add a degree as some people recommend. Simply tell the health care provider the number and method of taking the temperature.

In older children, parents should be more concerned with how the child is acting than how high the fever gets. Dr. DeGraw recommends seeking help or consultation if the child:

Comments

Found 2 comments
Displaying all 2 comments below

Re: Baby Fever by anonymous on 08/02/2009 09:50PM

I feel like i might be able to sleep now

Re: Baby Fever by Danon on 06/03/2009 03:17AM

I'm lying in bed with my 5-month old daughter and her fever waiting on a response from a local nurse hotline about whether or not to take her into the ER. I decided to do a little research while I waited and this article really helped me realize that I don't need to take her in at all. My oldest has never ran a high temp before so I was a little alarmed but that gut feeling we mothers have was right again! Thank God for that and information like this that's accessible at all hours. Thanks so much for the tips.

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