103 fever in 6.5 month old WWYD? UPDATE post #52

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

My non vax's EBF baby has a fever of 103.1....he is 6.5 months and normaly healthy baby...he's had a few colds with runny nose...but nothing like this.
We flew on 4/2 and were on 2 different airplanes....before we left for our flights he had started a little bit of a runny nose and a slight cough....mainly saw those symptoms in the morning when he woke up and then by noon...no more symptoms....the past 2 days and nights he's gotten worse...still nursing good...just a congested cough that's wet....clear nasal drainage....today i noticed the temp and decided to check it and it was 102.1 under his arm...which you add one point and that makes it 103.1.
I've been giving him echineachea(sp) mixed with small amounts of breastmilk for the past 3-4 days.
Any suggestions as to what i should do next?
I just dont feel comfortable with the high fever....he's way above his weight on the charts...he's around 21 lbs or more.

[JaneSmith1010]

For a child that young, I understand you being nervous. However, I just read that a fever of about 103 is optimal for killing invading microorganisms. So, that may mean that your child has an effective immune response. According to some of this info, baby is not in danger of brain damage or anything with a fever of this temp--however, it is recommended in various websites that you seek medical attention to be safe--not ER IMO, but doc tomorrow.

I personally am against fever reduction when it is not necessary, and med pros usually do it for any fever. I have noticed that my friends who give tylenol and motrin for every little temp increase, the temps come back higher and higher. I think the body tries to compensate for the interference. Perhaps the fever reduction allows the invading microorganisms to proliferate again and so the body has more work to do once it is allowed to fever again?

I am sorry that I cannot tell you what to do, but to my knowledge this temp will not harm your baby. If LO is not seeming to be in pain or severe discomfort, I would BF as often as possible, give rest and monitor the temp. If LO is not improving, then take to doctor. I have an NP I really trust and would just take my baby to her ASAP, but only since I feel completely comfortable that she will not intervene unnecessarily.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...-part-two.aspx
it says in the above linke to mercola.com that for a child his age with a fever above 102.2F you should see a med pro if they seem ill. Whatever that means. Visit the link to see fever benefits and naturopathic ways to suppress if necessary.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/003090.htm
" Brain damage from a fever generally will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6°F (42°C)... Untreated fevers caused by infection will seldom go over 105°F unless the child is overdressed or trapped in a hot place."
"Once a child is already known to have a high fever, a febrile seizure is unlikely with the current illness. In any event, simple febrile seizures are over in moments with no lasting consequences."

[Heavenly]

The recommendation is over 103 degrees for a 6 month old child means a call to the doctor. I would watch it carefully and if it stays this high or goes higher you need to get him seen. I don't mess around with high fevers in babies. I hope he's better soon.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I called our doc..he's great with me not vaxing etc.....he did mention to give tylenol when a babies fever hit's 103...he said if it was 102 or under....but when over 103 he gets a bit nervous....i understand as my daughter has hearing loss and she was not born with it....she used to get high fevers 104...sometimes i wonder if her hearing loss was from those high fevers...so i get nervous to.
Off to pick up some baby tylenol....

[mamabird83]

I have been in your situation. I know how horrible it feels to see how miserable your LO is when they are feverish. I felt torn when my 6 month old developed her first high fever. I did not want to use any medication but I could not bare to watch her scream and cry through the fever. I have read that when their fever reaches 103 you should give them some infant tylenol and see how that works. If the fever does not come down then you will want to call a Doctor. (I have read studies that say different but I chose to err on the side of caution and give mine the tylenol).
After I gave my dd the tylenol her temp dropped to a low grade fever. At 101 she was more comfortable and still using her body's heat to fight the virus. The way I see it, a baby who is spending all of their energy crying and tossing and turning is wasting energy that could be used to heal. A well rested, comfortable, happy baby is one that will get better faster.
I know it is a hard decision to make. I can tell you that I felt so much better after I gave my dd the tylenol and I watched her relax and go to sleep.

How is the Echinacea working? I personally find that it makes me dizzy and my NP says that Echinacea only works for about 50% of people.

For my 6 month old I was told to use .8 mL of the infant tylenol every 4 hours, but found that .6 mL every 6 hours worked great. I use the infant tylenol that is dye free. I also do warm baths and keep dd skin to skin.

Keep up the good nursing and you will both get through this. You can do it mama. Best wishes.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by Mamato3wild ponnie

I called our doc..he's great with me not vaxing etc.....he did mention to give tylenol when a babies fever hit's 103...he said if it was 102 or under....but when over 103 he gets a bit nervous....i understand as my daughter has hearing loss and she was not born with it....she used to get high fevers 104...sometimes i wonder if her hearing loss was from those high fevers...so i get nervous to.
Off to pick up some baby tylenol....

Fever is not damaging- it doesn't cause hearing loss

-Angela

[luminesce]

Originally Posted by alegna

Fever is not damaging- it doesn't cause hearing loss

-Angela

: I wouldn't worry about the fever itself - only the underlying infection in a baby so young. I would only use a little reducer if necessary for sleep or pain relief. Fever reduction impedes the healing process.

I'd probably see a pediatrician if the fever doesn't resolve pretty quickly though.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I did use the regular dose and his fever came down...i havent checked what it is now though...sleep derprived..he's still waking every hour...i'm more worried now about his cough...he's grunting sometimes to breathe...i am taking him in first thing in the morning....he also has some wheezing going on...

[karika]

a fever is not dangerous or to be 'fought' according to many sources. Even the AAP now says a fever is the body's natural mechanism to heal itself. Since you mentioned travel, your son most likely encountered some new germs and his body is making the adjustment for them. I would nurse, nurse, nurse, staying in bed with him. cool cloth for his head occasionally if he likes it. there are many germs our los have to encounter and make antibodies for. I would not involve a health care professional unless my child has has had a highish fever for over 60 hours, is listless and unresponsive (that would warrant emergency care). my reasons are that to have to take them out while they are sick possibly makes them more uncomfortable and definitely exposes them to more germs while they are already compromised. also, the chance of a MD giving abx is pretty high, regardless of what the infection is caused by (and I would only use abx in a life or death situation). I do not offer any immune system support other than breastmilk to a baby so young, i have not heard of using echenacia in one so young. If I wanted to get something through to the baby, I would likely ingest it myself and have it go through the breastmilk. echenacia can upset the stomach btw. sounds like you will see a health care professional tomorrow and I wish you well and hope your baby is feeling better soon.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I have a great doc who practices natural alternatives to medicine....he did not rx'd antibiotics...my ds has wheezing and is having difficulty breathing....he had to be seen....We have a nebulizer and i'm doing treatments as i feel that he needs them. His fever is staying around 101.5....i dont want to use tylenol any more...however i'm willing to use it if the fever goes over 103....i dont feel safe leaving it at that level....

[alegna]

Originally Posted by Mamato3wild ponnie

however i'm willing to use it if the fever goes over 103....i dont feel safe leaving it at that level....

Why? Fever is not dangerous.

Hope he feels better soon!

-Angela

[Gitti]

My grandson had something going on three weeks ago. He had a fever of 104.6 off and on (mostly on) for 5 days. He slept most of the time and ate almost nothing. He did drink whenever we put a straw to his mouth and coaxed him to take a sip.

After 5 days the fever broke and it took him another 2 days to get his strength back up because he had lost quite a bit of weight. But by the 8. day he was back on his bike and eating like food was going out of style. He was completely over whatever he had.

We tried to put "vinegar socks" on him to bring the fever down but he would not let us, so we did nothing except keep him covered and offer him drinks (Vita C, Ecchinacea and goldenseal liquid in home made juice).

I am just telling you so that you know you are not alone and kids are resilient. They will fight off some virus and get back to health as quickly as they can as long as we don't interfere.

I hope your LO feels better soon. He is just building natural immunity. Fever is his best friend right now.

[Bea]

I just wanted to say, for the anti antipyretic crowd (tylenol etc) that a good going fever makes you feel like cr*p.

I'd give tylenol for a fever of 103 despite that fact that 'fever is the bodies way of fighting infection' etc simply because, I'll say it again, a high fever makes you feel like cr*p. Reduce the fever and that awful hot and cold shivery, removed from reality, shaky dizzy feeling goes away.

I well remember a bout of tonsillitis in my early 20's with a fever of 104 and 'clock watching' just to be able to take some more fever reducer and feel somewhat human again.

It's not something I'd put up with myself and therefore, there's no way I'd do it to my baby. Just because they can't express their suffering doesn't mean they aren't experiencing the exact same unpleasantness we do.

Personally, I'm not encouraged to allow my child to suffer by tales of near dehydration or semi comatose states. I'd rather treat the high fever ( tepid sponging, cool clothing, light bedclothes, medication) rather than stand by and cheerlead a state of misery.

[Jwebbal]

Originally Posted by Bea

It's not something I'd put up with myself and therefore, there's no way I'd do it to my baby. Just because they can't express their suffering doesn't mean they aren't experiencing the exact same unpleasantness we do.

Personally, I'm not encouraged to allow my child to suffer by tales of near dehydration or semi comatose states. I'd rather treat the high fever ( tepid sponging, cool clothing, light bedclothes, medication) rather than stand by and cheerlead a state of misery.

I have to agree with all of this. When a child is obviously suffering I don't see the purpose of withholding pain relief (which happens to bring down the fever as well). There have been studies that have shown that the healing effects of fevers are not eliminated when giving fever reducers. Our bodies are still putting up a defense. I was just sick yesterday, and did everything I could to feel better, but the body aches from my slight fever were just keeping me from properly resting. So I took a bit of tylenol. I rested much easier.

I am just telling you so that you know you are not alone and kids are resilient. They will fight off some virus and get back to health as quickly as they can as long as we don't interfere.

As for this comment, sometimes children aren't resilient, sometimes they do need our help, and sometimes they need the help of others. There are times when illness, especially in babies needs evaluation. It might be nothing, it might be something more serious. I don't like antibiotics, and my son has never had them in his 5 years, but it wouldn't take a life or death situation for me to give them to him if he needed it. Sometimes kids breathing becomes strained when sick, and they need more than just what we can offer them to keep their oxygen levels up. My kid had an episode years ago where he needed breathing treatments to get his oxygen level up, and this isn't something we as parents can always realize. I think sometimes we can be a little too cavalier about the health of children on this board, sometimes allopathic medicine is needed.

[luminesce]

Originally Posted by Bea

I just wanted to say, for the anti antipyretic crowd (tylenol etc) that a good going fever makes you feel like cr*p.

I'd give tylenol for a fever of 103 despite that fact that 'fever is the bodies way of fighting infection' etc simply because, I'll say it again, a high fever makes you feel like cr*p. Reduce the fever and that awful hot and cold shivery, removed from reality, shaky dizzy feeling goes away.

I well remember a bout of tonsillitis in my early 20's with a fever of 104 and 'clock watching' just to be able to take some more fever reducer and feel somewhat human again.

It's not something I'd put up with myself and therefore, there's no way I'd do it to my baby. Just because they can't express their suffering doesn't mean they aren't experiencing the exact same unpleasantness we do.

Personally, I'm not encouraged to allow my child to suffer by tales of near dehydration or semi comatose states. I'd rather treat the high fever ( tepid sponging, cool clothing, light bedclothes, medication) rather than stand by and cheerlead a state of misery.

I'm not saying we all must suffer (or make our children suffer) the wrath of a fever constantly. If you need it to ease great discomfort or to sleep, by all means take (or give) it. But to take it 'round the clock to just feel a bit better is for me, in the same category as getting an epidural during labor, which I didn't (and wouldn't) do. Now, I'm not saying those who did (or would) are wrong. I'm just clarifying my perspective. In general, I tend to think the way I do because I think our body knows what it is doing when it produces a fever. I believe taking strong, repeated action against it likely impedes the natural healing process.

I don't have a lot of time to gather a lot of research links but here is a quick excerpt and overview from Wikipedia:

There are studies using warm-blooded vertebrates[9] and humans[10] in vivo, with some suggesting that they recover more rapidly from infections or critical illness due to fever. A Finnish study suggested reduced mortality in bacterial infections when fever was present.[11]

Theoretically, fever can aid in host defense.[7] There are certainly some important immunological reactions that are sped up by temperature, and some pathogens with strict temperature preferences could be hindered.[12] Fevers may be useful to some extent since they allow the body to reach high temperatures, causing an unbearable environment for some pathogens. White blood cells also rapidly proliferate due to the suitable environment and can also help fight off the harmful pathogens and microbes that invaded the body.[citation needed]

Research[13] has demonstrated that fever has several important functions in the healing process:

* increased mobility of leukocytes
* enhanced leukocytes phagocytosis
* endotoxin effects decreased
* increased proliferation of T Cells[14]
* enhanced activity of interferon[14]

Our bodies have a thermostat and our temperatures will never get too high as a result of an illness.

As a child, who, at age 4 was admitted to the hospital for a kidney infection and forced to first to take cold showers, then actually sit in a bathtub of water with ice in it -- well, lets just say, I'd rather have suffered the fever.

[Jwebbal]

Our bodies have a thermostat and our temperatures will never get too high as a result of an illness.

If you read the wikipedia article, you will see mentioned that there is a risk of extreme fevers above 106. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpyrexia

[karika]

Originally Posted by Bea

I just wanted to say, for the anti antipyretic crowd (tylenol etc) that a good going fever makes you feel like cr*p.

I'd give tylenol for a fever of 103 despite that fact that 'fever is the bodies way of fighting infection' etc simply because, I'll say it again, a high fever makes you feel like cr*p. Reduce the fever and that awful hot and cold shivery, removed from reality, shaky dizzy feeling goes away.

I well remember a bout of tonsillitis in my early 20's with a fever of 104 and 'clock watching' just to be able to take some more fever reducer and feel somewhat human again.

It's not something I'd put up with myself and therefore, there's no way I'd do it to my baby. Just because they can't express their suffering doesn't mean they aren't experiencing the exact same unpleasantness we do.

Personally, I'm not encouraged to allow my child to suffer by tales of near dehydration or semi comatose states. I'd rather treat the high fever ( tepid sponging, cool clothing, light bedclothes, medication) rather than stand by and cheerlead a state of misery.

I am one that does not use tylenol. I did try it with dd1 and it did nothing to her fever (it was 105, she was 3, it was her first high fever and i was scared too) but then she did get better as soon as I followed the advice of a naturopath and got her some GSE and kefir and aconitum napellus. There are studies to show that using fever reducers do not interfere with the bodies ability to fight it off. If my child seemed uncomfortable, I would give her the medicine too. They do sell natural alternatives to tylenol however. that don't have all the nasty little chemicals. DD1 was the type that never acted sick when she had a cold. She would just keep playing, and nursing and acting normal even if her fever was 102. so i didnt give her anything. recently she had a fever of 104+ and she did feel badly, was in bed (she is 5 now) I got a magnesium supplement for her headache and hyland's 'headache' tablets. I gave her two doses of GSE and one of each of the above. I helped her with the symptoms that made her feel crappy. It was not the fever itself that created the 'crappy' feeling, it is just a reaction of the body. oh and if a child is ever listless or seems comatose, I agree help is needed immediately. it was the flu and she was sick for less than 48 hrs. So I think what I am trying to say is that what makes an adult feel like crap usually doesn't faze otherwise healthy children. It has to be really bad to make them slow down, or maybe that is just me as a kid and dd1... I am hoping ponnie's child is better today and will be looking for an update, it is always good for us all to learn from each other and our experiences.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by Jwebbal

If you read the wikipedia article, you will see mentioned that there is a risk of extreme fevers above 106. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpyrexia

heh- I don't go to wiki for health info

More reliable sources say that the body won't let the fever go too high short of poisoning situations.

-Angela

[lotusdebi]

Once upon a time, I would've waited it out for as long as I could stand it. But, since my youngest had a febrile seizure from a 102 fever that suddenly spiked, I now treat his fevers over 100 with Tylenol. I don't ever want to put any of us through another febrile seizure! Not only was the seizure terrifying, but I also had to put up with hospital personnel who decided I was neglectful. I was red-flagged for not giving him infant Tylenol, for not vaxing, and for having a homebirth. I was harassed by the doctor and they sent a social worker into the hospital room to make sure I was cooperating with their invasive, over-the-top treatment. No, we're not going through any of that again. Tylenol is the lesser of evils.

[Jwebbal]

Originally Posted by alegna

heh- I don't go to wiki for health info

More reliable sources say that the body won't let the fever go too high short of poisoning situations.

-Angela

I don't either, the OP did.

The real problem with extreme fevers is the high chance that it is a symptom of severe bacterial infection. It is also likely that it's viral, but the difference between SBI and viral is huge and definitely demands different treatment.