Our first fever :(

[MamitaM]

all day yesterday my sonny was crying unless i was holding him and was clingy,really upset when i put him down. not at all like him. he slept for 30 minutes last night then woke with a temp of 100.7 f so he got some tempra, but not a full dose and an hour later his fever was 102 f and i gave him the rest of the tempra, i didn't give the full dose at first b/c i didn't want to use to much and over medicate, but the nurse i called last night and my doc told me i really should give a full dose. he's 101 right now and just took a full dose and he's sleeping in my arms now. my poor baby boy.

[SeattleRain]

Hugs! We just got over our first fever last week which topped out at 103.8. I know there are people on this board who don't medicate for a fever and don't really medicate in general, but I'm not one of them. Having a fever is really uncomfortable, I can't imagine having a 101 degree fever and not feeling bad. So I give Daniel the full dose of medicine until the fever is under 100 degrees.

One thing I would not do is give half doses or little bits of the medicine. Either give the full dose of medicine or don't give it at all. A half dose of medicine is essentially worthless. The dose is based on weight, not on some kind of opinion of a doctor, so giving a dose inappropriate to the weight of your child makes no sense. You're still giving them the medicine but not enough to make a difference. It's okay if you decide you don't want to give the Tempra, but if you do give the medicine, give the whole dose.

When Daniel was running a very high fever that wouldn't go down, I have him a dose every 4 hours. As his fever relented, I started just giving him the medicine at night to help him get his rest.

[MamitaM]

I myself hate having a high fever and being sick, but for me taking a partial dose is fine since I know if it's helping or not. With my son though I'll give the full dose from now on. My doctor actually said the same as you did give a full dose or nothing at all.

His fever went up a little then down a little and I just changed his pee pee diaper and took his sleeper off and he's laying on the couch kicking me (a very normal thing for him lol) and playing with his Sophie. I keep wiping his little body and forehead with a cool cloth so hopefully that helps.

[SeattleRain]

Just so you know, fevers tend to be highest in the late afternoon and evening, and lowest in the morning. So if your son wakes up feeling better, but goes south in the afternoon, you should know that this is totally normal. Make sure he's getting lots of fluids, my little guy got quite dehydrated and it was a mess trying to get him to drink. That's actually the REAL danger in fever is that they'll get dehydrated because they won't eat or drink. That's one of the reasons that I always gave the Tylenol since he wasn't feeding regularly and didn't have any wet diapers for about 12 hours. Once I gave the medicine, he was more willing to eat. I kept Daniel in cotton footed sleepers and I changed them frequently so that he felt cool and fresh. Sometimes when his fever would go up, he would get sweaty so I'd pull out a fresh one. I know that when I'm sick I like to get into nice clean pjs. I think the difference between adult doses and children's doses is that adult doses generally don't work by weight. I mean, I think they're supposed to, but they usually give a range of how much to give (i.e. 2-4 pills) and I think if you're a heavier person you should take the 4 and if you're a lighter person you should take 2. People don't know this and sometimes take too much or too little. It's possible that you taking a smaller dose might just be the more appropriate dose for your weight which is why it works for you. I hope the little guy feels better soon!