We have been very blessed the last 13 months and Keyan has never developed a serious fever. We have had an instance or two with a bit of a raised temperature at 37.5 degrees (99.5 Fahrenheit) in the past, but nothing too serious and nothing that Panado for Infants could not fix at the time. This all changed last week when we experienced for the first time what it feels like to really worry!
As a mother, one instantly knows what your child's forehead should feel like and when it is time to get out the thermometer to check. Even a slight 0.5 degree temperature increase that would push it over the 37 degree (98.6 Fahrenheit) mark can be felt instinctively. So when I fetched Keyan at daycare the one day, sometime last week, I could see his eyes were red and swimming with water and his forehead was on fire with a temperature I had not felt before. I rushed home and the dreaded thermometer returned a terrifying 38.8 degree reading. (101.8 Fahrenheit) As it my nature I have done some reading up on this topic online and have come to learn that in the States, the golden rule for a temperature reading above 100 F is, that this should be considered high, but I had no idea about degrees Celsius and what exactly to do.
I froze and my mind drifted off as I was rushing through my thoughts, trying to find the answers of what to do next. After a little while, my husband Gunther called me back to reality. In most circumstance when I panic or get a shock, my husband is always the one to act as I just freeze up. Especially when our children are hurting and this extends to our two doggies. I immediately gave Keyan Neurofen, the strongest fever and pain medication we have in the house, as I know the Ibuprofen that comes in this is what is needed to decrease the temperature. While Gunther played with Keyan {{yes, no matter what, our toddler continues to always want to play and run around}} I "Googled" what else can be done. {{How did anybody do parenting before the internet??? Here I can't help but giggle, imagining mommies rushing to libraries with their heads buried in books reading up on things like these in days gone by}}
Little did I know that fever can also be perceived to be a "good thing" because this meant our little one's immune system was now finally starting to work. Woohoo, a new milestone.
Fevers are graded as follows:
Low 37.7 - 38.8 degrees (100 - 102 Fahrenheit)
Moderate 38.8 - 40 degrees (102 - 104 Fahrenheit)
High above 40 degrees (above 104 Fahrenheit)
A fever is activated by the body as this is its way to fight bacteria and infection and is actually helpful. So from this I derived that it is not as important how high the temperature is but rather how your little one is acting because of it. That being said anything above 40 degrees / 104 Fahrenheit should still be treated with fever reducing medication such as Ibuprofen and possibly be treated by professional care! You should ask yourself, is your toddler still eating, playing, acting normal? If yes, then most likely there is no need to stress. What is essential is that he continues to drink liquids and more than usual as he will be sweating and his fluids need to be kept up. If you find that it is a low to moderate fever, there is really no need to worry or treat it extensively as the body should be working its magic.
Fevers are graded as follows:
Low 37.7 - 38.8 degrees (100 - 102 Fahrenheit)
Moderate 38.8 - 40 degrees (102 - 104 Fahrenheit)
High above 40 degrees (above 104 Fahrenheit)
A fever is activated by the body as this is its way to fight bacteria and infection and is actually helpful. So from this I derived that it is not as important how high the temperature is but rather how your little one is acting because of it. That being said anything above 40 degrees / 104 Fahrenheit should still be treated with fever reducing medication such as Ibuprofen and possibly be treated by professional care! You should ask yourself, is your toddler still eating, playing, acting normal? If yes, then most likely there is no need to stress. What is essential is that he continues to drink liquids and more than usual as he will be sweating and his fluids need to be kept up. If you find that it is a low to moderate fever, there is really no need to worry or treat it extensively as the body should be working its magic.
Nonetheless, when our little one had reached 40.8 degrees (105.4 Fahrenheit) we did stress and it was not a nice thing to see him get so hot but we realized this was brought on by two new canine teeth pushing through at the top. It was around this time that we noticed the fever seemed to start breaking. We made the active decision to keep monitoring him closely and if it did not continue to decrease, that we would rather take him to some 24/7 medical center. However with Neurofen at hand, lots of love, loads of comfort and support, our little family managed to overcome this first fever "attack". It lasted a whole 2 1/2 days where it would go down to normal values again only to return again at night. In the end after all this time, a teething nappy later {{I will write separately about this}} and as little sleep as humanly possible for both mom and dad, we still don't have those two "Vampire teeth" through. My colleagues laugh when they see me in the mornings as one can clearly see when I lack sleep. Those with children tell me it will take many instances like these before all those teeth are finally here. I must always remember that they grow under the gums and push through a whole lot of flesh before they finally arrive. Good luck to us for the rest I guess! There are 12 teeth we are still waiting on :)
Blog Photo Contribution: By Amarand Agasi
Blog Photo 2 Contribution: By Thomas Guignard, timtom.ch
