Fever - When to call doc

unaveragejane

DS woke up feeling bad today, and now he's starting to run a fever. It's under 101'F on the temporal thermometer. Should I give Tyelnol or Advil? At what point should I call the doctor? We've been really lucky that he hasn't been sick other than minor colds, but now I can't remember what to do!

TJ1979

What kind of feeling bad?  What are his symptoms?

TJ1979

Is there a nurse's line you can call or something?  It never hurts to call and see what they recommend.  Especially this close to the end of the day, you don't want to end up stuck at urgent care or the ER in the middle of the night.
We usually don't give anything for a fever under 100.  101 I would probably give tylenol and monitor.

unaveragejane

@TJ1979 He alternates bn tunny and stuffy nose and has been generally fussy all day.

TJ1979

So probably a cold, could be teething.  If it hits 102 or higher, I'd definitely call.  If it hit 104-105, I'd go to urgent care or ER (if pediatrician is closed.)

unaveragejane

Thank you!

Chichigo

My hospital system has a symptom checker app. It says call the doctor if the fever is over 104* and hasn't improved two hours after medicine, or if it lasts longer than 24 hours. (This is for ages 6-24 months).

Rrrrrachel

We medicate at bed time or if the kid seems miserable more than based on temp. We medicate at bedtime because we don't mess with sleep around here, things are rough enough as it is. I usually call the ped if it's over 102 or based on symptoms, but the nurse line is a good idea.

TJ1979

How is he doing? Did Tylenol help? I hope he sleeps well and feels better tomorrow.

unaveragejane

TJ1979 said:

How is he doing? Did Tylenol help? I hope he sleeps well and feels better tomorrow.

I gave him some Advil in case it is teething and not a cold, and it did seem to help. I made breakfast for dinner and DS ate pretty well. His appetite had been a little off all day, but he never turns down a biscuit! His fever went down by 5:00 and was still down by bedtime, so hopefully he'll feel back to normal in the morning.

ETA Thanks for asking and for all your earlier suggestions.

Mandmeesh

Yay. Glad he's feeling a little better

TJ1979

That's great! Glad he's doing ok. Just like a southern boy to never say no ma'am to a biscuit.

mrshudson618

Can I jump on this and ask another fever question? DS has had a cold for a week and a half now, and this fever keeps coming and going. It will be gone for a dy or two and his symptoms are just a runny nose and a little cough, but then the fever will come back. I wasn't going to call the doctor because the fever has never gotten up to 102, and it has never lasted more than a day, but a week and a half later and it keeps coming back is not normal for a cold right? I should call the doctor now since he woke up with a 101.4 fever again?

unaveragejane

Ugh. The fever came back around 10:00pm and the drainage made him miserable all night. I tried getting him to sleep propped up on my chest so he could breathe better, but that lasted about 45 minutes and then he wanted to chat. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep, and he didn't get much more than that. Poor guy.

TJ1979

@mrshudson618 If it lasts a week, I'd call.

@unaveragejane I'm sorry dear - those nights with no sleep are the worst!  Prop his mattress up so he gets a bit of an incline, plug in the humidifier, use saline spray, and a booger sucker.  Hope he feels better soon.  Or go see the pediatrician - ours gave the okay to give zyrtec and it really helps E when she has a bad cough and drainage.  Oh, also baby vicks on the feet.

ElleBeeDub

We use Vicks on G's feet, and that always seems to help. The saline is also great to help flush out his little nasal cavities.

YellowLily2013

You can also go into the bathroom and make it steamy by running the shower with hot water. We like to add some eucalyptus oil to the bottom of the shower. It's lovely to breathe in the stream.

unaveragejane

Eucalyptus oil sounds fantastic! I love walking by the dried eucalyptus at Hobby Lobby. For now we made due with some kind of calming baby bubble bath that I had on hand. I slathered his chest and feet in Baby Vicks, got his humidifier going, wedged his mattress up (last night), and continued using the snot sucker. He now screams bloody murder when I suck his snot. Poor baby. It's so thick and yucky. I think I'm going to try the nurse's line again (didn't answer this morning) to see if there's anything he can take that will help dry it up. In theory, I'd prefer to let his body heal itself, but in real life, it sucks a ton to see him feeling so crappy.

msdanayu

oh dear I so sorry to ear that but your child should drink plenty of fluids. 

Talk to your child's doctor or go to the emergency room when

• Your child does not act alert or more comfortable when their fever goes down.
• Fever symptoms come back after they had gone away.
• The child does not make tears when crying.
• Your child does not have wet diapers or has not urinated in the past 8 hours

Hope DS is okay now. God bless

Into+the+Kitty

msdanayu said:

oh dear I so sorry to ear that but your child should drink plenty of fluids. 

Talk to your child's doctor or go to the emergency room when

• Your child does not act alert or more comfortable when their fever goes down.
• Fever symptoms come back after they had gone away.
• The child does not make tears when crying.
• Your child does not have wet diapers or has not urinated in the past 8 hours

Hope DS is okay now. God bless

Way to provide timely advice.

zaraceligon

I took my kid to the doc, yesterday after him having a 101.1 of fever. It was his regular apt. But they found the he has an ear infection. He was a little fussy and he was with runny nose. He was drinking and eating water normally, as well he was playing. It just all over the setting the he was starting to get fussy and cranky.

unaveragejane

Chickypoo2468 said:

Into+the+Kitty said:

msdanayu said:

oh dear I so sorry to ear that but your child should drink plenty of fluids. 

Talk to your child's doctor or go to the emergency room when

• Your child does not act alert or more comfortable when their fever goes down.
• Fever symptoms come back after they had gone away.
• The child does not make tears when crying.
• Your child does not have wet diapers or has not urinated in the past 8 hours

Hope DS is okay now. God bless

Way to provide timely advice.

Longest lasting fever ever.

We're shooting for a world record.

sarenu1

unaveragejane said:

msdanayu said:

oh dear I so sorry to ear that but your child should drink plenty of fluids. 

Talk to your child's doctor or go to the emergency room when

• Your child does not act alert or more comfortable when their fever goes down.
• Fever symptoms come back after they had gone away.
• The child does not make tears when crying.
• Your child does not have wet diapers or has not urinated in the past 8 hours

Hope DS is okay now. God bless

Way to provide timely advice.

Longest lasting fever ever.

We're shooting for a world record.

I need sleep, I thought the date said August at first.

Going to get more coffee now.