Night time fever- when to take to ER?

happytracy

Izzy woke up this morning with a fever of 103.5.  I took her to the pedi and she said its just a summer virus going around this area and it will last for 72 hours.  Check her temp every few hours and give fever reducers.  I asked her what temp was considered too high at night where I should bring her to ER (just to be prepared... Izzy has been generally really healthy- this is only like her 2nd or 3rd high temp).  And she looked at me like I was an idiot and said "you don't need to bring her to the hospital for a fever".  I asked what if it was really high and she said no- give fever reducers.

This was the first time I saw this pedi in my practice and she was pretty rude.  Not happy with her at all.

What does your pedi say?  When would you take them to the hospital for a high fever?  Over 104?  Or was my pedi right and I am just an idiot?  

thanks ladies!  Feeling pissed and discouraged right now.

dusk42

https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/fever

This site says ER only if the fever doesn't come down from 104 to 101 or so with fever reducers.   If that is what your pedi was trying to say, she could have been more clear and polite.

ESTH2000

dusk42:

https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/fever

This site says ER only if the fever doesn't come down from 104 to 101 or so with fever reducers.   If that is what your pedi was trying to say, she could have been more clear and polite.

ditto above..however if you think something seems really off with your child and it is a sudden fever spike, I still would call the oncall doc at night and take it from there...mommy knows best..ugh I hate rude pedis..sorry

happytracy

thanks for the info ladies... very helpful!

LisaMarisa

I wouldnt take my child to the ER just for a fever.  If they were unresponsive or in a tremendous amount of pain or couldnt breathe then I would go but for just about anything else, they can wait until the pedi is open (and even then I dont take them in for a fever).  Kids get bugs, you just have to let them run their course.

 As a general rule, if it is something that I wouldnt go to the ER for myself, I dont take my child there.

The pedi could have been more polite and explained it a little better.  Most parents just get scared and want someone to fix their child so it would have been more helpful for the pedi to give you some guidelines on which route to take and which symptoms would be alarming.

efooey

ESTH2000:

ditto above..however if you think something seems really off with your child and it is a sudden fever spike, I still would call the oncall doc at night and take it from there...mommy knows best..ugh I hate rude pedis..sorry

 Ditto this - in the 3 yrs I've been a mom I've only seen 1 fever over 100.  I know that if my kid goes over something is wrong.  103 is my breaking point.  I know people say to wait, but I also know that's not normal for my kids.

E

KYRN

DS once had 104.6 in the middle of the night.  I gave him Tylenol and/or Motrin and headed to the pedi first thing in the morning.  I guess I would have called or gone in if it didn't start to come down on it's own.  When I saw the pedi she said "I bet you were about ready to head to the ER".  If LO is over 6 mo I would give Motrin first and re-check in about 30 mins to make sure it's coming down.  I'm a former pediatric nurse so fevers don't really freak me out too much.  I try to stay away from the ER if safely possible.

I think that was a perfectly legitimate question and that your pedi just was being a little douchy but I agree LO should be fine with meds, especially in the absence of other symptoms.  If its not coming down after meds I would call the on-call. 

brideinOC

In October, Claire had a febrile seizure brought on by a sudden spike in temperature.  Scared the living s-h-i-t out of me, but her fever was only 101.7 when the ambulance arrived just a few minutes later.  They checked her out at a children's hospital (we were on vacation in Florida) and released her.  Over the next two days, I couldn't get that fever down from 104.7 with any fever reducer, so I took her back to the ER and while they really couldn't pin it down to anything, I don't regret doing it just for peace of mind.  Especially, since we couldn't see our pedi.  I think that you asked a great question and that sucks that you got that type of answer.  Claire has only been to our pedi for well checks other than the one visit after we returned from Florida after her seizure. 

happytracy

thanks for the responses.  Yeah I didn't think the question was too ridiculous but apparently pedi did.  She was just so unbelievably rude during the whole visit I was shocked.  I left there feeling pretty bad which shouldn't happen. I Just want my child to be safe and healthy.

Anyway thanks again... I feel better after reading what you guys had to say about it.  I don't have much experience with sick kids (thank goodness!) so its nice to get a little friendly advice.  Too bad I couldn't have gotten it from this pedi.

futrkingsley

That pedi was out of line.  ER docs will absolutely tell you to bring in a child who spikes a very high fever, even at night.  DS spiked a sudden high fever that resulted in febrile seizures when he was 15 months old.  He couldn't keep fever reducers down.  He had never had a fever over 99.  His temp at intake was 106.  The advice nurse had told us only to take him if his underarm temp was 105 and the highest reading we had at home was 103.4 or something.  Five different docs in two visits in one day said anything over 102 underarm needed to come in to be seen.

 

 

dusk42

futrkingsley:

That pedi was out of line.  ER docs will absolutely tell you to bring in a child who spikes a very high fever, even at night.  DS spiked a sudden high fever that resulted in febrile seizures when he was 15 months old.  He couldn't keep fever reducers down.  He had never had a fever over 99.  His temp at intake was 106.  The advice nurse had told us only to take him if his underarm temp was 105 and the highest reading we had at home was 103.4 or something.  Five different docs in two visits in one day said anything over 102 underarm needed to come in to be seen.

This is good to know - we haven't had high fevers yet, and I am dreading making this call.   

RoxBride

I don't worry about fevers, more about her behavior.  If she's acting really really off, then I'd call the pedi first, and go with their advice.

I try and avoid the ER or Urgent Care if at all possible.

gringa78

Maddie had a nasty virus last week and had a 105 rectal temp two nights in a row.  I called the ped at midnight and he said to give her advil and take her temp again in an hour...if it didn't go down or got worse, take her to the ER.  It went down to 104/103.  She had this high fever on an off for 4 days...lethargic...rash at the end.  I took her to the ped twice and they did b/w and catheterized her for a urine sample..and in the end it was just a bad virus that took its time getting out of her system.

It was so scary though!  I wanted to take her to the ER the first night but DH said to just listen to the ped and wait...we did, but I wouldn't judge anyone for taking her baby in when the fever is that high.  It was frightening.