Shortness of breath is an early sign of respiratory failure and should be taken very seriously, he adds. To get our top stories delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Healthy Living newsletter. By Karen Pallarito Updated September 17, Save Pin More. There's one thing you know for sure when you have a fever: You want it gone—and fast. Here's what you need to know about fever, and what you can do to break it and start feeling better.
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Replay gallery. Pinterest Facebook. Up Next Cancel. By Karen Pallarito. Share the Gallery Pinterest Facebook. Skip slide summaries Everything in This Slideshow. Knowing how to take a temperature correctly is one of the most important parenting skills.
In babies and children less than 1 year old, it is important to feel comfortable taking a rectal temperature. To take a rectal temperature, lubricate the digital thermometer with petroleum jelly. Hold it gently for one minute, then remove and read the temperature.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has illustrations demonstrating how to take a rectal temperature at healthychildren. For children older than 1 year of age, the best and most accurate methods of taking a temperature are with an oral digital thermometer or a tympanic ear thermometer. Ear thermometers work well for toddlers and are usually accurate, but can be off if your child has lots of ear wax.
To increase your odds of getting an accurate temperature reading with an ear thermometer, study the illustrations showing how to use one at healthychildren. In infants less than 2 months old, a fever is any temperature over For an abnormal temperature in your newborn, call your doctor or go to the urgent care clinic or emergency room — your newborn needs to be seen right away.
In babies and children older than 3 months, a fever is a temperature greater than Most fevers go away in a couple of days. Call your doctor if the fever lasts four days or more. Also call the doctor if your child is listless or refuses to drink fluids. Fever-reducing medicines are not needed for low-grade fevers 99 to degrees F unless your child seems uncomfortable or is not drinking well.
Once a child's fever rises above Children may also be more likely to drink fluids properly after taking fever-reducing medicines. Follow the instructions on the label carefully and only use the cup or syringe that came with that medicine. Never use a household teaspoon.
They vary in size, so your dose may be wrong. Two types of fever medicine are safe for children: acetaminophen sold as Tylenol and ibuprofen sold as Motrin and Advil. Tylenol is the only fever-reducing medicine approved by the Food and Drug Administration for babies younger than 6 months old. Or bookmark the pages from the American Academy of Pediatrics for easy reference:.
If your child has a low fever and no other worrisome symptoms, provide plenty of fluids, rest and love. The fever should go away in a few days. We use cookies to give you the best possible user experience.
The next concern is that, "What if my child has a fever? They can have a febrile seizure, which is a seizure that's triggered a fever. Do all fevers need to be treated with fever medicine?
Well, only if they cause discomfort. Look to see how your child is acting. If a fever is or , you're going to notice that your child's not feeling so great. They're tired. They're cranky. But I've seen kids with a fever of running around in my office. So go by what your child looks like and how they're acting rather by the number on the thermometer.
Won't the fever keep going higher? The brain has an internal thermostat, and fevers from infection top out at about and They usually don't go higher than that. Even if you treat it with it with Tylenol, fevers usually only come down two or three degrees, and it can take about two or three hours for the fever to come down. Not necessarily. Fevers that don't respond to fever medicine can be caused by viruses or bacteria, and, again, it doesn't matter if the medicine works or not because you want to make sure you look at your child's other symptoms.
You can have a child with a severe virus. Bad colds. We're seeing a lot of really nasty viruses and fevers of , close to in the office, but these are all from viruses lately. Actually, doctors don't even start worrying until a fever has lasted for five or more days. When the medicine wears off, the fever's going to come back because this is, again, your body's way of trying to fight off an infection. So once your body overpowers the virus, usually by the fourth day, then the fever goes down.
If it doesn't go down, then, yes, it's a good idea to make sure your child doesn't have some bacterial like an infection, a urinary tract infection, or something else that would require antibiotics to treat. It's not important what number is on the thermometer but how your child looks. A lot of parents that say, "My child had a low-grade fever.
The body's temperature normally changes throughout the day. It peaks in the late afternoon and evening. An actual low-grade fever is to So what about helping your child get rid of the fever? Should you let the child sweat out the fever? Do they need extra fluids? Do you need to starve a fever?
What do you need to do?
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