Demystifying Pediatric Fever: When to Treat, When to Wait, and How to Safely Choose Medication

So I think maybe what a good starting point would be is let's just talk about what fever is.

sure yeah so i usually say you know for for otherwise healthy kids i would call a fever anything above 101.4 fahrenheit um for itty bitty babies those first two three months of life we're more talking about 100.4 we have a much lower threshold there and you know what what a fever is is your body saying i need my immune system you know the part of your body that fights infections to work at its best, and it works at its best when it's a little bit warmer.

So, you know, I think it's one of those things that when we look at it and we say, this is a sign that my child is sick, you think, actually, it's a sign my child's body is doing what it's supposed to do to help it recover, which is a little bit of a different framework to think about.

I want this to happen.

I want my child's body to be able to fight off whatever it's encountering.

Yeah, I think a part of what I hear you saying is I do talk to a lot of families where there's really a fear around fever.

You know, I mean, fever obviously is generally a sign that our children are sick and people can approach that with a fear of, you know, that my child is having a fever when actually it's, like you said, this is what we want their body to be doing when they're sick.

It's helping to mount a response to that infection to clear it.

Right.

I think we all definitely acknowledge, you know, anytime you see your child in that kind of uncomfortable, wimpery, lay on the couch state, you just inherently want them to not be that way.

But it's okay to have some low-grade fever, to lay on the couch, to rest, to drink, stay hydrated and let the immune system do its thing.

Why don't we talk about how we measure temperature, what types of thermometers are out there and what you recommend

Sure.

Yeah.

So, you know, for newborn babies, we want a rectal thermometer.

And that is just, you know, we know that when we have that rectal temperature, measuring the core temperature of that human.

Now we see all these other thermometers of the infant.

in the ear and across the forehead.

Both the ear and the forehead are kind of really good for like a general gestalt of fever, but their accuracy is never quite as good as one of those that is really firmly touching the body so and under the arm under the mouth but kids are not gonna always cooperate with those if in the ear is quick and easy and it helps you say gosh they really do have a temperature this is a time for me to realize they're sick then that's great use that tool because that'll get you the information that you need but for the more critical to know the number we do want something that's going to get a little bit more reliably at the true body

And then I usually recommend it's always easier to do an under the arm or axillary temperature first as like a screening tool.

And if that seems elevated, then they can follow up with a more cumbersome either rectal temperature if the patient's under one or two or an under the tongue temperature for a toddler or older child if they can do it.

So those are the types of thermometers I recommend.

Let's talk about the benefits of fever because there is research out there that demonstrates for us the benefits of the body's response of fever to infection.

Yeah, you're totally right.

So our body's immune system, part of our body that fights infection actually works better when it's a little bit warmer.