Fever is a rectal temperature of 100.iv°F or higher

Your baby wakes up with flushed cheeks, his skin radiating heat. Yous take his temperature with a digital rectal thermometer, and it reads 99.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Is it time to take hold of medicine or telephone call the medico? Probably non. Technically, this doesn't even authorize equally a fever: A rectal temperature of less than 100.4 degrees is considered normal, fifty-fifty in the very youngest infants.

Babies' temperatures – similar adult temperatures – can rise slightly for all kinds of reasons, from physical exertion to a warm bath to existence a little overdressed. Even time of mean solar day can have an impact, with body temperatures rise in the late afternoon and dropping in the early morning. And then unless the rectal thermometer reads 100.4 degrees or college, y'all can consider your niggling 1 fever-free.

Notation: Oestrus stroke is sometimes confused with fever. This condition occurs when the body temperature rises to dangerous levels (from overdressing your baby in hot, humid atmospheric condition, for example). When it's hot out, apparel your infant in lightweight, loose clothing and never exit him in a closed car, even for just a minute.

Rectal temperatures are the most authentic

You may be reluctant to use a digital rectal thermometer to take your infant's temperature, but this is the best fashion to get an accurate temperature reading in a baby or child younger than 3 years old. (Never use a glass thermometer. If the drinking glass is damaged, the toxic mercury within could harm your babe.)

"But a rectal thermometer gives a truthful cadre temperature," says Tyeese Gaines, an emergency room physician in New Jersey. "Underarm readings, forehead thermometers, and fifty-fifty ear thermometers aren't about as accurate."

These other types of thermometers can read likewise low or too high, then not using a digital rectal thermometer can make yous miss a fever, or cause extra stress and lead to unnecessary emergency room visits.

Bacterial or viral fever? The difference matters

A viral fever results when your baby'southward body is fighting off an illness caused by a virus, whether it'southward an intestinal infection, the flu, or the common cold, explains Carrie Brownish, a pediatrician at Arkansas Children'due south Hospital in Niggling Rock, Arkansas. Viral fevers tend to subside within three days. Antibiotics aren't necessary because they take no effect on viruses.

Bacterial fevers, on the other hand, are caused past a bacterial infection, such as an ear infection (which can be bacterial or viral), a urinary tract infection, bacterial meningitis, or bacterial pneumonia. Bacterial infections are less common than viruses – and more concerning because they can pb to serious illness if left untreated. Antibiotics are usually required to treat bacterial illnesses.

Brand sure your baby gets the medical attention she needs by calling her doctor immediately if:

  • Your infant is younger than iii months and has a rectal temperature of 100.four degrees F or college.
  • Your baby is younger than 2 years old and her fever lasts longer than 24 hours.
  • Your kid is 2 years or older and her fever lasts more than three days.
  • Your child's fever repeatedly rises above 104 degrees, regardless of her age.

crying baby and concerned mom

See our visual guide to managing your baby'due south fever.

For babies younger than 3 months, fever is urgent

In babies younger than iii months, a rectal temperature of 100.four degrees or college needs to be brought to a doctor's attention as before long as possible, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Call your baby's doc immediately to let her know that your baby is younger than three months and has a fever. If you can't accomplish your babe's doctor, go to an urgent care dispensary or the emergency room right away, even if information technology'due south the middle of the night. Don't give your baby whatsoever medicine to reduce fever unless the md advises it – you don't desire to mask any symptoms before your baby is examined.

In that location are ii reasons for the urgency. First, explains Brownish, the protective layer of cells betwixt the bloodstream and the central nervous system is very thin in young babies. This means that in bacterial infections, the leaner can "cross over" and crusade harm rapidly.

Also, as emergency room md Gaines explains, "Young babies don't evidence signs of astringent infection similar older babies do." A young baby tin can develop a full-fledged claret infection (sepsis) and not display the typical symptoms.

If the fever is viral, there'south no need to worry about sepsis. Merely the problem is that it's impossible to distinguish betwixt a bacterial fever and a viral fever with just a concrete exam. That's why an infant with a fever may demand blood, urine, X-rays, or stool tests to determine whether in that location's a bacterial infection. (The exact tests ordered depend on your infant'due south age and symptoms).

An baby with a fever may also need a spinal tap to test for meningitis, an uncommon just serious infection that causes inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Treat the symptoms, not the number

Many parents believe that the higher the fever, the sicker the kid, merely that'due south not always the case. A baby with a temperature of 103 degrees may announced perfectly comfortable, contentedly playing on his mat, while a babe with a temperature of 101 may exist fussy, tired, and need to exist held constantly.

Does this mean that if your feverish baby is comfortable, he doesn't need a fever reducer? That's correct. Every bit pediatrician and AAP spokesperson Janice Sullivan puts it, "Treat discomfort, rather than fever."

Keep in mind that fever actually helps the torso fight infection. Fever makes the body less hospitable to germs and triggers the body'due south immune defenses, such as the white blood cells that battle invading viruses and bacteria.

Pay attention to your baby's symptoms and behavior to determine how sick he is, and ask his physician for handling advice based on those signs. "Information technology's much more important to expect at symptoms," says Gaines. "Listlessness and fatigue, for instance, are improve indicators of illness than temperature."

Fever is a healthy response

Despite what you may have heard, fever will non injure your child'southward brain.

"In and of itself, fever does not cause whatever damage," says Gaines. Even the febrile seizures that some children have in response to a sudden spike in body temperature are almost always harmless. (In rare cases, children can inhale saliva or vomit during a seizure and develop aspiration pneumonia, or they may injure themselves falling or bumping against difficult surfaces). Fever reducers tin assist lower a fever, merely they don't prevent febrile seizures from happening.

When you're rocking your hot baby in your artillery and the anxiety starts to pitter-patter in, try to remember that fever is actually a sign that her immune system is working properly. Of course, information technology'due south important to phone call the dr., merely the vast majority of babies with fevers recover but fine.

Every bit Gaines explains, whether it'due south from a viral or bacterial infection, or a side effect of immunization, a rising temperature is a natural allowed response. So rest assured that your baby'due south immune system is doing exactly what it's supposed to practice.

Utilize medications judiciously

Medicines such as ibuprofen (for babies who are at least half-dozen months old) and acetaminophen temporarily reduce fever and can help to save discomfort. But before using these, endeavour bringing down your infant'south temperature with a sponge bathroom. Utilise slightly warm h2o (85 to 90 degrees) to wipe down your infant's skin, particularly the brow and underarms. This home remedy tin exist surprisingly effective.

Some other manner to help your baby feel better is to continue her hydrated, so offer plenty of chest milk or formula.

It may also aid to clothes your babe in low-cal clothes and continue the environs comfortably absurd. For instance, if the room is warm and stuffy, use a fan to go along the air moving.

If your baby still seems uncomfortable, fever-reducing medication may be a skillful way to go. Don't requite medicine to a baby younger than 3 months without a dr.'s approval, and follow these important safe guidelines whenever you lot give your baby a fever reducer:

  • If your child is younger than 2 years erstwhile, check with your pediatrician or pharmacist for the right dose.
  • If your infant is betwixt 3 and 6 months, you can give her acetaminophen but not ibuprofen.
  • Starting at age 6 months, virtually babies tin can have either acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
  • The dosage is determined by your baby'southward weight, not her historic period.
  • Don't requite your child aspirin because it has been associated with Reye's syndrome, a rare but serious (and sometimes fatal) condition.

And if your baby is sleeping peacefully, at that place'due south no need to wake him to administrate fever medicine, according to the AAP. Instead, let him sleep – and get some rest yourself.