Why does a child have a fever but his body is hot but his hands and feet are cold?

Children have very low resistance and very limited resistance to viruses and bacteria. Therefore, it is very common for children to get sick, which has a great impact on their physical development. Among them, fever is one of the most common symptoms in children. Why do some children have a fever with a hot body and cold hands and feet? Let’s take a look at the explanation below. I hope everyone can understand it.

First of all, if your baby has cold hands and feet it doesn’t mean that he is sick or is wearing too little. Generally speaking, the temperature of babies' limbs is lower than that of adults under normal circumstances. This is mainly because their hearts are weaker and their blood pressure is lower. Therefore, when considering whether the baby is cold or not and whether to add more clothes, you cannot use the temperature of the hands and feet as the standard. Instead, touch the chest and back. If it is warm and there is no sweat, it proves that it is just right.

Secondly, the human body temperature is controlled by the temperature center of the hypothalamus. When the human body is infected by a virus or bacteria, the temperature center will raise the temperature set point because a higher temperature will help white blood cells defeat the invaders. To achieve a higher body temperature, the human body will adjust in two ways: on the one hand, it increases heat production, and on the other hand, it reduces heat dissipation. The latter is most pronounced in the hands and feet. Hands and feet are important parts of the human body responsible for heat dissipation. When the human body needs to reduce heat dissipation, it is naturally very important to lower the heat dissipation of hands and feet, resulting in them feeling colder.

Third, cold hands and feet often appear in the initial stages of a fever. It should be noted that many times the patient feels cold all over, which may be a precursor to a rapid increase in body temperature.

The correct approach should be:

Cold hands and feet generally means a higher fever, so you must soak your child's feet and try to make them sweat; however, the water temperature should not be too high and the time should not be too long for children to soak their feet, so you should also keep rubbing your child's hands and feet, or directly put your child's feet in your arms and cover them, but only cover their hands and feet when they are cold, not other places.