What to do if your child has a fever

When the seasons change, are children prone to catching colds? Many children will have a fever when they catch a cold. This is due to some bacterial infection. When they have a fever, they will also have symptoms such as coughing and runny nose. These symptoms make the baby very uncomfortable, and the baby will cry constantly. Parents don’t know what to do. Therefore, you should learn more about what to do when a child has a fever.

Children's immunity is very low, so they will get sick easily. Colds and fevers are also very common. Generally, when encountering such a situation, parents will give their children some cold medicine or take them to the hospital for an injection before they feel at ease. Let us now learn about the common methods of what to do if a child has a fever.

How to tell if your baby has a fever

Fever refers to the abnormal increase in the baby's body temperature. The mother's hands are not thermometers and cannot accurately measure the baby's body temperature. The baby's normal armpit temperature should be 36℃~37℃, and it is only considered a fever if it exceeds 37.4℃. However, the baby's body temperature often fluctuates under the influence of certain factors. For example, in the evening, the baby's body temperature is often higher than in the early morning. The basic principle should be to actively find the cause of the fever. Because most fevers are just a symptom of a disease, as long as the baby's primary disease is cured, the fever will naturally subside. If you take your baby's fever down without a doctor's diagnosis after the baby has a fever, it may mask some symptoms of the original disease, and sending the baby to the hospital may cause the doctor to misdiagnose.

In winter, babies are easily caught cold and infected by various viruses, which can lead to fever. Especially for babies with poor immunity, they have fever almost every month. What can we do?

Tracing the source and finding the cause of fever

╳Wrong approach

When the baby has a fever, the mother just wants the baby to cool down quickly. Sometimes she lets the baby apply a cold towel, sometimes she gives him antipyretic medicine. As long as the baby's fever goes down, the mother will breathe a sigh of relief.

√Correct approach

The basic principle should be to actively look for the cause of fever. Because most fevers are just a symptom of a disease, as long as the baby's primary disease is cured, the fever will naturally subside. If you take your baby's fever down without a doctor's diagnosis after the baby has a fever, it may mask some symptoms of the original disease, and sending the baby to the hospital may cause the doctor to misdiagnose. Therefore, if your baby has a fever, you should take him to see a doctor in time.

These common winter diseases are closely related to the baby's fever

Measles

Fever characteristics

Measles is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the measles virus. Symptoms such as fever appear in the early stages of the rash. The fever pattern of measles in children is uncertain. Mild cases only have a moderate fever (38℃～39℃), while severe cases can have a temperature exceeding 40℃. The body temperature of most children rises gradually, but there are also cases of sudden high fever.

The initial symptom of measles is fever, which is also accompanied by cough, runny nose, conjunctival congestion, and measles mucosal spots on the buccal mucosa of the mouth. The rash appears about 3 to 4 days after the fever occurs, and the fever increases. The body temperature only begins to gradually decrease when the rash subsides.

Symptomatic care

Generally, there is no need to rush to reduce the fever caused by measles. Instead, the baby should drink plenty of water and eat some easily digestible and nutritious food.

Traditional Chinese medicine has a very good effect in treating measles. It is recommended that parents use traditional Chinese medicine to clear heat and detoxify under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine. Commonly used medicines include mulberry leaves, honeysuckle, forsythia, cicada shells, duckweed, kudzu root, cimicifuga, lithospermum officinale, burdock seeds, etc. You can also boil Chinese herbs such as willow of Xihe River, duckweed, and coriander, and use a towel soaked in the liquid to apply warm compresses to the forehead, limbs and other parts of the child, which can both reduce fever and clear the rash. If water vapor is dispersed in the room during the boiling process of the medicine, the humidity in the room can be maintained. For children with high body temperature, a small amount of antipyretics can be used as appropriate to avoid collapse caused by rapid fever reduction. Western medicine antipyretics such as aspirin, paracetamol, etc. can be used under the guidance of a doctor, or acetaminophen nasal drops can be used.

A reminder

Babies with measles and fever should drink plenty of water. It is not advisable to use cold compresses and alcohol baths to reduce the temperature, so as not to irritate the skin and affect the development of the rash.

When using medication to reduce fever, the body temperature should be maintained at around 38°C. Do not rush to let the child's temperature drop too low.

In addition, when the baby has measles and fever, parents should pay attention to the baby's skin care: wipe the baby's sweat off in time, and the baby's clothes and quilts should not be too thick or warm.

Three emergency measures for baby's fever

First, wear less clothes to allow your child to dissipate heat. The traditional idea is that when a child has a fever, he or she should be wrapped tightly with clothes and quilts to "force" the sweat out. In fact, this is wrong. When children have a fever, they will shiver and parents may think that their children have chills, but in fact, this is because their increased body temperature causes convulsions.

Second, help your child cool down physically. There are the following common methods:

1. Cold wet compress on the head: Soak a soft towel in 20℃-30℃ cold water, squeeze it slightly to prevent dripping, fold it and place it on the forehead, change it every 3-5 minutes.

2. Head ice pillow: Fill the ice bag half full with small ice cubes and a small amount of water, expel the air from the bag, press the bag opening tightly, and place it on the pillow after there is no water leakage.

3. Wipe with warm water or take a warm bath: Wipe the child's head, armpits, limbs with a warm, wet towel or take a warm bath, scrub the skin more to promote heat dissipation.

4. Alcohol bath: suitable for cooling down high fever. Prepare 200-300 ml of 20%-35% alcohol and use it to rub the limbs and back.

Third, drink plenty of water and don’t take medicine casually: When you have a high fever, your breathing speeds up and sweating causes the body to lose a lot of water, so parents should give their children plenty of water when they have a fever, increase urine volume, and promote the excretion of toxins in the body.

What should you do if your child has a fever? Parents should learn more about emergency measures for baby's fever. Don't give your baby medicine as soon as he catches a cold. Over time, the baby's resistance will decrease. Scientific methods should be adopted to cool down the child. Applying a cool towel on the head or wiping the baby's body with warm water are both good methods.