Should I cover my baby with a blanket if he has a low fever?

When babies have a fever, they look particularly listless and want to sleep. When babies sleep, mothers will think that their bodies are already very hot, so should they cover them with a blanket? In fact, the blanket should be covered, otherwise, if the baby catches a cold during sleep, it will cause more serious illness and turn a low fever into a high fever. So, should babies with a low fever be covered with a blanket?

We all know that fever is the body's response to external infection. When the human body is invaded by a virus, the immune system will raise the body temperature in order to kill the virus, because the reproduction of the virus will be inhibited in a high temperature environment. It can be said that a proper increase is beneficial to the recovery of the disease, but if it is too high, it may easily cause high fever convulsions in the baby.

So the question is: Should you cover your baby with a blanket to prevent him from sweating when he has a fever?

This problem needs to be treated differently according to each stage of the baby's fever. We can divide fever into three stages: the stage of rising body temperature, the stage of sustained high fever, and the stage of falling body temperature.

【Body temperature rising period】:

It often happens when the baby just starts to have a fever. At this time, the immune system has just been alerted and starts to try all methods to raise the body temperature.

1. Reduce heat loss: The capillaries in the skin's epidermis begin to contract (similar to the contraction of normal people's epidermal capillaries when it is cold). At this time, the baby is very afraid of cold.

2. Increase heat production: Skeletal muscles tremble and generate heat through high-frequency movement. At this time, the baby will show chills and shivering.

At this time, it is necessary to cover the baby with a quilt to help reduce heat loss and increase heat production. The baby feels warm and helps relieve discomfort.

High fever duration

At this time, the virus and the immune system are in a tug-of-war stage, and the baby's body temperature is stabilized at a higher level (above 38 degrees). At this time, the baby's body is very hot. In order to relieve the baby's discomfort and avoid convulsions caused by high fever as much as possible, physical cooling methods must be used to help the baby reduce fever:

1. Take a warm bath

2. Warm water bath

3. Apply a cooling patch

4. Use pediatric massage to reduce fever (for specific methods of reducing fever, please refer to my previous article)

5. If the baby's fever is above 38.5, you can take ibuprofen to reduce the fever under the guidance of a doctor or a licensed pharmacist.