If your child seems to be otherwise well — for example, if they're playing and attentive — it's less likely they're seriously ill.
If you think your child may have coronavirus, you should use our coronavirus self-help guide. As a parent it can be extremely worrying if your child has a high temperature.
However, it's very common and often clears up by itself without treatment. A quick and easy way to find out whether your child has a fever is to take their temperature using a thermometer. Most fevers are caused by infections or other illnesses.
The high body temperature makes it more difficult for the bacteria and viruses that cause infections to survive. Your child's temperature can also be raised after vaccinations, or if they overheat because of too much bedding or clothing. Complete this guide to assess fever symptoms in babies and children under 2 years of age. Return to Symptoms. Next Review Date:.
Seizures are a very scary side effect of fevers in some children, Dr. Lim notes. Not all seizures cause jerking movements in the body. If the seizure lasts less than five minutes, call your physician or seek immediate medical attention.
A pediatric infectious disease expert or pediatric rheumatologist may be able to get to the bottom of the issue. Find out at what temperature you need to worry and at what temperature you can rest easy. Learn more about vaccine availability. Fevers can make children feel uncomfortable. The type of infection causing the fever usually determines how often the fever recurs and how long the fever lasts.
Fevers due to viruses can last for as little as two to three days and sometime as long as two weeks. A fever caused by a bacterial infection may continue until the child is treated with an antibiotic. Many different infections can cause a fever.
To find out what is causing your child's fever, the doctor will look at other signs or symptoms of the illness, not the fever itself. How high a fever is does not help the doctor to decide whether an infection is mild or severe, or whether an infection is from a bacteria or a virus. It is important to know how many days of fever your child has had. You should keep a record of your child's fevers so that you can accurately tell the doctor how long the fever has been present.
Many people believe that teething causes fever. Research shows us that teething does not cause real fever. If your baby has a fever, do not assume it is due to teething. Children often feel warm to the touch when they have a fever.
To confirm that your child has a fever, use a thermometer to measure your child's body temperature. The most accurate way to measure temperature is with a thermometer:.
Inserted into the anus or rectum rectal temperature in babies and children under three years of age. Placed in the mouth oral temperature in older children able to hold the thermometer in their mouth long enough. Other methods of measuring temperature may sometimes be useful but less accurate. These methods include:. You should avoid using a thermometer on the forehead or pacifier thermometer to check a temperature because they are inaccurate. If your baby is less than three months old and has a fever, you need to see a doctor immediately.
For babies less than one month of age, fever may be a sign of a serious infection. If this happens on the weekend, do not wait to see your doctor; go to the nearest Emergency Department right away to have your baby assessed by a doctor. Do not give any fever medication to your baby unless a doctor says so. Keep your child lightly dressed.
Most body heat is lost through the skin, so overdressing or bundling your child may result in a higher fever and can make your child more uncomfortable.
If your child is having chills or shivers, give them a light blanket. Keep the room temperature at a level that is comfortable for you, when lightly dressed. Fever will make your child's body lose some fluid liquid , so encourage your child to drink extra fluids to avoid dehydration. Whether you give your child cold or warm drinks does not matter.
However, cool water or drinks may help your child feel more comfortable. Sponging is unnecessary to help lower body temperature and may make your child more uncomfortable. Sponging may just cool the outside of your child's body and cause them to shiver without really affecting the internal body temperature.
Only use sponging in an emergency, such as heat stroke. You should use medication to keep your child comfortable. You should not base your judgment on how high the fever but rather on how your child is feeling. Fevers may also cycle up and down on their own, so it is difficult to tell whether a fever is reduced because of medication or because of the natural fever pattern.
If your child is sleeping comfortably, it is not necessary to wake them up to give medications. Immunizations: Babies and kids sometimes get a low-grade fever after getting vaccinated. In healthy kids, not all fevers need to be treated. High fever, though, can make a child uncomfortable and make problems such as dehydration worse. Doctors decide on whether to treat a fever by considering both the temperature and a child's overall condition.
There's one important exception: If an infant 3 months or younger has a rectal temperature of Even a slight fever can be a sign of a potentially serious infection in very young babies.
If your child is between 3 months and 3 years old and has a fever of For older kids, take behavior and activity level into account. Watching how your child behaves will give you a pretty good idea of whether a minor illness is the cause or if your child should be seen by a doctor.
And don't worry too much about a child with a fever who doesn't want to eat. This is very common with infections that cause fever. For kids who still drink and urinate pee normally, not eating as much as usual is OK. A gentle kiss on the forehead or a hand placed lightly on the skin is often enough to give you a hint that your child has a fever.
However, this method of taking a temperature called tactile temperature won't give an accurate measurement. Use a reliable digital thermometer to confirm a fever. It's a fever when a child's temperature is at or above one of these levels:. But how high a fever is doesn't tell you much about how sick your child is.
Because fevers can rise and fall, a child might have chills as the body's temperature begins to rise. The child may sweat to release extra heat as the temperature starts to drop. Sometimes kids with a fever breathe faster than usual and may have a faster heart rate.
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