Fever in children is something very common. Fever, in medical term, is defined as temperature of more or equal then 37.5 degrees. Any temperature of more than 38 degrees are considered high fever.
I have got many parents bringing their children to us saying that their child is having a fever. When i asked 'How do you know that your child is having a fever?', the most common answer is 'I feel the baby is warm'. Well i'm not saying it's not right to feel the baby, it will be better if parents have their own thermometer at home to measure the temperature of their own child. Many times, these babies (that parents thought they are warm to touch) actually don't have fever. So parents are stressed for the wrong reason! Thermometer are very cheap. Get digital ones. Not the one that stick to the forehead and appear to change colour when there is fever. Some digital ones will require a person to hold the thermometer for at least 1 min. Some is almost instantaneous.
I won't suggest for the infra red forehead thermometer as their accuracy is not fully understood, especially for malaysian where our culture is so diverse.
Whenever a child has got high fever, parents must do all they can to bring the temperature down, by whatever means. Medications are the best choice. Paracetamol or layperson term will be 'panadol' can be given either by mouth or 'backside'. Both are as good, the only difference is, the 'backside' way will be a little uncomfortable but the fever will come down within 15mins after administering parecetamol the backside way!
Majority of doctors will advice for medication every 6 hrs. However, if children's fever start to come back up before the 6 hours period, then, we can give earlier but not less than 4hrs.
In between medication, if the child is still hot, then sponge them. Bear in mind, NOT to use cold water, but just normal tap water. If water is cold, the child will shiver and will worsened the condition. If hot water, then the child will be scalded! (obviously)
Some children will have a seizure during fever. In medical term, this is call febrile convulsion. Seizure will only happen if the temperature of the child goes up drastically.
Take for example, if the temperature of the child goes up from 37 to 40 degrees in 15mins, the child child WILL fit. However, if the child's temperature goes up to even 40 over period of hours, the child won't fit. So, by all means, we need to make sure to bring the temperature down, and if can't make sure that the temp don't go up to drastically.
Of course, bring your febrile child to see the doctor. A child with fever, don't take for granted.
