Fever! Just the very word sends fear striking at parent's hearts: Fever! Fevers are bad! Cuz, well, look at the kid! Hot! Uncomfortable! And hot! That has to be bad, right? Oh, and fever can kill! Kids can explode, can get brain damage, whatever. It's just...bad, that fever, right? Bad! Must medicate! Must take Tylenol/Motrin/have an alcohol bath/sponge bath. Must! Because fever = B.A.D.
Um, except, it's not. And this is why:
I remember when I learned the truth about fevers in children. It was scary letting go of all those notions about fever that I learned from my parents as a child during my twice-yearly bouts of strep throat, when I'd be forced to chew tiny orange St. Joseph's aspirin tablets, or worse, swallow fuzzy white terrible-tasting tablets in order to Get.The.Fever.Down.
It turns out I could have been spared all that aspirin. Except in extreme cases, fevers are actually, well, good. But about 94% of parents don't know this (thank you, acetaminophen industry! and the thermometer industry!). I didn't. We parents are afraid of fever, and fever is the #1 reason why doctors are called in the middle of the night or kids are rushed to the ER. Fever. Which is actually the body's defense against illness, and (except in extreme cases), is a good thing.
Fever reduces bacterial and viral reproduction and signals the immune system
to get in gear. Febrile seizures? They're likely caused by how quickly a fever rises, not to the amount of fever, and they don't cause permanent damage. Nor do high fevers
(officially defined as above 105.8 degrees).
Though doctors could learn a thing or two about this: "In a 1992 study of 234
pediatricians, two-thirds said that an elevated body temperature in
itself could be dangerous to a child. They believed that brain damage
and death were fever's worst outcomes. And we doctors again showed our
ignorance in a study whose authors wanted to know why pediatricians
were telling parents to alternate Tylenol and Motrin to control fevers.
This is something that doctors routinely advise parents to do. About a
third cited guidelines on fever management from the American Academy of
Pediatrics. Another quarter said they learned it from their teachers or
mentors. The problem is that there is nothing in academy guidelines about
alternating antipyretics, and, at the time of the study, there was no
evidence showing that doing this was effective and safe (now there are
studies suggesting that it may be effective, but the risk of misdosing
or overdosing a child doesn't warrant it)."
Uh, that's scary, that even doctors don't know what's what.
But for several years now I've heard a different approach to fever, and I've learned to almost welcome it as a help in fighting whatever illness seems to be going on.
But in kids, you really have to look at their comfort to know when to treat a fever and when to leave it alone. If they look
comfortable, as they might with even moderately high fevers, there's no
need to seek medical attention. Ice water baths induce shivering, which makes
kids less comfortable, and alcohol baths increase the risk of
dehydration and hypoglycemia, so neither of those is a good idea.
However, if your child
has five to seven days of fever, you can't bring down high fevers (above 104 degrees), or there are other symptoms (rashes,
lethargy inconsolable crying, a headache or stiff neck that could
suggest meningitis), you need to see a doctor.
Otherwise, embrace the fever, and likely the length of illness will be reduced and within a day or two you'll have a happy kid again.
If Ferris Bueller's parents had known this, he'd have had a totally different day.
Photo: www.therapy-school.co.uk
