My 8-yr-old boy is running fever for the 8th day now. He is having wet cough, but not servere. After seeing doctor twice, and switching from Amoxicillin to Cefdinir (which doctor said is stronger than Amoxicillin), the temperature is still at 99.7F this afternoon after he got up from a nap. And this morning after getting up, it was 98.7F. During the past several days, temperature trend is going down, but it goes up and down during the day. He is on Cefdinir since Tuesday evening (almost 48 hours now). He is acting fine, playing, laughing, joking, but not eating as well as before. Other the the low degree fever and cough, there is no other symptom. Both times he saw the doctor, I was told the lung is clear. I wonder what can cause the fever last so long? Do I have to take him to have a blood test to rule out some more serious problems? Thank you.
Thanks to all the moms here. I also got assured from the ped that anything under 100 is not a fever. And after all, since Thursday evening after I posted my question, his temperature was below 99 F all the time. So I would say, he is back to normal, though appetite is still not as good as before. Maybe because he is not as active as before due to this illness. I hope he will be all back to normal in the next couple of days. I must say I was panicing because he has never been sick for this long before. I still don't know if it was virus or bacteria, but anyhow, since he started the antibiotics, I will let him finish it.
A fever is normally 100 or above. As long as he's still active and the dr isn't concerned, he should be ok. Just continue the meds as directed. Hope he feels better soon. :)
Those temps are normal, not fever, relax, he is fine. If you don't believe me call the DR/advice nurse they will tell you the same.
My doctors office does not consider a fever a temperature below 100 degrees.
My 8 year old daughter just missed 6 days of school because of an 11 day illness. 7 days with fever but when I first took her to the doc they said it was a viral infection. 2 days later I took her back again because she was so so sick and they diagnosed her with 2 bad ear infections and a sinus infection. I was so mad and upset. If they had treated her for a sinus infection the first time I took her she would not have had bulging ear drums and a severe sinus infection. Ugh! I would wait and see how he does over the next couple of days. If he is not totally better after 1 wk on antibiotic I would take him back to the docs.
My daughter was sick with a fever for 7 days. I gave her no antibiotics or anything other than tylenol when her fever got above 102. She complained of a headache only. No other symptoms. On the last day she woke up from a nap all sweaty and she did not get a fever again. The flu this year is just like that. Several other kids in her class were out for longer than a week with fevers and miscellaneous symptoms (tummyache, coughing, etc). Just ride it out. Stop trying other meds for a few days and see if it will just run its course. It does not sound as if he is in any danger.
My son just got over a nasty bug that had him feverish, coughing, congested, exhausted and just plain miserable. After a week, I took him to the doctor, who said that it was viral (antibiotics won't help) and that in most of his patients, symptoms were lasting for 14 days before they cleared up. Sure enough, after week 2, my son is back to feeling like himself. It seems like a long time to miserable kids and parents, but some stuff takes that long to run its course.
Fever usually means that there is an infection somewhere in the body that the body is trying to 'burn out'. We don't give our kids anything for fever unless it's high (103) or they are uncomfortable. As long as he's playing and acting fine, I'd stop medicating him and see what his body tells you. He could be coughing from flem in his throat which could throw off his taste buds which could be why he's not eating as well. Let his body do it's job by burning this thing out. Good luck!
As several of the other moms said, 99.7 is not a fever. It sounds like the antibiotics are doing their job; make sure you give him the complete dosage until they are gone, per dr orders. It's also not unusual for his appetite to decrease as he hasn't been feeling well; give him a few more days and it should return to normal (food might not taste quite "right" since he's coughing and has phlem).
99.7 is not a fever. Try to relax a little.
There's a virus going around where the main symptom is a fever. Each of my daughters went a round with this stupid thing and averaged fevers of 101.5* although my eldest reached 103*. Two of my daughters had accompanying mild cold symptoms, all three complained of mild sore throats. All three had poor appetites and slept a lot.
Being a virus, I didn't insist on a prescription antibiotic since antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. This is just one of those things that you have to let run its course and make sure the kids are hydrated. I didn't push food at all. I was more concerned that they slept and drank water or broth, and if they asked for something to eat I gave them some broth with a little pasta or bread to dip in it.
Give it time. Let him rest, let him drink, let him sleep, and his appetite will build back up on its own. Don't force him to eat if he's not hungry or it'll likely come right back up (this is experience talking).
My friend's daughter of about the same age, had a fever for a few days nonstopping. She gave her daughter high quality aloe juice, 1 bottle a day, 32 oz, 2-4 oz every hour. By the end of the day, the fever is gone. Aloe juice has over two hundred nutrients and it detoxes and feeds the immune system. So don't wait for a week, use aloe juice the first day of fever and the child would not be sick for a week. Try it because it works with every kid.
To be clear, I am NOT judging, but giving you a different way to look at immune system function and a fever is a GOOD thing.
The fever lets you know that his body is fighting it appropriately and 99.7 is hardly a fever. Too high is 105.
Bacterium and viruses are temperostatic....meaning they only grow in a 1-2 degree range. So, let's say whatever your son is fighting grows at 101 really well, so his body has to get the temperature up to 102.5/103 to burn it off.
Parents freak and to make THEMSELVES feel like they are doing something proactive if they medicate the kid with a fever reducer or some broad spectrum antibiotic. BUT this fever reducer (Tylenol, etc) will only bring the fever down, ironically, 1-2 degrees, back in the range to allow the virus or bacterium to grow out of control and your child will be sicker longer and fight it longer, since you just too away their innate way of fighting it.
I have 3 kids and another on the way, and none of them have ever had an antibitoic, (even for ear infections, which were gone in 2 days or less because of my actions and how I care for my children) or painkillers.
Boiron homeopathics, which you can find locally, you might want to try?
Pulsatilla works really well for infection and Ferrum Phosphoricum works well for fever, if you are worried.
Good luck.
PS For an accurate temp reading, never check in the afternoon, as children's temperatures get higher....even healthy ones!
keep going to dr...my daughter was the same...she had penicillin resistant strep throat.....took a 3rd to get it better...we too had Amoxicilin, then Cefdinir then the 3rd was Rof???? It was a shot from the dr office and started to work right away.....my daughter hasn't had antibiotics maybe 3-4 times in her life so she hasn't abused them...anyway....good luck, was a long scary week......
