Fevers? - Clearwater,FL

I would only take her to the doctor if her fever last 3+ days or she is tugging on her ears or her throat looks bad. Kids pick up lots of viruses.

They always attribute these to viruses when they can't identify anything else. Kids are exposed to germs in a lot of places. Remember also that so much use of sterilizing wipes and cleaners has created a huge class of "super bugs" that are the strongest ones that have survived all the chemicals.

She may have an insufficient immune system. I work with kids all the time to strengthen their immune systems and give them improved ways to fight things off. One virus is weakening her immune system, so she is more susceptible to the next one. Since what she's getting isn't treatable, I think your focus might better be shifted to prevention. Keeping her out of day care or public life isn't the answer. Let me know if you want more info - we work with preemies and malnourished kids so "normal" kids really flourish this way, and it really keeps down the cost of all those copayments and even lab tests.

My family hasn't had a "sick visit" in over 6 years, not one cold or virus or strep, no more bronchitis, no fevers. We've thrown out all our cough and fever meds because everything expired from non-use. For us, it's a much happier way to live.

How clean do you keep your home? Do you use, hand sanitizer? Too clean is more of an issue than not clean enough.

Each kid has a different immune system. My mom said that my brother and I would run a fever for a day here and there. She felt that it was our bodys way of slowing us down?

Does she seem pained, is she still eating? If so .. really no worries this is her immune system building up. You would be suprised how many versions of virues are out there.

She is exposed , at the grocery store, beach, pool.. nearly everywhere you go, there is exposure. This is good, get her system built up now and then when she goes to school less days missed.

High fevers are usually viral. A temp of 100-101 is usually bacterial.
The docs don't give antibiotics for a viral infection.
Kids pick up all kinds of germs. They get them at the grocery store, at the mall, even at the doc's office!
There is no avoiding them. I always figured that if they got colds and stuff when they were little, by the time they got to school, they'd be less succeptible to the germs at school. My oldest was the ear infection king - I still have no idea where he picked up those germs...
I made my kids wash their hands frequently with regular soap and water. I stayed away from antibacterial soaps until they hit middle school where strep was rampant.

Taking her to the dr will expose her to more germs. My son gets fevers like that and the dr doesn't want to see him unless it last for more than 24 hrs. Just a hard age as maybe she is putting hands in mouth?

While under the age of 3 yrs, my son would sometimes spike a fever of 103 and then it would be gone an hour or two later without any medication.
He was in daycare since he was 3 months old and for his first 2 or so years it almost seemed like a week would not go by without something happening.
(But all the exposure trains up their immune system and after that approx 2 yr period it really settles down a lot to only 1 or 2 colds per year.)
So your daughter having 4 instances of fever over a 7 month period doesn't seem like it happens very often (to me, anyway).
Our pediatrician didn't consider a fever to be high unless it was 104+ and lasted a long time (> 12 hrs) and would not go down even for a little while with Tylenol or Motrin.
Sometimes it will be obvious that child is in pain (fussy, agitated, miserable, tired, etc) and sometimes child will act fine (wants to play).
At first I use to call my pediatricians nurse line quite a bit for advice on what to look for and when to make a Dr's appointment.
A lot of the time what was alarming to me was really not that serious and the nurse helped me so very much.
In the absence of other symptoms, (no rash, no barfing, not fussy, etc), I learned to not worry too much, look for other symptoms to appear (sometimes they would and sometimes they wouldn't) and when in doubt, I would give him a bath.
For my son a bath always seemed to help no matter what was going on.
If he had a tummy ache at 2am or anytime day or night, I'd give him a bath because 1) it made him feel better and 2) if he was going to barf or have diarrhea the bathtub was always a lot easier to clean up.

Kids this age tend to get lots of bugs. They are getting molars and more teeth and want to touch and manipulate everything, then chew on their fingers for a bit. A fever without any other symptoms isn't something to jump up and run to the doctor for, you then run the risk of her picking something up from another sick kid in the waiting room. Fevers are the body's way to fight infection, we can last a couple days with a temp of 102 or 103 on and off, but the virus or bacteria can't. Only treat a fever if it's really high, and only go to the doctor if she is really uncomfortable or you see further symptoms. My son stays at home with me too, and started picking up viruses between 1 and 18 mos faster than any other time period. Hope she gets better quickly!

I wouldn't take her to the doctor just for "a fever." A fever would have to be:

1. Uncontrolled with Tylenol or Motrin or a combination of both.
2. Reach 104*F-105*
3. Last three days with no signs of breaking.
4. My child is not behaving normally; lethargic, unable to get comfortable, serious body aches & headache, unable to drink liquids, needing to sleep but unable to or conversely, sleeping and unable to wake/rouse them.

With what you're describing I wouldn't waste the doctor's time. What you're describing sounds perfectly normal.

Every time my son had a fever it was due to an ear infection or strep. Antibiotics for him. Opposite for my daughter - she's had many fevers, none of which has required medicine (she won't take it anyway, just sleeps a lot). The doctors *swear* kids don't get fevers while teething, but I disagree, wholeheartedly. Every time she gets a fever, she is definitely getting a new tooth. Just keep your eye on it. If her energy is ok and she can eat and drink, her body will take care of it. If you're not sure, call the ped's office and talk to a nurse. They are always willing to offer advice and recommend (or not) bringing in the child to be checked. Just keep her hydrated. Hope she feels better soon! For your sake too. :)

There can be many many reasons for this. She might need tubes due to deep ear infections that are not showing up when the doc looks in her ears. It might be sinus issues that are deep inside her head. It could be she has some slight infection somewhere that just isn't showing up for the doc.

Is she having any signs of upper respiratory stuff? Runny or stuffy nose? Slight cough? Drainage in her throat? Pulling at her ears? Gooey eyes when she wakes up? Drainage from her ears? Rubbing her head or pulling her hair often? Pulling their hair us a sign of a head ache...

And it could simply be she's teething. Kids often run a fever when that's happening.

There are so many ways kids can be exposed to germs (not just daycare). There are germs at the park, the mall, stores, playgroups - you get the idea. That's not a bad thing. She needs to be exposed to germs. That's how the body builds up immunities.

Hand sanitizer is a great thing to have around, but for the most part it's best to wash with soap and water. Hand sanitizer is a bit too powerful, and it prevents your daughter from being exposed to many basic germs that she needs to be exposed to in order the build up her immunities.

It's really hard when little ones get sick. There's not much you can do (no meds to give them), and you just want to help them feel better!

We all go through this phase at some point. The body simply needs to build it's immune system. Try to think of it this way, because she's been exposed to these germs now, she will probably be very healthy in kindergarten and not have to miss very many days!