How To Tell if your Child Has a Fever

All children pick up bugs and ailments.
No matter how much we try to protect them, kids get sick.
Most bugs are shaken off within a day or two by a healthy immune system, but are still a great worry to parents at the time.
Most bugs just make kids feel off-color and miserable, but infections sometimes need treated with medical assistance.
One of the signs parents need to look out for are high temperatures.
This is often a sign that the immune system is not coping well, and your child can become really ill.
How can you tell when your child has a fever? What are the bench-marks of a high temperature?
Certainly, you can feel your child's forehead with the flat of your palm.
The brows of children with fevers feel hot, with almost a burning heat compared to normal. However, it takes a lot of practice to be able to definitively diagnose a fever this way.
Do not be afraid to practise this, because children derive comfort from your hand being gently placed across their forehead.
To tell the exact temperature, it is much better to use a thermometer.

What are normal body temperatures?

The normal body temperature is 35.5ºC/95.9ºF to 37.2ºC/98.9ºF
Temperatures below 35.5C/95.9F are indicative of hypothermia, and are not discussed here.
Temperatures above 37.2C/98.9F are considered to be high, or feverish.
Temperatures of 38C/95.9F, 39/102.2F or even 40C/104F are not uncommon in sick children, whose immature immune systems tend to cope less well, and send temperatures higher than adults would be expected to contend with.
To prevent fever fits, it is best to try and reduce high fevers in children where possible.
It will also help your child to feel a little better.

Thermometers

The most accurate thermometers are those filled with mercury.
Mercury is highly poisonous, and because of the risk of accident, there are many digital thermometers on the market now.
As I haven't used them and so cannot vouch for their accuracy, it is seldom of great importance to know the exact reading anyway.
A child has a fever, or not.
Any thermometer will tell you that.
If a child has a high fever, or a very high fever, then home thermometers will tell you, even if they are a fraction of a degree off.
It actually makes no difference for you, or your doctor, to know.
The only thing I would caution against is using one of the ear thermometers on a sick child.
A high percentage of all childhood fevers are caused be ear infections. The insertion of a thermometer to even the outer ear would cause intense pain, and so is best avoided.

How to Reduce Fever in Children

There are various ways you can reduce your child's fever.

1. Paracetamol is excellent. Buy a proprietary liquid brand suitable for children, and give your child the minimum recommended dose for their age group.

2. Cool compress. A damp facecloth held against a feverish child's forehead will help lower temperature as well as make the child feel better. Never use freezing cold water. Rinse in hand-hot water and refresh as often as necessary.

3. Remove clothing. An over-heated body needs cooling quickly, and this can be achieved by removing warm clothing. If your child is in bed, remove outer blankets and covers, leaving only a thin sheet. If your child may start shivering, replace covers or clothing, but as this is also a sign of a high and fluctuating temperature, be prepared to remove them again at a moment's notice.

4. Tepid sponging. If your child's fever has reached 40 or beyond, then you must quickly reduce that temperature to help prevent fitting. This can be done by tepid sponging.

Take a cloth and a basin of warm water, and gently dab the skin all over your child's body. At such a high temperature, their skin will be burning hot to touch, and the warm water you add will cool their skin.

Do not be tempted to use cold water. This is too big a shock to the system.

Check your child's temperature again, and if it is still high, and you are unhappy about your child's condition, call for medical assistance.