Baby Sick for the 1st time - Viral Fever

[fennho]

My gal is having fever for 2nd day. It's her first time being sick and already i'm feeling so helpless. PD says it's viral fever and shud subside within 2-3 days. Yday midnight while nursing her, felt her mouth so hot, took the temp and found it to be 39.7! Called PD but he's quite relaxed (perhaps it's just me being overly worried?) Told us to give baby lukewarm bath. Tat was 3am in the morning. Well, that totally woke her up. Fed her Nurofen and she throw up the milk i BF her earlier. Today whole day fever go up and down. So worried and helpless. Just now, she had a temp at 38.7...called PD again, he said it's normal for her temp to be fluctuating. Just let her be and on the aircon and observe her behaviour. She seems ok but finding it hard to sleep. Any opinions from experienced mommies?

 

[rebekah]

she just doesn't feel good. she needs more cuddles, love, and probably more soothing to go to sleep. give the recommended amounts of fever reducer that the ped recommended at rest times. Make sure she is having wet diapers, and keeping hydrated, if not, call the ped.

As far as throwing up the milk, she probably is not throwing up as much as you think. sometimes it looks like a lot, but if you poured that much water out you'd see that it's not nearly a whole feeding. She needs to nurse and may be overfeeding a bit for comfort.

Viruses have to work themselves out. I know it's rough, but the fever is actually her body's response, her body doing what it is supposed to do. just keep her as comfortable and comforted as you can.

 

[fennho]

Thanks rebekah. She has had reflux since birth which has subsided now. So yah I know what u meant by "pour water out and seems a lot" but from experience, what she did yday was indeed a lot. Imagine my entire bed soaked right thru my mattress protector! Her throwng up was a gag responses from the nurofen we fed her...she jus hates it!

Shud we take her to the hospital? I'm worried the fever temp is "frying" her brain!

 

[mscheerful]

Not to worry about this fever temp unless it is 40C or above for many hours. I guess she is now more than 6 months old so having a fever is really normal unless she is below 3 months, better fly her to the hospital. usually fever in babies will go up and down for 3-4 days and it should be stable after that. If she is having flu like cough and runny nose, it will take at least a week before she can really sleep well. Throwing up in a way is good at least her body is fighting against the viral. Do not stop feeding her and for me, i gave my baby a little of water every now and then to help in 'wet' her mouth. Also i use a wet towel to rub on her body especially her ampits, forehead every 1/2 hour then rub with a dry towel. I know it is really nasty having a baby get sick, can't help but to worry and feel helpless but it also make you stronger to handle, i am sorry, her other type of viral that try to attack her body.

Oh yes, no baby love to have meds!!!

 

[rebekah]

it's the first time your baby is sick, it's totally normal to feel this way, but if you trust your ped, follow his guidelines. Sorry to hear she is sick . Is the nurofen working better than panadol? does she tolerate panadol better? some peds (I am not personally recommending this, you'd have to ask your ped) recommend alternating the nurofen and panadol in order to break a fever, but honestly, right now, the fever is doing a job, so they may not want you to do that.

 

[fennho]

Thanks mscheerful
she's 8mths now. She doesnt hv much appetite for her usual solids but will still nurse so I'm nursing her most of the time. Her throwng up is more of a gag reflex, happening only when we feed her the meds, but she has some mild diarrhoea. She hasn't pooed for 2 days and today it came out in bubbles (sorry for the graphic explanation). Got a bit of cough. But dunno if its related. Cos doesnt happen often. I'm extra worried as we r due to fly back to spore for a short trip next Wednesday. Dunno if she'll be fit to travel by then

 

[rebekah]

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t082100.asp here's a good article on fever.

 

[mscheerful]

Ya flying at this time is a little difficult for her especially and she has to readjust to the humidity and heat in Singapore. From my experience with my then 13 months old son, we flew to Singapore when he was already having a little of flu - cough and runny nose, we brought him to doctor, he has the meds but when we arrive in S'pore waiting for someone to pick us up, he was so affected by the heat there (in was in March so it was still cool here). The next day he got worsen so we brought him to PD and 2 days little, he got worsen again and have fever off and on too so we brought him back again to the PD, this time the PD has to prescribe a week of anti-biotic for him. He got totally well in about 10 days. I do not know how short is your trip to Singapore but for me I was glad that I have few weeks there for him to totally get well and went to have a great holiday in Malaysia! Yes, she will not like any solid food but continue to feed her milk, water and a little of juice. After she gets well, you will find that she is growing longer and more 'mature' Stay strong!

 

[carang]

when they are sick, it is very normal for the fever to fluctuate. again, it isn't anything to be overly concerned about unless it is over 40C for a few hours.

remember, a fever can actually be a good sign. it means that your little one is trying to fight off the illness.

give it a few days and see how your little one does. throwing up is also par for the course. my boy throws up EVERY time he gets a cold. it seems that he can't get rid of the phlegm any other way, so throws it up, and he's 3.5 years old.

just keep a close eye on her and watch for the fever to go higher. if she keeps throwing up her medicine, try giving her meds about 10 minutes before you feed her. then she won't have so much to throw up. you can also ask the dr for suppositories instead of liquid. that will solve the vomitting problem.

 

[bekyboo44]

I would also recomend suppositories- our toddler gets a fever quite regularly, every time he gets a cold; and even when he is 'emotionally' upset, i.e when his sister was born.
He hates taking medicine- and so we tend to give suppositories instead of the liquid medicine...you can get pandol suppositories from watsons, they have some for babies and some for older children.
We also find that suppositories work faster at bringing the fever down.

Should the fever go above 39 and start to approach 40 (which happened to our son when he had the flu) then the best medicine is voltaren suppositories, however they can only be prescribed by a doctor and are very strong. So not to be used too often.

Our ped. said with a fever it is always best to start with the weakest medicine and then work up, if the fever doesn't subside.

He said with a high fever a baby needs to be kept cool- so no overdressing etc., even if air temp. is quite cool.
He also recomended a lukewarm bath for baby to help bring fever down.

I was also worried about frequent and high fevers 'frying' our sons brain (espec. as he also has had a febrile convulsion) but our ped. insists that fevers pose no such threat.