Increased baby temperature
Because the immune system of newborns is still untrained and only comes into contact with new pathogens during the course of development, fever is not a rare symptom in babies.It is not unusual for babies and small children to have an average of up to six colds a year. In newborns, a fever is said to start at a temperature of 37.8°C. Already starting from a temperature of 38°C measured in the Po, pediatricians recommend the visit of a physician, since both harmless, but also for small children dangerous causes can be behind it.
Fever often occurs as a result of simple viral or bacterial infections of the upper respiratory tract or ears, as well as teething and gastrointestinal infections. But elevated temperatures can also occur in typical childhood illnesses, such as febrile convulsions, three-day fever, mumps, measles, rubella, scarlet fever, chickenpox or hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Less frequent, but all the more dangerous, are diseases such as inflammation of bones and joints or meningitis.
A special feature of babies, however, is that many of the above-mentioned diseases can also occur without a fever. Therefore, attention should always be paid to further abnormalities such as unwillingness to drink, listlessness and listlessness and changes in behavior of any kind. It is not uncommon for teething to be accompanied by a short-term rise in temperature. Often the babies show parallel symptoms such as pain, swollen and reddened gums, reddened cheeks, restlessness and sleep disturbances as well as stomach aches and diarrhoea. If the increased temperature lasts longer or if the temperature rises unusually high, a doctor should nevertheless be consulted urgently, as other diseases can also hide behind the fever.
Increased temperature during pregnancy
Increased temperatures during pregnancy are not so surprising, since the mother is in a physical state of emergency: with the unborn child there is a “foreign organism” in the womb. This makes it essential that the mother’s immune system is suppressed to a certain degree in order to avoid the defense of the “foreign”. Therefore, especially flu-like infections at the beginning of pregnancy are not uncommon.
Fever alone or paired with symptoms of a cold are therefore not serious at first. It becomes dangerous when the increased temperatures show up with abdominal pain or even a premature rupture of the bladder. At the latest then a doctor should be consulted immediately. Undesirable and dangerous for the unborn child are also other infections that can be accompanied by fever, such as rubella, toxoplasmosis, hepatitis or herpes viruses.
