Therapy of fever in the baby

What to do if the baby has a fever? In general, babies and toddlers have a higher fever than older children and adults. This is mainly due to their still incomplete regulation of body temperature by the control centers in the brain.

So it can happen that a strong thirst or blankets that are too warm can trigger a fever in your baby. On the other hand, the fever can also be absent despite an infection. The normal body temperature of a baby is between 36.5 and 37.5° Celsius.

Above 38.0 ° C one speaks of elevated values, above 38.5 ° C of fever, at values above 39 ° C of high fever. Your baby’s fever is a sensible reaction of the body to ward off illness, which is why not every fever needs to be lowered directly. More important than the temperature is the reaction of your baby.

Laziness in drinking or eating, weakness, crying and whimpering, apathy or other unusual behaviour should set off the alarm bells; because your baby will then really not be well. If this is the case or if you are afraid yourself and are not sure, always consult a doctor! However, you can rest easy as long as your child behaves as usual despite the fever.

Otherwise, the following measures can be helpful if your baby has an uncomplicated fever: If your baby’s fever has reached its peak, fever-reducing measures such as traditional calf compresses can be used. If you have a fever, you usually sweat a lot. Therefore, change your baby’s bed linen and clothing several times a day.

If the baby feels fine in addition to the fever, it is not necessary to keep a strict bed rest and food leave. Take short walks in the fresh air and give your baby a light diet. It is necessary to check your baby’s fever with a thermometer several times a day.

There are various measuring devices, including so-called infrared ear thermometers, which measure the heat radiation from the eardrum and the surrounding tissues of the ear, or electronic thermometers, which are inserted into your baby’s bottom.

Avoid unnecessary heating of the apartment
Do not pack your child too thickly, but use light clothing and thin blankets
Ensure that the rooms are sufficiently cool and well ventilated.
A lukewarm bath can help your baby’s body to lower the temperature a little
Make sure that your baby drinks enough. A lot of liquid helps the body to defend itself and prevents dehydration due to the high temperatures.
Offer your baby breast milk, formula, fruit juices, teas or soups.

Tip: Lay your baby on its side and press its belly against you. Place the fingers of one hand between both feet and bend them slightly. Then insert the thermometer about one centimeter deep into your bottom.

Glass thermometers filled with mercury are not recommended nowadays. If your baby has a very high fever and is in a poor general condition, this can be a great strain on your child. If this is the case, consult a doctor!

Depending on the condition and behaviour of your baby, antipyretic medication such as the classic paracetamol suppositories can be administered to lower the fever. Caution! Aspirin for fever reduction is not suitable for children under twelve years of age, as it can cause a severe liver–brain dysfunction, the so-called Reye syndrome.

Rarely babies may experience febrile convulsions. The decisive factor here is the speed of the fever increase. For parents who experience a febrile convulsion of their baby for the first time, this is a terrible event.

The spasm usually lasts around 20 to 30 seconds and then stops on its own. During this time, the children twist their eyes, twitch involuntarily or stop breathing, appear pale, are unresponsive or spit. The febrile convulsion is probably due to immaturity of the brain and is basically nothing dramatic.

The children also do not notice anything. Important! If your child has such a febrile spasm, keep calm.

Create some space so that he or she does not hurt himself or herself, do not hold on to him or her and do not try to instill anything into the child during the cramp. He could choke to death! Often children only suffer a febrile spasm once.

If it is the first time, you should see a doctor and have the cause clarified to rule out other diseases of the brain and nerves. You should also see a doctor if your child has temperatures above 38.5°C in the first year of life or a fever for more than one or two days, or if your baby is in a generally poor condition and is behaving unusually. Otherwise, be patient and give your sick baby a lot of comfort, attention and rest.

The children should only be lightly clothed and covered with a thin blanket. The room temperature should be regulated in the same way, it should not be set too warm. During the day not higher than max.

22°C, at night 17 – 18°C. If the child does not freeze or suffer from chills, the child can be bathed in lukewarm water. Parents should make sure that the child is sufficiently hydrated with cool drinks.

Medication for children against fever should be given if the child suffers from the fever from whining, difficulty in falling asleep and sleeping through, and pain. If the temperature rises above 40°C, or if fever fantasies or states of confusion occur, fever-reducing medication should be used. To lower your baby’s fever, various home remedies are available.

Place cool damp washcloths on the forehead and calves of your little one. The cool wetness thus removes the heat from the body. You can also take a bath in which the water temperature should be about one degree below the body temperature of your baby.

You can gradually add cold water until the temperature of the water is about ten degrees below your baby’s body temperature. Then take your baby out of the tub and ten minutes later measure the body temperature. This procedure can be repeated as long as your baby does not freeze.

You can also wipe the warm or hot parts of your baby’s body with a cool sponge. The water evaporates on the skin and has a cooling effect. Give your baby sufficient liquid if he or she has a fever.

In addition, cool food such as ice cream or yoghurt can be offered. Also make sure that your baby is not wrapped too warm.Dress him in light clothing and change his clothes and bedding several times a day. To keep the air in the room a little cooler, where your baby is recovering, you can install a fan.

Do not point the fan directly at your feverish child, but place it away from the room to circulate the air. These measures should be taken when your baby has reached the peak of his or her fever. At the beginning, when the fever is still rising, babies and children show the typical shivering: for this time frame it is recommended to cover the child and to put something warm on him.

Your treating pediatrician or homeopath can give you information about homeopathic remedies to gently lower your baby’s fever. Important in the choice is the individual adaptation of the medicine to the symptoms and complaints of your baby in order to achieve improvement and relief. If your applied action does not achieve an effect after a maximum of three doses, you should discontinue treatment with this medicine and change to another remedy if necessary.

Dilutions D6 and D12 are most commonly administered in the form of so-called globules, small sugar-like balls that children can simply melt in their mouths or as a drop solution. The drops often contain alcohol, so you should not give them to your child in pure form. Add about five drops to a cup of lukewarm water.

The heat will cause the alcohol to evaporate. Afterwards you can give your baby a spoonful of the prepared solution. As long as the effect lasts, no further administration of the product is necessary.

When the effect subsides, administer the remedy again. However, if your child has very high temperatures of over 40.5°C, you should consult a doctor and use other antipyretic drugs and measures! The following are some homeopathic substances that are used for different types of fever: Together with your doctor, try to find a suitable homeopathic remedy for your baby’s fever that is suitable for the symptoms in question and try to change the healing substance if the desired effect is not achieved or even if the course of the fever has changed during treatment.

Belladonna, better known as deadly nightshade, is used in cases of high fever accompanied by cold hands and feet and a bright red face. In a dilution of D6 to D12, five drops are mixed in half a glass of water, of which one teaspoon is given to the sick child. Usually the fever is caused by a lot of sun or excitement and worsens with exposure to light.
Aconitum, also known as wolfsbane, which is used for sudden fever with aggravation by cold, shock or anger.
The fever is often accompanied by great thirst. Aconitum can be administered in dilutions D4 to D12.
-the Schuessler – salt No. 3, Ferrum phosphoricum, is used for fever by infections with at the same time dry hot skin and shivering.
The symptoms peak in the early morning hours. It is administered in the form of globules in the potency D6 to D12.
Pulsatilla (“the kitchen cuff”) is used in cases of variable fever. The children are usually lazy and lazy when drinking.

Calf compresses are a proven household remedy for fever reduction.

However, calf compresses should not be applied to cold hands or feet. These traditional compresses are good for children from the age of one. They are less suitable for children under one year of age, so it is recommended to rub the skin with lukewarm water instead.

Calf wraps reduce symptoms such as restlessness and dizziness and increase your baby’s well-being. A temperature reduction of about half a degree to one degree can be achieved with them. Use cotton or linen towels for the outer wraps and a simple tea towel or cloth diaper for the inner wraps.

Place the inner cloth in lukewarm water, wring it out briefly and then wrap it tightly around your child’s calves. Then wrap the outer diaper around the calves. Make sure that the water is not too cold.

Otherwise, the cold will constrict the blood vessels and the heat will be released less effectively. Important! Stay with your child during the wraps and observe him/her.

If it freezes, remove the nappies immediately!If your child gets along well with the calf nappies, leave them for about five to fifteen minutes. The initial cold stimulus activates the metabolism as well as the blood circulation and thus enables the body to release the heat to the environment. If the wrap is as warm as the skin, change it and apply fresh calf wraps after a few minutes.

It is not unusual for babies to get a fever when teething. However, it usually does not rise to temperatures above 38°C and subsides again after a few days. If the temperature does rise a little higher, you should first try to dab the baby a little with a wet cloth.

The water should not be too cold, however, as babies cool down very easily. If the fever persists or rises at night, parents can take Nurofen®, which is generally effective and will soon reduce the fever. If the fever remains constant at high levels for several days, a visit to the paediatrician should be considered in order to rule out possible infections as the cause.

The simultaneous occurrence of fever and diarrhea suggests that the infection is an infection. The most important thing now is that the child drinks enough to replace the loss of fluid through diarrhoea and sweating. Cold tea with a little sugar is best suited for this.

Carbonated drinks should be avoided, as these would further irritate the intestines. To lower the fever, you can easily dab the baby with wet cloths. You should also make sure that the water is not too cold, as babies cool down very quickly.

If this does not help, you can give the child a few drops of Nurofen®. If the symptoms persist for several days or become worse, it is advisable to consult a pediatrician. Paracetamol as suppositories (dose: 125mg to 10.

5kg body weight, 250mg to approx. 25kg, beyond that 500mg per dose or an appropriate quantity as juice or tablet) is most frequently prescribed. The administration of a fever medication should be no more than three times a day.

As an alternative to the drug paracetamol, ibuprofen can also be taken in children. ASA (aspirin) can also be given from the fourth month of life onwards, but only if the above medicines do not work. In addition, ASA should never be given in the case of fever associated with chickenpox.

Furthermore, a fever medication should not be underdosed for fear of the side effects. Fever suppositories are a very proven remedy against fever of unknown, but also known, causes and are therefore often used in the treatment of infants and babies in everyday clinical practice. In Germany, fever suppositories containing the active ingredients paracetamol and ibuprofen are mainly used.

These drugs are generally very well tolerated by children. However, it must be noted that ibuprofen may only be used in small children from 6 months of age. Depending on the child’s body weight, there are different fever suppositories with different amounts of the respective active ingredient.

They can be administered up to 4 times a day. When the use of fever suppositories is advisable depends, among other things, on the age of the child. For example, the use in babies is already justified at a temperature of 38.5°C, as higher temperatures are very strenuous for the still young body.

In addition, it is advisable to use it from 38°C on for children who have already suffered from one or more febrile convulsions in their lifetime. If these exceptions do not apply, febrile suppositories should only be used at a temperature of about 39°C. One should not forget that fever is a natural reaction of the body to an infection in order to inhibit the growth of the pathogens.

The most common side effects include skin rashes, gastrointestinal disorders and damage to the liver. In general, however, the active ingredients are very well tolerated and the described side effects occur only in very rare cases. It is important to know that fever suppositories do not require a prescription and can be bought in a pharmacy. However, if a prescription is made, most health insurance companies will cover the costs for children up to 12 years of age.