Many parents panic when their child has a fever. The first time my child spiked a temperature of 102.5 °F/ 39 °C, I was very upset too.
It is a scary thing to hold your child and they are hot, flushed and obviously very uncomfortable.
It is important to learn ways to manage your child’s fever and not lower it artificially with over the counter medications. The journal Pediatrics recommends as much suggesting that parents let fevers run their course in healthy children. (1)
It would be best if you just threw these drugs away and don’t even have them in your medicine cabinet because even infrequent use of an over-the-counter drug like Tylenol has been linked with serious, lifelong illness like asthma.
Instead of panicking, honor your child’s fever and learn to use it constructively to improve your child’s health and vitality over the long term, because, believe it or not, fevers are fabulous and accomplish important things in a child’s developing body.
I am one of seven children, so we had a lot of fevers going around our home during cold/flu season. Despite this, my Father who is a retired Family Physician never succumbed to treating a fever with meds.
Ever.
He taught us that bringing down a fever only prolonged the illness and weakened vitality for the next illness to come. I remember him saying, “No, I can’t bring down your fever because you’ll get sicker quicker and next time it will be worse.”
Repeated forced reduction of childhood fever has been linked to childhood cancer. And eliminating fever will usually cause a secondary infection.
When you bring down a fever you start a domino effect toward antibiotic use.
In other words, if you want to avoid antibiotics, don’t bring down the fever! Fever reduction suppresses the immune system. Your child is trying to get well himself with the fever and when you bring it down you are opening him up to a secondary bacterial infection that will further entrench the virus or bacteria. It cannot be stressed enough that fever has an important role to play in your child’s overall well being.
Why Do We Get Fevers?
Why do our bodies produce fever? One reason is that fevers greatly slow down pathogens. Fevers are a highly beneficial immune response that we suppress to our detriment.
The “germ” – bacteria or virus causing the child’s distress typically replicates every few minutes and the fever slows this process down. Fevers work to slow down the spread and severity of the illness and are your friend in avoiding a secondary infection (usually respiratory illness), a trip to the doctor and a script for antibiotics.
So treating a fever with meds to bring it down gives free license to the virus or bacteria to spread in an unrestrained manner. And don’t panic if your child’s temperature gets to 102-103 °F/ 38-39 °C – this is actually the ideal range for a fever.
I can’t tell you how many times my children have spiked a beautiful fever of about 102-103 °F for a few hours with no other symptoms whatsoever.
When the fever resolved, the illness was over. No cough, no rash, sinus congestion, no nothing. Just a fever and that’s it. I can almost guarantee that if I had forcibly brought the fever down with meds, they would have gotten a secondary illness on top of the fever. Probably a cough or sinus congestion would have quickly appeared morphing from an afternoon of chills and discomfort into a two week ordeal with a trip to the doctor and prescription meds.
Treating a Fever With No Meds
I find that holding your child is the best home remedy for fever. When they are feverish, they want to be with you. Put on a light robe and crash on the couch with your child and hold her for hours if you need to. If you let the fever go and just let the child’s body do what it is trying to do, the fever won’t last very long — just a few hours.
You can take their temperature if you want to, but it is not necessary. Put your lips on your child’s forehead, and if the child seems hot, you know she has a fever. I can tell within a half a degree what the temperature is using this method with no thermometer required. Many children find it distressing to use a thermometer when they are ill anyway. My dad taught me this trick–he never took our temperatures. He knew the temperature.
Sometimes a fever will go for three days. It will go up and down, with peaks and valleys, and it usually peaks about 4-6 in the afternoon. If your child has a fever in the afternoon followed by a good night’s sleep and no fever in the morning, that doesn’t mean he is over it. Don’t send him to school until you know what happens at 4-6 in the afternoon. The fever is likely to come back in a lot of cases. Until you’ve passed a late afternoon with no fever, your child is not yet on the road to recovery.
Should You Feed or Starve a Fever?
My father taught me that food will naturally drop a fever within about 20 minutes. This drop will last for an hour or two. My father always believed that it was fine to feed a child with a fever if the child was willing to eat. But don’t force food if he doesn’t want it. And you don’t have to give your child a lot of food. Just a few bites of scrambled egg or a few sips of homemade broth can bring that fever down a bit. It will not make the fever go away but will manage it hopefully within the ideal 102-103 degree range.
High Fevers
If a child’s fever is very high–over 103.5 degrees F – then you need to take steps to bring it down down. One method for treating a fever naturally to bring it down without any meds is a cool water enema. Enemas have such a bad rap! Nobody likes them but they are a very effective remedy for many things.
You can get an enema bag from any pharmacy for about ten dollars and they’re incredibly easy to administer. If the fever is getting really high, just get a thick beach towel and put it in the tub. Lay your child on his side without taking clothes off. Slide their pajamas down a little. Place 1/2 to 1 quart warm filtered water in the bag and insert the enema nozzle lubricated with a bit of coconut oil. Your child will start to feel pressure and will want to go to the bathroom–the water usually doesn’t run out. Then gently put him on the toilet and let him go. This will bring the fever down by a degree or two.
Are High Fevers Dangerous?
High fevers– those that range between 104 and 105 F – are not dangerous in themselves. But they make the metabolism run very fast and increase the risk of dehydration. Blood sugar often drops with the metabolism running at this high level, which can lead to convulsions. To prevent this, have your child sip fresh fruit juice diluted 50% with filtered water to keep tissues hydrated and blood sugar levels in the normal range. If your child is too lethargic or won’t take anything, you can administer about 4 ounces of diluted fruit juice rectally using a $2 bulb syringe. Again, this is so easy to do! The body will absorb it rectally very quickly. Don’t worry – it won’t run out and make a mess. This may save you a trip to the emergency room.
Fevers rapidly deplete vitamin A so be sure to give your child drops of high vitamin cod liver oil under the tongue while the fever is running its course.
Fever Baths or Infrared Saunas To Hasten Healing
Sometimes a child will run a low-grade fever day after day and not seem to get better. In that case, you can help her generate a higher fever to help resolve the illness more quickly with a fever bath. Put her in the tub. Fill it with water as hot as she can stand. You can get it hotter if you put them in the tub while you are filling it. You want it pretty hot, but still comfortable! No need to fill it all the way as this might be too hot. Just have her sit in the tub and fill it to the navel.
Leave her in the bath for 10-12 minutes, then get her out, dry her quickly and wrap her up snugly. Put her into bed, well covered up. This should help the fever rise to the point where it can be effective in resolving the illness. By morning, she may have a normal temperature.
I have used the fever bath method for treating a fever on myself with great results too! Be sure to be drinking plenty of fluids.
Another option is to use a near infrared sauna to gently raise body temperature by a few degrees to hasten healing by stimulating the immune system. I recently used this method to successfully stave off a serious virus that was going around our community. About 30 minutes in a near-infrared sauna powered by safe incandescent bulbs (I use this one) will successfully achieve this immune system enhancement.
Note that I do NOT recommend far infrared saunas due to the health implications from the EMFs and flicker stress from the LED lights.
References
(1) Fever and Antipyretic Use in Children
(2) The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Childcare, p. 220
(3) Advice on treating fevers from an old-fashioned medical doctor (My Dad!)
I like this article — I agree with most of what you said, except your method for cooling down the fever. My 7-year-old just had a 3-day fever that we let run its course, and it did in fact peak between 4-6 in the afternoon. Here is a link to the method we use to bring the fever out of the head and help it be more effective through the body:
Also, in my experience, after a good fever, children go through a developmental growth spurt. Our bodies are pretty darned amazing….and mysterious!
If your baby is not amenable to the cod liver oil under the tongue, it can be applied to his/her skin at diaper change.
All this talk of beneficial fevers … please, can anyone else explain low temp fevers? I have had this since childhood. With scarlet fever at age 5, my temperature went down while my sister’s soared. There have been times as an adult when I went to the ER, very ill, once with two different sources of infection, and the triage nurse took my temp and said “95?!?” I have been denied treatment for not having an elevated temperature, sometimes not even registering on the disposable thermometers. The thing is, I feel hot, flushed, sweaty, and feverish when my temperature dips. Go figure! Normal for me is 96.3-97.7.
I have a daughter who experiences the same drop in temperature when sick. The school nurse never believed her …. Her norm is 97.5. I’d like to know how to treat these types of temperatures too.
What do we do if they are in pain and uncomfortable? I am dealing with a feverish little girl that is congested. She just turned 2.
The only fever I’ve had in the last 20 years (I’m almost 60) was very mild. I’ve had a few cases of strep and not run a fever then. That being said, I have’t been sick in over 2 years and very rarely get anything. Does the fact that I don’t run fevers when I’m ill mean that my immune system is compromised?
Like others I have not been quick to break my kids fevers. I would give a touch of Tylenol to help them sleep, but after reading her thoughts no more of that either. Plus here are a few things I have done to help, tips I got from a Naturopathic Dr. Soak a pair of socks in ice water, quickly put them on and then put on a second pair of wool socks on top. Leave them on until the icy socks are dry or almost. Dr. said this helps bring the heat out of thier head and make them more comfy. I do a version of this with those little bo bo buddies you put in the freezer to use on bumps. Put on a pair of thin socks and using a second pair to hold the bo bo buddy on the bottom of the foot. You can also wrap cold wet cloths around the wrist and the lower leg, about a third of the way down from the knee. Dr. Also said lemon grass tea would help too. I have used all of the above with success. I mainly use the cold feet tricks. It has brought the fever down a bit and has helped them sleep and feel more comfortable at least. Having sick kids is such a struggle, parents always want to do what is best and there is so much information to consider. I pray a lot for God to help me see what is the best path to take and so far I have not been steared wrong. My oldest who is six has never been to the dr sick. Child #2 only once and he is 4 12. He did need antibitics, i made the dr use penicillin and gave it to him in lower doses than was told and it worked fine. Child #3 who is three, only once at one month old. He only had a fever and was sleeping a lot and I only took him in because he was born with one kidney enlarged and dr told me that could make him more likly to get UTIs. Fever was coming down by the time he saw a dr. No meds of course and no UTI. I have spent years researching health topics and have found westeren medicine has its place but that it is riddled with a lot of bad advice and advice given for the interest of money. There is a balance that we all must find. Good luck to all on their path to health and well being.
Great article with some great information.
I have never brought down a fever my toddlers have had. Never. The highest one was 104.
What I do is, keep them close, sleep with them, make sure they’re hydrated, give lots of cuddles and put peppermint oil on their temples and bottom of feet.
It always works and they always come out better for it
Just last week my 10-month-old had a fever of 105. I kept him next to me all night and watched him closely. He was sleeping off and on and still nursing fine, so I didn’t do anything. The fever broke by early morning and he was fine the next day. My 2-year-old had strep throat and a high fever for several days last spring. I took him to the dr. because he seemed lethargic, but I didn’t give him the antibiotics. He slept a lot and recovered on his own. He didn’t act like he was in a lot of pain, just very tired (he’s a tough little guy). I also skipped the antibiotics when my baby had an ear infection. I just messaged his ear with warm oil (combination of olive and lavender), took him to the chiropractor twice, and waited it out. He was fine after a few days.
Then you are lucky – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-strep-victim-s-mother-will-be-held-accountable-say-police-1.2437558
So you ignored the medicine from your doctor. .. are you aware you could’ve really hurt your toddler? I don’t know about your doctor, by my baby’s doctor doesn’t normally give antibiotics so when she does it’s serious.
Look, I think here is some really interesting information here. There are suggestions offered but at some point, common sense has to prevail and the assumption when posting something like this, is that people will take on board some new information and may possibly have a new idea for next time.
I don’t think it was intended as advice to forgo medical advice or attention.
One would think that you would run any new ideas by a medical practitioner rather than ignoring their advice, anyway.
Thank you for your post, I think you have some great ideas which go really well along with medical advice and to replace mainstream “fix it” meds, when symptoms can be managed naturally.