As a parent, seeing your kid with a fever sucks and they can be very scary. Once you have context of the fever, you’re able to take some of the emotion out of the issue and use some logic. Hopefully this gives you a bit of insight to assess the situation.
Why does my child have a fever?
A fever is your child’s intelligent genetic natural ability to fight off bacteria and/or a virus. We use heat to kill off pathogens that might be lurking in our food. Your child’s body does the exact same thing. The cool thing is that your child’s body doesn’t have to get to 120+ degrees to kill everything.
Most bacteria do not live above 120°F, and as you increase the temperature you kill more of them. At 102°F most bacteria can no longer reproduce, which is the protective nature of human fevers. – Dr. Terry Simpson MD
A fever is an aspect of inflammation. Inflammation is a function of your immune system. In an acute phase, inflammation is great because it’s signaling your body to fight. Be thankful that your child has a fever. It means that his or her body is capable of fighting. Long term is where problems arise and this is why I think so many parents quickly jump to a fever reducer. We hear scary stories of brain swelling and think the child’s head is going to explode.
Since 102°F will drastically limit the ability of a bacteria to reproduce, let the fever ride. With my own kids, I plan on letting it ride for 2-3 days. If after 3 days it hasn’t come down then I look for an intervention to bring it down. But having that game plan going into this time helps me not screw up the intelligent design of their body.
Ultimately the fever is trying to slow your kid down to conserve energy. The immune system uses a lot of energy. Your kid will be lethargic, that’s ok. Being active takes a lot of energy. Digestion takes a lot of energy. Your kid won’t have an appetite, that’s ok.
NOTE: My kids at age 3 ½ and 1 ½ have never had a fever above 102°F last for more than a day. They also have never had an antibiotic, Aspirin, Tylenol, or Advil. I will detail why I think our kids have been fever less at the end of this post. This isn’t to brag but to give hope and possibly take some fear out of parenting.
Why does a fever yo-yo?
Your child’s fever will yo-yo because your child’s body is intelligent. A fever, much less one that goes up and down is your kid’s internal genius expressing.
You’ve probably noticed that the fever is best in the morning when your child wakes up and will be highest at night after dinner. You get frustrated because you thought your child was getting better. You immediately think things are taking a turn for the worse and you break initial plan of letting it ride for 3 days and start easing the fever with fever reducers.
The next morning comes and the fever is better. You back off on the fever reducers and to your dismay, the fever is worse again at night. Panic starts, even though the fever hasn’t broken a high threshold for more than a couple hours. When I say I plan on letting the fever ride for 3 days at 102° to 104°, I mean there’s no change. If it’s dipping down to 101° in the morning and then back to 103° at night, I’m ok.
It sucks for the child and for the parent watching, but it’s ok.