When would you call pedi for fever?

[poppy523]

L has a fever around 101.8. She is acting pretty sick, not eating and lying around, like anyone would. It started yesterday and is still going today? Tylenol and Motrin bring it down, when would you call pedi? She isn't acting like her ears hurt but I don't know for sure because she never acts like they hurt even when they do.

[photomama1990]

I would call. I am not a run to the doctor person, but fevers scare me. They will either tell you to keep up what you're doing or to bring her in. No harm done for piece of mind!

[expatmama]

I usually wait a few days to see if it goes down on its own, unless there seems to be anything out of the ordinary. But they never dole out antibiotics here until at least 5 days have passed, so it's just a pain for us to go down to the peds only to be told to go home and rest. DS1 is prone to ear infections, or at least fluid build up in his ear, but it has been tough to pinpoint because he never complains of pain, he just has diminished hearing. We have been in during the last few colds a bit earlier just got get a look at his ears so we can figure out what is going on, but it has not made a difference in his recovery time. He doesn't get any meds or anything, they are just trying to assess if he needs tubes.

[magaroni86]

I usually wait a few days. Although scary fevers aren't necessarily a bad thing because they help our LOs fight off infections. I only take DD if she has a high fever, lasts more than 3-4 days, trouble breathing, or signs of an ear infection because otherwise it's likely viral and there isn't much else to do.

[dc2london]

If the fever is responding to medication and/or tepid baths I would definitely treat it at home. Every time we go into the pedi we bring home something worse than the original illness that brought us in.

[poppy523]

Okay, great, thanks ladies! The fever does respond to meds and baths and L acts like herself once we get the fever down so I will wait. Taking my three month old to the sick room makes me squeamish so I would rather not go in unless we have to.

[seadragon2013]

Good luck! For a moderate fever, we will call if it sticks around for more than three days or is accompanied by a rash, extreme crankiness, or breathing problems. That said, with those standards, we've called the advice line three times in the past three weeks, taken DS in to the Dr once, and had two telephone appointments. Cold and flu season sucks!

[ally2011]

We are dealing with this too, I did call the nurse line and am treating at home for now. I trust them bc they often lean that way, so if they ever do tell me I should bring her in, I know I really should since it is not their go-to. I was worried about croup coming on as we had a very scary experience last summer that involved the ER. A nurse friend said since my dd was eating and drinking (not great but ok) that it was probably not flu....that was the other thing I was wondering if we should get tested to get tamiflu if so. She had her flu shot but of course that is no guarantee. She said she would also be more puny probably and stay that way even when temp came down. I read something that said the same thing....less likely to be serious if they are more normal when temp comes down. Oh, and my nurse said you only need to treat fevers under 102 if they are uncomfortable, otherwise it is good to let the fever do it's job. That's probably also true over 102, but I think that is usually a level that makes everyone uncomfortable. I slept with my dd the night before last and put her in our bed last night just to keep an eye on her breathing bc if my croup fears. Hugs to you and I hope that both of our dd's only have a minor virus and are better soon!

[summer]

Our pediatrician has us wait until the fever is over 102.5 for the older kids, and tells us just to give Tylenol and tepid baths.

[itsmetarheel]

DH would say wait until it is closer to 104. DS had a 103 fever last week that responded to Tylenol and lowered over several subsequent days until it went away completely.

I would just say lay low and hang out around the house.