5 fevers in her 8 months

[BillyBB]

Hi guys,

My daughter is 8 months old and has had a fever every month or so for the past 5 months. 2 of them have been so severe we've had to go into hospital so she can be tested/monitored/given fluids (nothing at all showed up). Do you think this is something we should be concerned about or is it just a case of babies just picking things up because the don't have a great immune system at this age?

Any help much appreciated!
Billy

For my dc, it would have been normal for dd2 and ds. (#2 and 3). Ds had constant ear infections at that age, and when I'm talking constant it was 2-3 a month with needing antibiotics to clear them. When he didn't have ear infections he went for viral rashes, normally large, non-fading and dramatic. We knew A&E very well.
Dd2 was more inclined for the dramatically high temperature (41 deg happened on more than one occasion), but nothing else they could find normally.

However dd1 didn't, probably because she wasn't being exposed to germs free of charge from her older siblings.

Does your dd do nursery? That can mean they're picking up things. If she's not having contact with others, I'd be more concerned, but even so is likely to be just one of those things.
I'm assuming they've checked bloods in testing, so they'll have checked things like immune response.

Yeah she hasn't been doing a lot of hanging out with other kids because everything has been closed in lockdown. Last time we went into hospital she had every test under the sun (blood, urine, stool, spinal fluid etc) and everything came back clear. They said the fever was a good sign of an immune system doing what it should be.

Hopefully it is just one of those things. That seemed to be the sentiment of the doctors in hospital. Can't help but worry, though.

DS was the same, unfortunately.

He had a fever at 10 days, that nobody could explain but saw us in hospital, was fine to 4 months when he caught RSV and from then on it was one thing after another... until he was about 2.

In that time he’s been admitted to hospital maybe... 3 times? With very high fevers, and maybe... 6 or 7 a&e trips with the same?

It was mostly tonsillitis that he seemed to suddenly grow out of, but bloody hell those first two years were hellish.

Of course you're concerned. But some kids just get fevers. One of DD's friends was hospitalised with fevers many times as an infant, even now at almost 4yo; every cough or cold turns into a stonking fever (40+ often 42 degrees).

DD went through a similar spate of illness but only when she started nursery (two fever hospitalisations in a year, but unrelated two burst ear drums in separate ear infections).

You're doing the right thing getting your DD checked out, of course. But I'd bet my bottom dollar it's just the way her immune system is set up.

Appreciate the help and personal accounts, guys. Hopefully we can just keep it under control and ride it out. Even-more-hopefully we don't have a kid that gets sick every month for the next 2 years