to think this is tantamount to child cruelty?

[70schild]

Or maybe I am massively over reacting?

My friends is refusing to give her little girl calpol to reduce her temperature as she claims it is counter-productive.

She is saying that a raised temp is the bodies way of killing off a viral infection and so we shouldnt interfere with it.

I always thought that a raised temp was a by product (ie consequence) of the body fighting off a virus (an indication that the immune system was working)

She admits that her daughter (aged 17 months) has had a temp of over 40 at times during the weekend but she still refuses to either give her calpol or even to put a fan on her.

It is really upsetting me because my little one who is the same age is just so poorly when his temp goes up and I do all I can to bring it down and make him comfortable.

I always thought it was dangerous to let their temp go too high?

One of my NCT group got quite into homeopathy. Next thing I heard was that her little girl had been rushed to hospital having had a 15 minute fit. I don't know for sure that she didn't medicate, but I did wonder. Thankfully she was OK.

But surely you give Calpol to relieve the aches and pains mainly? Or at least I do. The fever I don't worry about too much (although do whack on a cool and soothe) but always give calpol as I know dd is in pain too

I rarely medicate the boys, luckily they're not ill often. But when ds2 gets ill his temperature rockets and it's really scary. I've been on here a couple of times asking about combining calpol/nurofen. So, yes. anything over 40 definitely, over 39 for ds2, probably. otherwise I'll leave it.

I don't treat dd's temperature. I treat her. If she is uncomfortable and unhappy or in pain then yes I will give her medicine but a temperature, to my mind, is a good indication of her body fighting infection. Likewise if she was in pain with no temperature, I would give her medicine. As it's not the temp but the speed at which it rises that is the convulsion risk, I don't see a temp as a 'problem' in itself. It's her body doing a job.

I keep an eye on her temp if it's up, dress her appropriately and remove bedding for her personal comfort but I don't medicate just to bring a temperature down.

Your friend's situation is more complicated than this though and the crux of the problem is allowing her child to be uncomfortable and in pain. This is different to not medicating a temperature.

I don't think it is child cruelty....I agree with your friend actually. However, I do give Nurofen to the children if they are very poorly. I think any over-the-counter medicines are bad tbh, but that doesn't mean I won't ever give them / take them. I give them if I think the child will sleep better as a result, because sleep above all else seems to aid recovery.

not sure this is the place for this really, but just wanted to add a cautionary note - not all convulsions are febrile.

My niece (aged 21m) had had a couple of fits, the doc hadn't seen them but "dismissed" them as febrile convulsions (if they had happened at all, was his implication). She had one on Boxing Day at my parents' house; my sis said she'd had them before, her DP said they'd been told they were febrile convulsions, I pointed out that a fever was usually present with febrile convulsions (hence the name) - and she didn't have a fever.
She had a brain tumour. It was removed a couple of weeks later, successfully.

On the same note Thumbwitch,I was told that not all convulsions due to fever are necessarily febrile convulsions. We were told by one doctor that ds's fcs may be actually caused by epilepsy,where the trigger was a temperature.
Because he had so many of them and at a lot older than the norm, he had a full battery of tests including eeg and a brain scan, which ruled out epilepsy.