DS (12) woke up with a really sore throat and 38.3 fever. Of course he's home from school today. He and DD (9) aren't ill very often, so I'm a little out of practice treating him. I don't think he needs a doctor just yet as it's the first day, but I will keep an open mind for later.
Should I be giving him paracetomol or Nurofen for the fever, or would that prevent his body fighting whatever bug he's got? I've seen reports saying that you shouldn't automatically reduce a fever unless the child is really miserable, but I can remember when DCs were small taking them to the GP and them telling me to give Calpol for fever.
My mother never hesitated to reduce a fever when my siblings and I were young, and she would be shocked to hear me even consider leaving it in my DS. But my DH is VERY anti-medicating fever because he thinks the fever is there to fight the infection and you're prolonging it if you mask the fever with anti-pyretics.
None of us of course has any medical expertise, but I was just wondering if there was a consensus on treating fevers that spring up in the course of childhood infections. If his fever spikes later today, whether I treat it now or not, I probably will phone the GP for advice, but for now I don't think it's that serious - I just don't want him unnecessarily uncomfortable.