Baby temperature over 40

[BeALovingFamily]

My baby was crying so I went in and when I picked her up I could tell straightaway that she was burning up. Even her legs were hot to touch.

Temperature was over 40. I undressed her, gave Nurofen and let her feed. She's been trying to drift off for 2 hours now but she seems too uncomfortable to sleep. She seems to be breathing quite rapidly (not struggling for breath where the chest goes in, just breathing fast) Is it worrying? What shall I do?

I'm.scared that I'll fall asleep and won't know if her temperature goes up again, but I'm also scared she won't sleep at all and I won't be a functioning parent to my other DC in the morning.

What more can I do?,

How old is she?

You say over 40’c
What isher actual temperature ?
And has it come down with calpol?

Did she feed? Is she hard to wake?

Flaring nostrils?
Pulling in at her stomach or around the ribs?

How fast is she breathing, Can you count them, in and out is classed as 1 breath.

In most cases, You treat the child rather than the actual temperature

What pp said above. Also to add is she weeing?

11 months. Well the first one said 41.2 but its not a very precise thermometer, you just wave it in front of the forehead and each time it varies a bit, so on average just above 40.

She did feed and the temperature came down. She's not hard to wake, she's very wakeful. Either crying or having random burst of chatting. No flaring nostrils.or pulling in.

She's had a runny nose with thick green snot and a bit of a chesty cough this week but seemed to have really turned a corner the last couple of days, I really didn't expect a setback

Agree with above PP, need to know age as certain temp is more worrying in babies than, say, in toddlers.

My 3 year old DD used to get a raging temp whenever she had any kind of a cold or viral infection and I was always on edge. The advice was that as long as she was drinking and passing urine, and wasn't listless/ lethargic it could be managed at home with nurofen and/or calpol. I used to set my alarm for every 2 hours so that I could check that she was responding to the medicines.

If you're in the UK, call 111 if you're really worried. They'll run through a number of questions and can arrange for out of hours GP phone call/ hospital visit if necessary.

Hope your little one will be OK.

Call 111, anything over 39 at that age I'd be thinking a trip to the hospital just to on the safe side

Sorry, cross posted.

Thank you, I'll set an alarm to check regularly. She has just fallen asleep on me and is making me so warm! Ill stay sleeping next to her. The thing that freaked me out is the first time she was boiling hot but not sweating. Isn't that really bad? Since I've taken all her clothes off she's sweating profusely.

She has been drinking and I've just changed a full nappy so all OK on that front.

She definitely doesn't seem A&E type of bad so i thought about 111 but the last two times we've called them we were only called back the next day, so we're unlikely to get advice before the morning.

She shouldne be left naked,
Very lightweight summer pjs are a good option
No vest and no socks

Babies with a temperature dont tend to sweat

www.nhs.uk/conditions/fever-in-children/

I always just follow whatever the NHS says. It tells you exactly what to look for to warrant a 111 call and they can signpost.

Depending on your answers depends when and if you will talk to a dr via 111

She is getting your heat while she is on you, so try put her down

Call 111. Don't mess about with a temp that high in a baby.

Oh no, she is naked is that really bad? I was going to swap her long sleeves for a short sleeve vest but couldn't bring myself to put anything on her when she was so hot already. It's 24 in the room.

Naked isnt good with a temperature as it can send the body into shock
She needs something on

Put the lightest short sleeve / short pjs on if you have something similar

@potato28 yes being on me was not helping, but she was getting worked up crying if she wasn't on me and getting herself hotter that way, so it seemed the lesser of 2 evils. I've managed to put her down now though.

Temperature says 37.5 so much, much better.

If you can bring it down with meds that's good. Feeding also good.

37.5 is normal now
So thats good
If you can put light pjs on her, thats best

Have you a fan you can face towards your baby, but not too close, as a room temperature of 24C is too hot, but we can't do much about room temperatures in the UK as air conditioning is not usual in domestic homes here.

Older healthy children, and most adult bodies, are able to regulate our internal temperatures between quite a large difference in outside temperatures (as long as we "listen" to our bodies and drink - and to some extent eat - when our bodies are telling us too. They (our bodies) can also tell us to take off or put more clothing on, seek shade or sources of heat etc. But young children, the elderly and the infirm, have either not yet acquired that ability, or have lost it again - I'm in the losing it again camp these days!

If you can't do anything about the room temperature, and if your baby's temperature keeps fluctuating (and stops responding to the Calpol), then I think that you should ring 111 for advice - I would expect them to respond to a baby's temperature of even 39C% temperature within 20 minutes to half an hour maximum.

By the way, stripping a small child's clothes off (you can keep the nappy on) and sponging them with tepid water - where if you put it on the inside of your arm and the water doesn't seem cold or warm to you, or only a little bit warm - can help them cool down more quickly, but don't dry them. The slightly warm water actually evaporates more quickly than cold water, and therefore cools the child down more quickly. You should only need to sponge the areas that the baby is not lying on, and don't do their hands or feet - the extremities could potentially get a bit too cold, but that may just be me being over cautious with babies...

If your dear little one's temperature doesn't settle, but keeps on going back up to 40+% more often than you can keep giving Calpol, then I do think that a visit to your nearest A&E is advisable.

Some 💐 for you @BeALovingFamily because I know how worrying it is when our children aren't well, and also the probable reduction in sleep for the caregiver can just make it all that much harder. Is there anyone who could help you with your other children in the morning?

Thank you all. The fever didn't go up again, but then night was horrendous. She just kept screaming and not sleeping longer than 10 minutes at a time. She's usually a brilliant sleeper.

The only way to keep her calm was to lie her next to me so she could be constantly latched on. Even then she constantly woke but would have more milk then would nod off again.

I got no sleep at all and can't quite figure out what's wrong, she seems pretty normal this morning, it's baffling.