At what temp do you reach for the medication for your child?

[3volution]

i just wanted to check at what temp do people reach for the medication?

A little background: My DD who is 5 has had a temp for 2 days, luckily no other symptoms as yet she has been fine otherwise and seems herself, apart from feeling cold (room temp 20 degrees). She's been hovering between 38.5 and 39.3 during the day, i've been doing the scheduled Calpol dose every 4-5 hours.

Last night it peaked at 39.5 so i gave Nurofen which brought it down.
Its been approx 8 hours since the last dose of meds and now her temp is 38.2, should i still give her Calpol?

I usually tend to only give medication above 38.5, my thinking is that i need to let the body fight the viral infection.

At what temp would you reach for the medication?

I don't go by the number.

My DC are old enough now to explain if anything hurts or if they're just tired/hot/cold.

I will give painkillers if they're in pain. But if it's just a fever then generally I don't medicate so as to leave the fever to do the job it's intended to.

The one time dc had a febrile convulsion was when I went against the advice to use medicine to lower temp only if not right in themselves in addition to temp. I took on others insistence to treat for the temp itself and have since learnt it’s the fluctuation in temp that causes it not the height of it itself. Dr said it’s no coincidence it happened just as they were due a dose and the artificial management of the temp rather than letting the body deal with it was a likely contributor.

No, not what you should do at all. Unless you’re a doctor? 38 is classed as a high temp and considering children can get sepsis / igas / meningitis and never breach 38 you really do need to get some advice. This is advice I received from the many, many GPs and ECPs and pediatricians I know both within family, friends and neighbours. Lol unrelated but I see more GPs outside my surgery than inside it.

This is what the NHS says about febrile seizures. It’s the having a short temp of under 40 (and not being treated for it) that’s a big risk factor for one offs.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/febrile-seizures/

Treat the child not the temp.

Happy and playing at 39? Fine

Sad and miserable at 37.9? Needs calpol

I feel unusual for not having a 'policy' for this. I have 2 children, 5 and 2, and can count on one hand the times they've had a temperature. The oldest one definitely hasn't had calpol since the age of 2. The toddler has had it perhaps once. Both attend nursery and I work in a school so plenty of germs about. Do other people's children really get temperatures that often? I don't take their temperature unless they seem particularly unwell in themselves or hot to touch.

@Whee wow. My kids both shoot up to 40 even with just a slight cold

Both mine are incredibly prone to temperatures, my daughter could go to 40 degrees if you looked at her the wrong way while she was teething. Some kids are just more or less prone to them.

I don’t own a thermometer and never have.
Numbers don’t interest me but touch and symptoms do.
if warm to touch but eating, drinking, playing and happy then I would not be medicating.
If hot to touch with other symptoms, including pain or discomfort then I would give for the painkiller aspect of the medication.

Temperature is a normal and natural response to infection, bugs don’t like heat so it’s the bodies way of fighting off infection. By lowering temperature just because of a number, surely you are restricting the natural defences.
Of course if the child is tiny and prone to febrile convulsions then ABSOLUTELY temperate should be monitored and controlled but for usually healthy kids having usual everyday childhood mild illness, I tend to let the body do it’s stuff.

Medicate at 38.7 generally but lower if miserable. Might well be more like 38 at bed time.

Level they're miserable at seems to vary quite a lot. Older one can hide a temp very well then suddenly crashes out, younger one is generally miserable before the the temp arrives. Ended up discovering a 39.9 temp in older child when I was doing a routine pre vaccine check - she'd been at preschool all morning with no comments on being quiet or off colour 🙈. I thought the thermometer was wrong because she seemed fine.

I don’t take a temp. Usually if my child is unwell and miserable I’ll treat it. Usually I can tell if they are hot or not cold hands and feet etc but generally I just ride it out, plenty fluids, cuddles and medicine if needed.

only thing that really worries me is my youngest asthma exacerbations , he’s been very poorly several times so am v careful and seek advice/med attention early on I think gp thinks I’m a bit neurotic.

This

Ds had febrile convulsion at 12 months and went straight into another while in ambulance.
I was really anxious after with temps, but was told by GP after, calpol and nurofen won’t prevent convulsion as it’s not how high the temp goes, it’s the speed it shoots up . The pain killers will give some relief to child if uncomfortable and if not coming down with them , it may be some serious infection going on but it won’t stop a convulsion. There was no clue as to why Ds had one at 12m he showed no signs of being poorly it came out of the blue . I still give every 4 hours when he has one .