Fever Fears

A fever is a good thing. It means your child's immune system is doing it's job by fighting an underlying cold or another infection. The brain commands the body's temperature to rise, which in turn directs the white blood cells to attack and destroy invading viruses and bacteria.

FIRST RESPONSE

As a parent, what you should do about a fever depends largely on your child's age and the reading. If he's less than three months old, anything above 38ºC warrants a quick call to the doctor. Because an infants immune system isn't fully developed, he's vulnerable to potentially life-threatening infections like bacterial meningitis and pneumonia, and an elevated body temperature is often the only symptom.

Between three and six months, your child needs to be examined by his pediatrician once his fever hits 38.3ºC, says Steven Shelov, M.D., editor-in-chief of American Academy of Pediatrics' Caring for your Baby and Young Child.

Once your child is older than six months, you can safely wait to contact your doctor until his temperature rises to 39.4ºC, with this important exception. Phone right away if his fever hits 38.8ºC or above and he has two or more of these symptoms: a cough, a sore-throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headaches, chills, fatigue, and diarrhea. These classic H1N1 flu symptoms, which are strikingly similar those for seasonal influenza, tend to occur within 24 hours at the onset of a fever, and your pediatrician might recommend that she take an anti-viral drug to reduce the severity and duration of his symptoms.