Last night Timothy started getting a fever around 7 or 8. His doctor's appt. had been at 9 in the am, and he had no reaction to the shots up until that point. It started out slight, but then he got really hot and just stayed in my arms, sleeping off and on. I figured it was just a reaction to the shots and nothing to worry about. But then he was warm enough that I got the thermometer to check. An under-arm temp of 100. I don't have a lot of experience with really sick kids, but I vaguely remembered from the time I called for Justin that a temp can be fairly high and still ok for a child that young. I wasn't worried, I just figured I'd just keep him undressed and make sure he didn't get too warm. I know that a fever can be the body's way of getting rid of impurities and it can actually help you to heal faster. So you don't always want to get rid of a fever. I had to get up for a minute and had actually thought he felt slightly cooler when I had Tom hold Timothy. Tom was worried as soon as he felt how hot the baby was. He asked for the thermometer and took his temp under the arm and then in the mouth twice. He got an oral temp of 103.2. I gave him some children's tylenol then. Tom was ;really worried so I figured, well, better safe than sorry, right? So I called and they have a nurse call you back. We must have got a new one because she didn't sound very sure of herself and she kept reading the same stuff from her computer over and over. She had us take a rectal temp. too (I made Tom do that). I finally had to just ask her-what temperature would he have to reach for us to need to take him to the hospital? She said 105.0 or over. That was all I really wanted to know. Aside from sleeping extra and not being as playful as usual that night, he was normal. The nurse concluded the same thing I did-it was just a reaction to the shots and all you can really do is give Tylenol and water and keep him dressed light.
He's still warm, but not as bad as last night. The nurse did say that the fever can last a few days and still be a normal reaction to a shot. Wow. This is the first time I've had to deal with something like this. Poor Timothy.
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2 comments:
Fevers are nature's way of healing but in a child you have to be careful--you did the right thing Steph calling a nurse. Did you know that there are a lot of ppl who refuse to let their children get shots? They are supposed to be toxic and some have mercury in them? The medical community is not listening however. Anyway, I sure hope Timothy is better today.
What, did we just meet? There is a huge community of people who don't vaccinate. Though the reasons are more complex than just mercury. I am not thrilled with vaccinations either, but at this point it seems the lesser evil.
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