Dr. William King Jr., MD

Hello,

Yes, a 99.4 body temp is still within normal range. We could consider a fever above 100.4 measured internally (mouth, rectal or ear thermometer). Keep in mind that many of the skin thermometers are only measuring your outside skin temp, which is changed by being in the sun, sweating, or a cool breeze. Only an internally monitored temperature is useful medically.

Muscle cramping in children is very common and not usually worrisome, so a brief visit to your child's pediatrician can quickly examine the muscles and provide advice. Every parent needs their preschool children to have a consistent doctor, so take a moment to make the appointment, there's lots to talk about every year.

Dr. King

If a child is having pain significant pain with direct pressure at the location of injury, you should go to your primary doctor or urgent care, their exam will quickly confirm the need for an X-ray. However, if you are asking the question online, you should take your child to the doctor. "I wonder if my _____ is broken" is answered by a doctors visit, not an email.

Dr. King

Vitamins are an important part of good nutrition, but there is no substitute for developing good balanced eating habits, especially for young children. If you focus your parenting effort on introducing a variety of colors and flavors from the fruit and vegetable aisles every meal then you can be pretty sure you and your child are getting your vitamins and the other micronutrients each day. That being said, children or adults can take a basic complete multivitamin once they can chew them up age three or four. I'm a big fan of chewable solid vitamins which can provide more solid minerals than gummies. If you are working harder to find vitamins that taste like candy than finding fruits at the fruit stand, then vitamin taking will be the least of your parent worries when they're older. Spend time at the farmers market rather than the drug store with your kids, you'll get a lot more out of it.

Hello worried parent,

During this time of epidemic illness, we all worry about our children getting sick. When you say you are worried your child has the flu, this usually means your child has one or more of: high fever, headaches, sore throat, body aches, cough or cold symptoms. If your child has one or more of these signs in June of 2020, this is much more likely to be signs of COVID19, the novel coronavirus. Influenza is very rarely circulating in North America in the summer, is usually seen September to March or so. If your child has fever and cold symptoms, you should call your doctor to arrange coronavirus testing for your whole family. Your doctor can also test for strep throat, or even Influenza "the Flu". If you don't have a doctor, use Find a Top Doc to find one in your area, and look up an urgent care center in your town. You need to know if your child and family have coronavirus this time of year. Schedule an appointment today!

Stomach pain in school age can be from several different issues, the most common at this age being constipation, menstrual cramps, or dietary issues such as indigestion or lactose intolerance. The important issue to resolve is if the pain is limiting movement and eating or if she has normal movement and eating habits. As a pediatrician, I generally need to put a hand on the belly to sort out these issues. Until you can get into your child's doctor (even by telemedicine if needed), you can let her drink cool herbal tea (ginger or chamomile would be good) and bland foods, especially limiting greasy, snack or heavy foods for a couple of days. Intense pain, fever or vomiting leads to a visit to the ER. No quick answer to such a
question, get your doctor on the phone.
Good luck.