“What home remedy is good for a child fever?”
My son is 5 years old and has a high fever. What home remedy is good for a child fever?
2 Answers
Acetaminophen or ibuprofen should help with a fever
Hi,
A good question, but one that needs some clarification." A five year old with high fever." First question: what is high? Answer: a high fever is one over 103 or 103.5. Second question: how does your five-year-old feel with this fever? He/she is allowed to feel tired, but should not feel bad, e.g., headache, body aches, other pains. In addition, the child should be lucid and aware when awake and have some appetite and thirst. Since your child is 5 years old, no only do you have your powers of observation to inform you, your child has language to share with you how he/she feels. In modern times, we understand that fever is part of our immune system's armamentarium to fight infection. Fever combats viral infection, but physicians and parents do not want children to suffer. I hope that you would agree that feeling tired is not suffering as defined above.
But to answer your question, here are some home remedies to fight fever based on basic physical principles of thermodynamics. Don't over-insulate the child. Only a light sheet and/or light blanket. The process of evaporation of liquid from the skin carries away heat, so a tepid sponge bath periodically can permit evaporation and fever reduction. No cold water or ice water baths because too rapid heat loss can result in muscle tremors and body heat production. No alcohol bath because of a danger of alcohol absorption and toxicity and precipitous cooling with subsequent tremors and heat production. Just in case it's not obvious to my readers when you choose to perform a tepid sponge bath, the water should not cover the child's legs. Remember a sponge bath works by evaporation, so the more skin exposed to the air, the better.
Now, as for home remedies, meaning medications by mouth, I can only recommend acetaminophen or ibuprofen as recommended by your child's doctor. In my opinion, you cannot expect other ingested compounds to directly benefit fever. You will have to worry about toxins and product purity. Over-the-counter fever treatments other than acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and other NSAID products, like Naprosyn are not FDA inspected or monitored. Let the buyer beware.
Lastly, it's important to remember that fever is a symptom and not a diagnosis. Your child's doctor during the first 5 years of his/her life should have educated you as to when a fever might represent a more worrisome condition than a mild common viral illness. Fever that lasts longer than 3-4 days should be evaluated by your child's doctor by phone or by visit. Hopefully, your child has had all the recommended childhood immunizations through age 4 or 5 years making fever much less likely to represent a serious bacterial (pneumococcal, Haemophilus influenza type B, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria) or serious viral illness (Measles, Chicken Pox, Rubella). An unimmunized or partially immunized 5-year-old should see a physician for proper evaluation and advice.
So in short, your simple question is not so simple after all. I hope his information has proven helpful. I would also like to direct you to the family website of the American Academy of Pediatrics, www.healhtychildren.org. Their search window is extremely user friendly.
Marc Tanenbaum
A good question, but one that needs some clarification." A five year old with high fever." First question: what is high? Answer: a high fever is one over 103 or 103.5. Second question: how does your five-year-old feel with this fever? He/she is allowed to feel tired, but should not feel bad, e.g., headache, body aches, other pains. In addition, the child should be lucid and aware when awake and have some appetite and thirst. Since your child is 5 years old, no only do you have your powers of observation to inform you, your child has language to share with you how he/she feels. In modern times, we understand that fever is part of our immune system's armamentarium to fight infection. Fever combats viral infection, but physicians and parents do not want children to suffer. I hope that you would agree that feeling tired is not suffering as defined above.
But to answer your question, here are some home remedies to fight fever based on basic physical principles of thermodynamics. Don't over-insulate the child. Only a light sheet and/or light blanket. The process of evaporation of liquid from the skin carries away heat, so a tepid sponge bath periodically can permit evaporation and fever reduction. No cold water or ice water baths because too rapid heat loss can result in muscle tremors and body heat production. No alcohol bath because of a danger of alcohol absorption and toxicity and precipitous cooling with subsequent tremors and heat production. Just in case it's not obvious to my readers when you choose to perform a tepid sponge bath, the water should not cover the child's legs. Remember a sponge bath works by evaporation, so the more skin exposed to the air, the better.
Now, as for home remedies, meaning medications by mouth, I can only recommend acetaminophen or ibuprofen as recommended by your child's doctor. In my opinion, you cannot expect other ingested compounds to directly benefit fever. You will have to worry about toxins and product purity. Over-the-counter fever treatments other than acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and other NSAID products, like Naprosyn are not FDA inspected or monitored. Let the buyer beware.
Lastly, it's important to remember that fever is a symptom and not a diagnosis. Your child's doctor during the first 5 years of his/her life should have educated you as to when a fever might represent a more worrisome condition than a mild common viral illness. Fever that lasts longer than 3-4 days should be evaluated by your child's doctor by phone or by visit. Hopefully, your child has had all the recommended childhood immunizations through age 4 or 5 years making fever much less likely to represent a serious bacterial (pneumococcal, Haemophilus influenza type B, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria) or serious viral illness (Measles, Chicken Pox, Rubella). An unimmunized or partially immunized 5-year-old should see a physician for proper evaluation and advice.
So in short, your simple question is not so simple after all. I hope his information has proven helpful. I would also like to direct you to the family website of the American Academy of Pediatrics, www.healhtychildren.org. Their search window is extremely user friendly.
Marc Tanenbaum
