Okay, I am a bit perplexed by my dd (1 year old). Being a first time mom, I am not quite sure what to think of as normal. She is running a high (over 103 under the arm) fever for the third time in about 3 weeks. These fevers usually last 3-4 days. I have taken her in for the last 2 and they can't find any reason for the fever, so he just says it must be a virus. I am now waiting to hear back from the clinic regarding this one. But this time motrin won't take it completely away. As far as her history, this actually started around the first of the year. She has probably had a half dozen unexplained high fevers since then. We have also been monitoring her weight--she has had a problem losing since Christmas. The ped has tested for bladder infection a few times--they just never find a reason for the fever. I am beginning to get worried--is this normal--maybe she just catches that many viruses? Thanks!

By Amecmom on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 10:59 am:

Did they do a CBC? My son had a bacterial infection that presented no symptoms on a physical exam, but his white count was very high. His only symptoms were extreme irritability and waking three or four times a night crying. After two days on antibiotic, he was back to his old self and sleeping through the night. They never found the cause of the infection, but it happened twice more, this began when he was seven months and continued until he was 11 months.

Since the fevers keep coming back, suggest to the DR. that it may not be viral, that it may be bacterial, and that you would like the to put her on a course of antibiotics. I know peds. are steering away from using them, but in this case, it sounds appropriate.
Let me know how she's doing.
Ame

By Emily7 on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 11:02 am:

My Mom said that I did this when my allergies acted up.

By Marcia on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 01:22 pm:

I would ask for bloodwork, too. It might be nothing more than teething, but better safe than sorry.

By Jodes on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 01:52 pm:

I agree, blood work is definately in order, I know it is hard to think about your baby getting poked, but it is not normal for her to run high fevers for that time period. Her sed rate as well as blood cell counts can tell a lot about what might be going on with her...good luck!

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, April 29, 2004 - 05:49 am:

Definitely blood work. My youngest son had fevers about every 3-4 months when he was about 3-4. He'd run 103 and 104 for about 18-24 hours. We had a couple of ER visits, with blood work, and his pediatrician did a thorough workup. Eventually the unhelpful diagnosis was "fevers of unknown origin". He did eventually get over this, but I remember many nights sitting up with him and sponging him, forcing fluids, aspirin every 4 hours, and tepid baths. It was terribly frightening and I was so glad when it stopped - I sure wish they had been able to get a more definitive diagnosis.

By Lauram on Thursday, April 29, 2004 - 09:35 am:

That's high for her age. I would definitely take her back immediately and ask for more thourough work up. Also you may want to switch between Motrin and Tylenol. Sometimes that helps. Give Motrin, wait 8 hrs, give Tylenol, wait 4 hours, give Motrin, wait 8 hrs, give Tylenol.... IT's definitely NOT teething. That's an old wives' tale!

By Mommyathome on Thursday, April 29, 2004 - 11:06 am:

Ditto everyone else. Push for something more to be done.
Also, maybe try piggy-backing motrin and tylenol to keep the fever down.

By Emdee on Thursday, April 29, 2004 - 11:21 am:

Thanks for all the comments. It reassures me that I am not being obsessive about this. The ped called her in an antibiotic--I guess he thought that since he had seen her almost weekly this past month, that he knew enough to just call it in and not make me come in. I still want to know WHY the fever, but we go for her year checkup next week, so I will talk about this with the ped then. Her fever is down today so that is good! Thanks again.