Things to know when your baby has a fever

We all know that new moms are easy to get trembled in fear, with every smallest changes of their babies. It's because mommies are new and not well prepared with experience to deal with variety of situations that happens to their babies. Today, we'll give you a tip about how to deal with a baby's fever.

It is said that babies, unlike adults, have a high basal body temperature. It has to be high, especially since it radiates all the heat to the face (For reference, the eardrum thermometer, armpit electronic thermometer, and mercury thermometer are the most accurate as I have felt while working in a hospital for nearly 10 years). However, mercury thermometers have a high risk of breakage, which might lead to dangerous mercury expose. Axillary electronic thermometers, on the other hand, are practically difficult for young babies to maintain by inserting them into the armpit or back, so eardrum thermometers are most widely used at household.

Based on the eardrum thermometer, in a case of a baby, 37.4 is considered normal temperature and 37.5 is mild fever, 38.0 is fever and 38.5 or higher is high fever.

One tip that you should learn by heart is not to apply the cool patch on the forehead when your baby is in high fever. It is irritating to the skin and has no effect! When using the eardrum thermometer, mommies need to sterilize the ear cap with an alcohol swab before measurement, and pay attention to the direction in which the baby's ear is pulled. It is said that, with children under 3 years of age, you should pull the ear downwards and do the contrary to those older than 3 years old. This is because of the baby's anatomical structure, it is difficult for the thermometer to fit into the baby's ear.

- Mild fever of 37.5 degrees or higher
First, if your baby has a mild fever of 37.5 degrees or higher, you usually take off his/her bottoms or change into short sleeves, however you should also be careful about the temperature and humidity. Make sure the room temperature is between 22-24oC, and humidity is 50-60%, or up to 65% during dry seasons or winter.

- 37.8 ~ 37.9 degrees
If the baby's temperature is 37.8 or 37.9 degrees, wipe the body with a handkerchief moistened with lukewarm water. In particular, focus on the folds and large areas. (Back, stomach, neck, armpits, groin) Cover the forehead to the top of the head with a handkerchief soaked in cold water. (Be sure to even the top of the head!)

- 38.0 degrees or higher
Take off all clothes and just cover baby's belly. Also, take the medicine according to the usage and dosage in the antipyretic medication guide (manual). The first choice for antipyretic analgesics is paracetamol-type Tylenol. You can also put a frozen handkerchief on the nape of his neck, which can be prepared in advance (If the baby is very reluctant, wrap a handkerchief soaked in cold water around his/her neck).

Can I cool him down when my baby has a chill?

When your child has a chill, you should never let it cool down. The chill means that the fever is hitting the baby, which usually happens when your baby exceeding 38 degrees. At this time, if you wipe his body with a wet handkerchief to cool down, the heat will rise because of the cold.
In this case, make sure to keep your baby's body warm. Please cover the baby with a blanket and hug him carefully. When babies have a fever, blood circulation is usually not good, so their hands and feet get cold. Please wrap their hands and feet, and the whole body as well.

If the baby has a fever but he's play well, should we go to the hospital?

When the baby continues to have a high fever and does not subside even if he takes antipyretics and he actually plays well. At this point, it can be confusing whether you should wait for the fever to go down or go to the hospital.
Because baby's body has a small body surface area, the risk of dehydration because of fever is very high (Do you know that 70% of our body is water? Especially in infancy, it is said to be up to 80%).

Dehydration is not an easy problem to see. Dehydration may lead to further fever. It causes electrolyte imbalance and your baby may not be able to urinate. If urine does not come out for a very long time, it can lead to acute renal failure in severe cases. Therefore please go to the hospital as soon as possible for a prescription.
If possible, give your baby plenty of warm water!