Fever treatment to bathe or not bathe?

[friskywife]

A friend of mine has a 9 mos and I have a 21 mos old. Her child went through high fevers last week (they never figured out the cause).

Now I am treating a fever for my son. She had to take her child to the hospital one night because it was spiking around 104.5. The ER doc and her ped doc said NOT to treat a fever with a tepid bath/sponge bath for a fear of harming brain cells? Everytime she would call, the nurses were all about the tepid baths/sponge baths. Last night my son's fever spiked at about 104.7, called the nurse and she said tepid bath/sponge bath. We treated with Motrin and decided to moisten his skin and covering him immediately with a towel (we thought of it as a happy medium for the bath). We waited 10 mins and his temp went down to 102! Luckily he made it without spiking again (meaning no trip to the ER ). I am waiting to call our peds office to update them, but just wondering if anyone has been told NOT to bathe them for fever? Old school advice vs. no bath & meds only? I haven't spoken to our ped, but you can bet I am very curious of her opinion!!

[tiki]

The harm that I've heard is when the temperature gets SO high. I have not heard that about the reduction of the fever via tepid water. Now, what you DO NOT want to do, is to shock the body. And that can happen. That tepid water feels ice cold to a feverish child. So take it slow and easy. It can be 'shocking'.

 

Undress children with fevers. Some let babies run around naked, or in their diapers only.

 

Pedialyte, of course. To decrease risk of dehydration.

 

Motrin should only be used for high fevers (over 102.5). It's very over-used. Under 102.5 should be given Tylenol (or non-aspirin products).

 

Always consult your physician. And don't be afraid to ask them questions. Research is constantly being done. Ask the physician why NOT to cool down with tepid water.

 

Hope that helps.

[Haunani]

Frisky,

 

I have raised 3 children, my eldest being 19, I've never heard of that before. When my eldest was young the ritual when he'd have a fever was to wipehim down with rubbing alcohol, which I've done before, which my parents and their parents have done before, then all of a sudden, it wasn't good because they discovered the alcohol increased the fever.....after all those years who woulda thought. So one just never knows. Yes I heard about shocking the system, so put them in cool water to bring down the temperature, ice pops are also good, anything cold inside the body, a cold washcloth on their face and head helps........but to NOT put them in warm water.......now that is just bugging me.......I'd surely ask those that told you WHY?

 

then report it here

 

Thanks

Haunani

[dresden]

My son had two episodes of high fever when he was a baby and then when he was 4. In both instances he had a fever seizure. He was my first kid, so when he was a baby and got a bad cold, I kept him very warm - DUMB!!! This triggered the seizure. At the hospital, the nurses gave him a tepid bath. He was laid on towels and very gently wiped with damp cloths. His fever began to reduce almost immediately.

 

The next episode when he was four occurred while I was at work. My idiot ex-husband had bundled him up when his fever went up, even though I told him not to do this. I had avoided fever seizures up until that point by undressing him when he was sick.

 

The advice other posters have given to let the baby run around undressed is the best. I also would give Tylenol when the fever went above 101 or so. Lots of cool things to drink and eat. And finally the slow tepid bath - keep refreshing the water and keep it tepid but not cold.

 

I always go with the nurses' years of wisdom and experience.javascript:emoticon('')