Question
Over the past week, my baby has been frequently experiencing fevers, and a few days ago, the fever was so high that it required intravenous treatment. Although it has been low fever recently, the body temperature rises to between 37.3 and 37.6 degrees at night. We have not received any treatment yet, but we would like to ask experts for suggestions?
Answer
Fever in babies often recurs. If the body temperature is below 39 degrees, it’s best to take your baby to the hospital for a check-up to determine the cause of the fever. The doctor usually requires a blood test for the baby. When the baby is cooling down, if the body temperature is below 38.5 degrees, it’s best to choose physical cooling methods such as drinking plenty of water and using warm water and alcohol for sponge baths. All fever-reducing medications, such as paracetamol and compound aspirin, contain caffeine and phenacetin, which may have significant side effects. Since the nervous system inhibitory mechanism in infants has not fully developed, using these drugs during high fever may trigger seizures and may also lead to dehydration due to excessive sweating, or even jaundice caused by the accumulation of free bilirubin in the blood.