Low grade fever - teething?

[supergolden88]

My son is teething like a maniac - red cheeks, lots of drool, chewing everything, unpredictable appetite. This morning he woke with a low grade fever which returned after calpol wore off. He is super fussy. Do you think it's teething related? He is also a bit snotty (but that tends to be the norm)

[Fuschia]

Strict medical opinion is that teething doesn't cause a temp

Although I am sure most mums would disagree, I would avoid putting a prolonged fever down to teeth and hence missing something potentially more serious

If it drags on longer than a virus, I would get him checked out ... After 3 days or so

[supergolden88]

Yeah I thought so. It is odd as he has no other symptoms apart from being a bit hot. Around 37.5-37.7

May spike tonight I suppose.

[buggie]

In paeds A&E we don't worry about a temp until it's 38C+, however, if fussing/unhappy and this is causing reduced appetite would suggest calpol/brufen (brufen esp good as anti-inflammatory.

Bugglet still hasn't got visible teeth, but every week will have a couple of days where her cheeks suddenly flush, she knaws at anything and gets v grumpy - as a first response I reach for the Nelsons teething sachet's and find these seem to calm the symptoms... cause, with no teeth having burst through yet we could still be in the honeymoon stage of teething!!

[Moos]

My GP said recently that in medical school they were taught that teething doesn't cause fever but after years of experience he begs to differ. I thought that was quite interesting!

[Fuschia]

Moos Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My GP said recently that in medical school they

> were taught that teething doesn't cause fever but

> after years of experience he begs to differ. I

> thought that was quite interesting!

Yes, I think most mothers differ too

But just take care not to assume wrongly there is no more seriOus issue

[buggie]

...meant to add in original post - anecdotally, I've always thought there's a big link between teething and fever/increased illness, however, with the experience being a mum is bringing me, I can't help but notice it's also come when babies are more mobile/able to get more "interesting" things into their mouths (Bugglet chose to ignore her yummy lunch and start sucking the corner of the table in a pub the other day!).

Most feverish illnesses are fairly innocuous (although it takes a fair bit to worry me!), however, always trust your mummy-instinct and if it feels like something isn't right/don't feel 100% happy with advice/how your baby or child are after seeing a GP/A&E, seek further help!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Seb always, always gets a fever when he's teething. He also gets a teething spotty rash and snotty nose, which leads to mucho coughing, so it's almost impossible to tell if he's teething or has a virus. He has 18 teeth at 16 months though, which leads me to believe it's almost always teething rather than illness. brufen always works, calpol never does. poor babs.

[supergolden88]

Fever went up to 39 and he took an hour an a half to settle after fever was down (usually not an issue). So I think he has a cold or some sort of virus. He has had very little food today. If this is due to teething it is very severe. Perhaps his immune system is low from dealing with the teething and he has caught a bug. He is getting a lot of kisses from school-age sister so not a huge surprise I guess. Sigh.

[Inkmaiden]

We had a hard time with teething a couple of weeks ago. Inkspawn had a temperature on and off for about a week- it went up and down like a yoyo. Lots of broken nights, totally off food, swollen gums, general unhappiness. Teething powder, amber necklace, lots of slinging, ibuprofen if temp went over 38 or she seemed to be really suffering (paracetemol made no difference). I did panic slightly when I's temperature spiked at 39 one night but it came down fairly quickly after that and got steadily lower over next couple of days. She is now totally back to normal chirpy self and hey presto, five new teeth. So no wonder she felt rough.

[Fuschia]

After the bad experiences I have had with twin 2 (5 days sleepless nights, low grade fever, off food and occasional vomiting at 10m followed by a fit turned out to be a severe kidney infection requiring a week on hospital on iv antibiotics) and twin 1 (22m fluctuating fever, Off food And miserAble for a week turned out to be pneumonia requiring iv antibiotics and a few weeks lAter another fever with floppiness swollen eyes and rapid breathing was diagnosed S as some sort of possible eye infection plus return of pneumonia and we were admitted)

I am a bit twitchy now about any fever now beyond 3/4 days and go straight to a and e if I am concerned as they do bloods urine test and chest x ray if necessary

[supergolden88]

Inkmaiden - FIVE new teeth! Wowsa. Poor baby

Fuschia - I am going straight to A&E if this keeps up. It was up to 39.4 overnight and up again minute the medicine wears off. But last time I did this with daughter 4 years ago they kept us waiting in A&E from 1am till 4am. In the end we left without being seen by a DR. All they said is give ibuprofen at the same time as paracetamol (calpol was not working)

ARRRRRGHHH I hate when babies have fever

[Fuschia]

Sg: I don't think the height of the temp in itself is the issue but if the baby isn't feeding or is very lethargic that is a warning sign

How old is he?

[supergolden88]

He is 6 months in a few days. Has been a bit cheerier this morning after a long nap so hoping he will be okish until bedtime. Still not very interessted in milk but I guess he wouldn't with a fever

[Fuschia]

I think you don't actually need to great a fever unless they are miserable with it - fits come fro

A rapid rise rather than a temp per se

It's just not knowing what the cause is in a baby that is the worry

[buggie]

Just to comment on your A&E experience, I v much doubt the nurses (I'm guessing that's the "they" in your post) deliberately kept you waiting to see the Dr. Wasn't until I was in there with the Bugglet as a patient, I realised how little clue parents have of how busy the Paeds let alone the whole A&E dept is. It isn't always possible to keep every family fully informed, so if wondering why the wait is so long then ask - promise the nurse's will likely have already been trying to get the dr's down/find out how long they'll be, but, in the middle of the night there are less Dr's in the hospital, so if there is a sick child in resus/on the ward they will be detained.

If you leave without seeing a Dr then all that can be advised is how to manage the fever as the baby hasn't been fully examined and thus diagnosed with anything to give specific/tailored advice about.

Fingers crossed SG junior's condition improves without you needing to consider A&E.

Would always look first at how the child is and temp afterwards - children with fever get much hotter than adults with fever due to the imaturity of the hypothalamus, so their general appearance is far more important than temp alone.

[supergolden88]

We weren't at Paeds A&E (which was excellent when my daughter had a door closed on her thumb at nursery) we were at the Kings A&E on a Sunday night (lots of alchohol poisoning and violent incidents). Clearly my baby was not ill enough though completely delirious with fever.

But anyway I hope we don't have to take a trip there this time (or, in fact, ever again). Fingers crossed his fever does not spike again tonight.