You be the Mom: **UPDATE in post 1**

[tonilea]

You would think with a four year old, I would be better at this. In my defense, he is rarely ill. He has been to the doctor once in the past 18 months.

Anyway, here is the deal. This afternoon DS started running a fever. I took it at 3:45 and it was 100.8 under his arm. When you add in the extra degree that is pretty warm. DS WILL NOT take oral medication, so I gave him a Tylenol suppository. It began dropping, but took a while to get to normal. At 9:30 it is normal. Should I go ahead and give him another dose? or wait? He hasn't really acted sick. In fact, he refused to admit he was sick or felt bad and would only say his throat hurt. He has sinus drainage, sore throat and is hoarse.

So....Moms and Dads... WWYD?..

UPDATE:

I am glad I gave him the tylenol, he slept pretty well last night, but had a fever this morning at 6am. Today is "Walk In" clinic at our doctor's office, so we had him there at opening. I specifically asked for a throat swab (nurse did it before the doctor saw him) and I am so glad I did. The doctor (not our regular doctor) told us it was unlikely he had strep, since they don't usually have a runny nose and cough with strep, plus DS did not act very sick at all. His temp was still almost 100 even after tylenol. A few minutes later he popped back into the exam room and said he was wrong and DS does have strep. So he got a shot of some type of ?-cillin(and an orange bandaid for his bum that he is very proud of ).

 

[design_mom]

I've never done the suppositories before -- what is the dosing schedule on those?

I never give my kids symptom-relieving medicines if they don't have the symptoms. (Obviously with something like an antibiotic where you need to keep taking it even if you feel better, I'd continue... but not with something like tylenol.) If my child were to wake up in the middle of the night and the fever was back, I would give the next dose then, but if they were sleeping comfortably without the meds, I wouldn't wake them up. My kids always took the oral stuff, but they would usually go back to sleep quickly after being given a dose in the middle of the night. I'm not quite sure how "disruptive" administering the suppository would be... but if it were me, I'd probably wait until he needed it.

 

[2cutekidz]

What time did you give him the tylenol? Is he sleeping now, and does he feel warm. I've always been one to wake my kids and give them their next dose of meds. Mine are rarely sick too (besides the sniffles) and I worry, so if they run a high fever I give them the tylenol.

The sore throat could just be from the drainage - but watch out for strep.

 

[tonilea]

I've never done the suppositories before -- what is the dosing schedule on those?

I never give my kids symptom-relieving medicines if they don't have the symptoms. (Obviously with something like an antibiotic where you need to keep taking it even if you feel better, I'd continue... but not with something like tylenol.) If my child were to wake up in the middle of the night and the fever was back, I would give the next dose then. My kids always took the oral, but they would usually go back to sleep quickly. I'm not quite sure how "disruptive" administering the suppository would be... but if it were me, I'd probably wait until he needed it.

It has the same dosing schedule as regular oral tylenol. For us it is not as "disruptive" as the oral. Oral meds involve putting DS in the bathtub wrapped in a towel and then cleaning the vomit off of both of us.

 

[tonilea]

What time did you give him the tylenol? Is he sleeping now, and does he feel warm. I've always been one to wake my kids and give them their next dose of meds. Mine are rarely sick too (besides the sniffles) and I worry, so if they run a high fever I give them the tylenol.

The sore throat could just be from the drainage - but watch out for strep.

He had the only dose at 3:45pm. He is not yet sleeping. DH has always worked nights (until this week) so we are used to staying up late and sleeping late.

 

[design_mom]

Poor Toni... only two answers so far and Leslie and I gave conflicting advice! This parenting stuff ought to come with a manual!

 

[brockash]

If the dosage says it's okay to give him another dose, then I probably would, but really only because it's night time, and you'll be sleeping. -It always worries me that a fever will get really high and I won't know because I'm sleeping, if it was the middle of the day, I wouldn't give him anymore if he wasn't warm, but since you'll be going to sleep and I don't think it would hurt him at all, as long as the directions say it's okay, I'd do it. Good luck, I hate when kiddos are sick.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My youngest was famous for not acting sick. He used to get really high fevers, like 104, and would still be running around the house and wanting to play.

I would check his temp again before bedtime. They usually say 100.2 is the starting point for giving medication. If it's 100.2 or over, I would give him a dose before he goes to sleep. If it's lower, I would hold off on the meds. And, knowing me, I would wake up and check him at least once during the night. My son's fever would tend to spike around 3:00 a.m. As long as it remains over 100.2, I would continue to give the meds according to the dosing schedule. If it stays up there and he continues to complain of a sore throat, I would give the doctor a call and ask if they want to see him.

Good luck and I hope you have a peaceful night!

 

[tonilea]

I took his temp and it is starting to come up again, so I gave him another dose and put him to bed. I am sure I will wake up and check on him anyway. He kinda sleeps in our room... there is a sitting area through an archway off of our bed room and we put a bed in there for him. So he is close if he does get sick.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I appreciate it!

 

[reginaastralis]

My youngest was famous for not acting sick. He used to get really high fevers, like 104, and would still be running around the house and wanting to play.

I would check his temp again before bedtime. They usually say 100.2 is the starting point for giving medication. If it's 100.2 or over, I would give him a dose before he goes to sleep. If it's lower, I would hold off on the meds. And, knowing me, I would wake up and check him at least once during the night. My son's fever would tend to spike around 3:00 a.m. As long as it remains over 100.2, I would continue to give the meds according to the dosing schedule. If it stays up there and he continues to complain of a sore throat, I would give the doctor a call and ask if they want to see him.

Good luck and I hope you have a peaceful night!

My daughter is just like this! Glad I'm not alone. Two weeks ago, she was running around the livingroom, not a care in the world, and I asked her for a kiss. She was burning up. Took her temp, it was 102 under the arm, so really 103. OUCH! She ran the temp for two days before it broke, then she told me it hurt to swallow. Turned out she was brewing some infection, but we're still in the stages of not knowing when to take her to the doctor. I hate that feeling.

To answer your question, if it had been the middle of the day, and his fever was kinda coming back up, I would have skipped the dose. I don't know if this is true, but I always heard that fevers get worse at night, and since I have a human heater (who likes to sleep in bed with me when she's sick, ugh) I know at night she'll be topping 103.

Good luck!

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't give tylenol unless my kids seem to be really uncomfortable. A fever is the body's way of fighting the infection. Unless the fever is over 103, I prefer not to medicate.

 

[Ariel8676]

We normally let the fever do its job of fighting whatever infection is hanging around. We do ice pops, cool rags on forehead and neck(more like room temp) and a room temp bath..that usually brings down the temp fast.
Now my 7 yo used to get really high fevers(like 104) and febrile seizures so we got used to doing all of that because the Tylenol or motrin was tearing up her little belly. Hope he is feeling better!!!!!

 

[pyrxtc]

I would not give him anything unless he complains about feeling ill. That fever that you keep shutting down is trying to kill a virus trying to infect his body. Let the fever run its course and maybe he won't get as sick. A fever won't hurt him and may help prevent something that will make him feel worse.

 

[ERMama]

if they are acting fine then i dont give tylenol unless its a fever over 102. if they are in pain regardless of temp i will give tylenol/ibuprofen.
if they have a fever i do give them tylenol before bedtime.

ive seen many kids who in fact are not really sick at all running around with 104-105 fevers. its not the number that has really anything to do with truly how sick they are.

 

[tonilea]

updated in post #1

DS has strep.

 

[2cutekidz]

I'm so glad you requested that strep test! Hopefully the antibiotics will help him soon!

 

[design_mom]

Poor little guy. I catch strep several times per year and it's no fun.

 

[badblackpug]

OK..pet peeve..I'm a nurse. Axillary temperatures are completely inaccurate. A temperature taken under the arm may be off as many as 3-4 degrees. If a child is not capable of holding the thermomemter in his mouth a rectal temp should be taken.

Tylenol dosing is 15mg per kg (kg = child's weight divided by 2.2) and should be given no sooner than every 4 hours and for temps above 101.0.