What does high temperature in a child suggest?

Posted on Thu, 28 May 2015

Question: my six week old woke up with a temperature of 100.4. I unswaddled him and took his temperature again a hour later and it was 99.9. should I take him to the doctor or just monitor his temperature? he's still playful, eating and has had a wet diaper every 3 - 4 hours. otherwise he seems healthy. my guess is the swaddle overheated him as long as his temperature stays down without the swaddle.

Answered by Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (51 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Monitor the temperature closely

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Thanks for the query

The common causes of raised temperature in this age is over clothing,environmental temperature and dehydration fever.Other causes are infections viral or bacterial.

The signs of infection are decrease activity,poor feeding,rapid respiration,loose motion or abnormal movement.
I won't get overly worried if baby is active,playful,accepting feeds well and passing urine 5-6 times a day.I would like to rule out over clothing first for raised temperature as temperature has come down after unswaddling.
Monitor the temperature and look for appearance of any symptom suggestive of infection.Continue frequent breastfeeding as it prevents dehydration and also helps in decreasing the temperature.Keep the room temperature around 28 Celsius to avoid environmental fever.
In case you notice any abnormality consult your physician.
I shall be glad to answer if you have any more doubts.
Wish you and your baby good health.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Pradeep Vitta