What's the 'danger zone' for a child's temp?

[8mpg]

Of course Dr Dave is spot on...

Always alternate between the two meds (ibuprofen and acetaminophen) every 4 hours. This needs to be a religious thing...EVERY 4 HOURS through the night.

The fun part of strep tests is they are only accurate about 50% of the time.

[Lone Sailor]

Leah 102 is kind of high, its not ER material, but you should run her a cold bath even if she will cry.

I'm sure the doc will correct me if I am wrong, but our pediatricians said that giving them a cold bath is a BIG no-no. Luke warm bath at the most. Otherwise use a cool wash clothe on the forehead to help alleviate the fever in the head a little for some comfort.

[Leah]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I have always been the one to spout off the 'alternate Tylenol and Motrin' speech, but I just haven't done it with her this time. I guess, like I said above, I thought you only needed to do it if one wasn't doing its job. I just got some Motrin and will be alternating them now. Thankfully, her temp is normal right now and she appears to be feeling better.

Poor thing didn't go to sleep until after 2am and got up early so she's exhausted, but is actually looking and acting better right now. Let's hope it continues the rest of the day...

[Leah]

Of course Dr Dave is spot on...

The fun part of strep tests is they are only accurate about 50% of the time.

Both the urgent care dr. and our pediatrician said the quick/rapid (whatever they're called) strep tests are about 98% accurate and since she was on day 3, it would definitely show up.

I'm sure the doc will correct me if I am wrong, but our pediatricians said that giving them a cold bath is a BIG no-no. Luke warm bath at the most. Otherwise use a cool wash clothe on the forehead to help alleviate the fever in the head.

That's always what I've heard, as well.

[8mpg]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I have always been the one to spout off the 'alternate Tylenol and Motrin' speech, but I just haven't done it with her this time. I guess, like I said above, I thought you only needed to do it if one wasn't doing its job. I just got some Motrin and will be alternating them now. Thankfully, her temp is normal right now and she appears to be feeling better.

Poor thing didn't go to sleep until after 2am and got up early so she's exhausted, but is actually looking and acting better right now. Let's hope it continues the rest of the day...

Im proud of you...not sitting at the Dr's office demanding antibiotics. Some people just dont understand that antibiotics cant cure everything. They feel as if they cannot get better without a prescription

Both the urgent care dr. and our pediatrician said the quick/rapid (whatever they're called) strep tests are about 98% accurate and since she was on day 3, it would definitely show up.

That's always what I've heard, as well.

Thats odd...unless they have some fancy new one... Our Dr's will tell them they are 50%ish. Heck, I swabbed myself one day at work and had a friend in the lab run it. I wasnt getting better so I went by my Dr and he said the same thing...its 50%ish.

[Leah]

Im proud of you...not sitting at the Dr's office demanding antibiotics. Some people just dont understand that antibiotics cant cure everything. They feel as if they cannot get better without a prescription

Oh, don't get me wrong, I've taken her to urgent care and her pediatrician and have been talking to the nurses after hours just to make sure any new symptoms or changes weren't something we needed to take her in to the office or ER, but I do understand that not everything can be treated with antibiotics.

That doesn't mean I don't wish it could be. If I could take the most painful shot in the world and it would make her better, I would in a heartbeat. These are the illnesses I hate the most-there's nothing you can do.

[davbrucas]

Of course Dr Dave is spot on...

Always alternate between the two meds (ibuprofen and acetaminophen) every 4 hours. This needs to be a religious thing...EVERY 4 HOURS through the night.

The fun part of strep tests is they are only accurate about 50% of the time.

Actually, they are quite accurate. The sensitivity is 85% and the specificity is 95%. This means that if the test reads positive, then 85% of the time it is accurate...and if the test reads negative, then 95% of the time it is accurate.

[8mpg]

Actually, they are quite accurate. The sensitivity is 85% and the specificity is 95%. This means that if the test reads positive, then 85% of the time it is accurate...and if the test reads negative, then 95% of the time it is accurate.

Weird... Most of Dr's I work with say they are only 50%... I guess it also gets down to how well they were swabbed. Flu test is another one they say is 50/50. Again, Im sure it depends on the swab. I laugh every time at the faces people make when you jab a foam tip all the way to the back of the pharynx.

[davbrucas]

Many doctors do not keep up with evidence based medicine and just base their data on their own experience. This is notoriously incorrect.

[ImayBblack]

Im proud of you...not sitting at the Dr's office demanding antibiotics. Some people just dont understand that antibiotics cant cure everything. They feel as if they cannot get better without a prescription

Sucks, antibiotics don't even work for my daughter. She is immune to them from the massive amouts of ear infections she has had. I now just let her be sick for a couple of days before actually taking her to the doctor. Most of the time (other than ear infections) it's just a virus.

[bcoop]

Sucks, antibiotics don't even work for my daughter. She is immune to them from the massive amouts of ear infections she has had. I now just let her be sick for a couple of days before actually taking her to the doctor. Most of the time (other than ear infections) it's just a virus.

I'd take a stab that you've given her too many, and that is what is keeping her sick. I'm sure Dave will argue with me about it, and after all he is the educated medical professional. I just know in MY experience, the meds made him far worse off and kept him in a constant state of sickness. Not a knock on you, but I think the parents bring a lot of it on themselves most of the time. Taking the kid to the doc for every little sniffle, etc. With Kenny, I didn't have much of a choice. He would turn blue because he couldn't breathe, etc. I think it's more than coincidence that once I stopped the nebulizer, steroids, and antibiotics, he never had a problem again.

My kids are night and day difference. I spent more days/nights in the ER with Kenny than I cared to remember. Asthma, infections, blah blah blah. The kid was CONSTANTLY on antibiotics. And he was CONSTANTLY sick.


The second time around, with Chloe, we did no vaccines, no OTC meds, strictly organic food, etc. She hasn't had over a 101 degree fever EVER, and no real sickness to speak of. Slight stomach virus every once in a while, but it usually passes within a couple hours.

[davbrucas]

Sucks, antibiotics don't even work for my daughter. She is immune to them from the massive amouts of ear infections she has had. I now just let her be sick for a couple of days before actually taking her to the doctor. Most of the time (other than ear infections) it's just a virus.

She isnt immune to the antibiotics...the organisms causing the infections are.

I'd take a stab that you've given her too many, and that is what is keeping her sick. I'm sure Dave will argue with me about it, and after all he is the educated medical professional. I just know in MY experience, the meds made him far worse off and kept him in a constant state of sickness. Not a knock on you, but I think the parents bring a lot of it on themselves most of the time. Taking the kid to the doc for every little sniffle, etc. With Kenny, I didn't have much of a choice. He would turn blue because he couldn't breathe, etc. I think it's more than coincidence that once I stopped the nebulizer, steroids, and antibiotics, he never had a problem again.

My kids are night and day difference. I spent more days/nights in the ER with Kenny than I cared to remember. Asthma, infections, blah blah blah. The kid was CONSTANTLY on antibiotics. And he was CONSTANTLY sick.


The second time around, with Chloe, we did no vaccines, no OTC meds, strictly organic food, etc. She hasn't had over a 101 degree fever EVER, and no real sickness to speak of. Slight stomach virus every once in a while, but it usually passes within a couple hours.

It's your child and you can make your own decisions about their medical care...and as long as they do not get sick, then that is great. But what happens when they are exposed to another unimmunized child carrying organisms that wouldnt ordinarily cause problems if she were immunized? Here recently we had a 4yr old child brought into the ER who died from airway obstruction due to epiglottitis due to H. influenza. Her parents didnt believe in immunizations either. This could have been prevented with a simple vaccine. What would you do if this happened to one of your children? Fate? I will take my chances with immunizations.

[bcoop]

What would you do if this happened to one of your children? Fate? I will take my chances with immunizations.

That's something we will have to address should we ever have to cross that bridge. I don't regret our decision a single bit. I've seen firsthand the differences. I'll take my chances, and my wife agrees. Our decision was based on thousands of hours of research, talking to professionals, etc. Hell, even one of the nurses in the delivery room supported our decision 110% (she had made the same decisions with her family).

[davbrucas]

That's cool...I dont form an opinion one way or another...until something terrible happens like with this young girl. I hope this never happens with your kids.

[bcoop]

I hope this never happens with your kids.

So do I. I'd feel fucking terrible, for real. But we did enough reading and research to realize that there is risk either way, and took a stand about which decision was best for our family.