I was so careful and protective when I first brought my first child home from the hospital. As new parents, my husband and I worried about everything. We read every baby book from here to the moon and still felt like we had no idea what we were doing, especially when my son was sick or running a fever.
One night I called my mom in a panic, sleep deprived at 4 a.m. I had just fed my son and tried to put him back down but noticed he was especially warm. I whipped out my Mother’sTouch to take his temperature and realized it was abnormally high. My mom gave me some of the best parenting advice I’d ever received that night, and it’s time I pass it along.
“It’s not the temperature that’s the number one indicator of a fever, it’s how he acts.” She told me that, if he wasn’t showing signs of discomfort or illness, a slight variance in his body temperature was nothing to fret over.
Now, I am no medical expert but this little rule of thumb has certainly given me some piece of mind when it comes to whether or not to worry about my little one’s temperature.
There are many factors that can affect a baby’s temperature. That includes the temperature outside, their level of activity, their emotional and psychological status, eating, drinking and talking (if they can!)
The best thing to do to decide whether you should be worried about your child’s high temperature is to watch the way he or she acts. If he isn’t showing other signs of illness, just continue to closely monitor his temperature. It is also a very good idea to have a strong understanding of your child’s normal body temperature when they are healthy to give you a base to work from when they are ill.
