Baby Sick for the 1st time - Viral Fever

fennho

fennho

Registered User
My gal is having fever for 2nd day. It's her first time being sick and already i'm feeling so helpless. PD says it's viral fever and shud subside within 2-3 days. Yday midnight while nursing her, felt her mouth so hot, took the temp and found it to be 39.7! Called PD but he's quite relaxed (perhaps it's just me being overly worried?) Told us to give baby lukewarm bath. Tat was 3am in the morning. Well, that totally woke her up. Fed her Nurofen and she throw up the milk i BF her earlier. Today whole day fever go up and down. So worried and helpless. Just now, she had a temp at 38.7...called PD again, he said it's normal for her temp to be fluctuating. Just let her be and on the aircon and observe her behaviour. She seems ok but finding it hard to sleep. Any opinions from experienced mommies?
 
she just doesn't feel good. she needs more cuddles, love, and probably more soothing to go to sleep. give the recommended amounts of fever reducer that the ped recommended at rest times. Make sure she is having wet diapers, and keeping hydrated, if not, call the ped.

As far as throwing up the milk, she probably is not throwing up as much as you think. sometimes it looks like a lot, but if you poured that much water out you'd see that it's not nearly a whole feeding. She needs to nurse and may be overfeeding a bit for comfort.

Viruses have to work themselves out. I know it's rough, but the fever is actually her body's response, her body doing what it is supposed to do. just keep her as comfortable and comforted as you can.
 
Thanks rebekah. She has had reflux since birth which has subsided now. So yah I know what u meant by "pour water out and seems a lot" but from experience, what she did yday was indeed a lot. Imagine my entire bed soaked right thru my mattress protector! Her throwng up was a gag responses from the nurofen we fed her...she jus hates it!

Shud we take her to the hospital? I'm worried the fever temp is "frying" her brain! :(
 
Not to worry about this fever temp unless it is 40C or above for many hours. I guess she is now more than 6 months old so having a fever is really normal unless she is below 3 months, better fly her to the hospital. usually fever in babies will go up and down for 3-4 days and it should be stable after that. If she is having flu like cough and runny nose, it will take at least a week before she can really sleep well. Throwing up in a way is good at least her body is fighting against the viral. Do not stop feeding her and for me, i gave my baby a little of water every now and then to help in 'wet' her mouth. Also i use a wet towel to rub on her body especially her ampits, forehead every 1/2 hour then rub with a dry towel. I know it is really nasty having a baby get sick, can't help but to worry and feel helpless but it also make you stronger to handle, i am sorry, her other type of viral that try to attack her body.

Oh yes, no baby love to have meds!!!
 
it's the first time your baby is sick, it's totally normal to feel this way, but if you trust your ped, follow his guidelines. Sorry to hear she is sick :(. Is the nurofen working better than panadol? does she tolerate panadol better? some peds (I am not personally recommending this, you'd have to ask your ped) recommend alternating the nurofen and panadol in order to break a fever, but honestly, right now, the fever is doing a job, so they may not want you to do that.
 
Thanks mscheerful
she's 8mths now. She doesnt hv much appetite for her usual solids but will still nurse so I'm nursing her most of the time. Her throwng up is more of a gag reflex, happening only when we feed her the meds, but she has some mild diarrhoea. She hasn't pooed for 2 days and today it came out in bubbles (sorry for the graphic explanation). Got a bit of cough. But dunno if its related. Cos doesnt happen often. I'm extra worried as we r due to fly back to spore for a short trip next Wednesday. Dunno if she'll be fit to travel by then
 
Ya flying at this time is a little difficult for her especially and she has to readjust to the humidity and heat in Singapore. From my experience with my then 13 months old son, we flew to Singapore when he was already having a little of flu - cough and runny nose, we brought him to doctor, he has the meds but when we arrive in S'pore waiting for someone to pick us up, he was so affected by the heat there (in was in March so it was still cool here). The next day he got worsen so we brought him to PD and 2 days little, he got worsen again and have fever off and on too so we brought him back again to the PD, this time the PD has to prescribe a week of anti-biotic for him. He got totally well in about 10 days. I do not know how short is your trip to Singapore but for me I was glad that I have few weeks there for him to totally get well and went to have a great holiday in Malaysia! Yes, she will not like any solid food but continue to feed her milk, water and a little of juice. After she gets well, you will find that she is growing longer and more 'mature' :) Stay strong!
 
when they are sick, it is very normal for the fever to fluctuate. again, it isn't anything to be overly concerned about unless it is over 40C for a few hours.

remember, a fever can actually be a good sign. it means that your little one is trying to fight off the illness.

give it a few days and see how your little one does. throwing up is also par for the course. my boy throws up EVERY time he gets a cold. it seems that he can't get rid of the phlegm any other way, so throws it up, and he's 3.5 years old.

just keep a close eye on her and watch for the fever to go higher. if she keeps throwing up her medicine, try giving her meds about 10 minutes before you feed her. then she won't have so much to throw up. you can also ask the dr for suppositories instead of liquid. that will solve the vomitting problem.
 
I would also recomend suppositories- our toddler gets a fever quite regularly, every time he gets a cold; and even when he is 'emotionally' upset, i.e when his sister was born.
He hates taking medicine- and so we tend to give suppositories instead of the liquid medicine...you can get pandol suppositories from watsons, they have some for babies and some for older children.
We also find that suppositories work faster at bringing the fever down.

Should the fever go above 39 and start to approach 40 (which happened to our son when he had the flu) then the best medicine is voltaren suppositories, however they can only be prescribed by a doctor and are very strong. So not to be used too often.

Our ped. said with a fever it is always best to start with the weakest medicine and then work up, if the fever doesn't subside.

He said with a high fever a baby needs to be kept cool- so no overdressing etc., even if air temp. is quite cool.
He also recomended a lukewarm bath for baby to help bring fever down.

I was also worried about frequent and high fevers 'frying' our sons brain (espec. as he also has had a febrile convulsion) but our ped. insists that fevers pose no such threat.
 
hello everyone

thanks for all the advices and comments. Turns out my gal has got viral gastroentitis, which translates to diarrhoea. True enough the fever subsided after 48hours. But the PD said the diarrhoea will contd for up to 2 weeks! It has now been 2 weeks. We've gone for a short trip back to Spore and now back to HK, but still the diarrhoea persisted. It went from dark green, to mustard yellow, and now alternating between greenish and sometimes yellow. It's mucuosy all the time, sometimes with lumps (sorry for the graphic description!!) and sometimes when she's passing, it'll be with bubbles (got a lot of air?)

It's heartbreaking having to change her diaper and waking her up in the middle of the night, cos not changing is NOT an option, rite? She'll be all cuddly (we're co-sleeping with her) and sleeping soundly and contentedly when we had to change her and that will almost always wake her up to a screaming fit.

My PD has said he's not inclined to give meds to babies to stop diarrhoea. Usually, he said he'll let them stop naturally. But 2weeks of diarrhoea is really mind-boggling! It can be 4-5 times in 24hr.

As for food, i'm currently still BF-ing her 5-6 times a day. For her solids, i'm jus feeding her plain brown rice cereal for breakfast and then plain porridge for lunch and dinner, as per PD's suggestion. It's jus to keep her full but i reckon this has got no nutritious value. I cant give her any fruits or veg since her bowel movements are so rapid now. :(

Anyone with similar experiences can advice. Is it really best for us to sit it out and wait for it to stop?
 
oh, forgot to add that the PD tested her stool samples and it's negative for major virus. Thankfully she has had her rotavirus vaccine completed prior to this.
 
I feel so demoralized that despite struggling so hard during the initial stage and pressing on with breastfeeding, it has not prevented my gal from falling sick or at least recover faster. Feel so disheartened...heartbreaking to see her trying to "push the watery poo" out.. I can imagine us adults feel so much pain and discomfort if we have diarrhoea, let alone such a young baby. I was just starting to feel somewhat confident of being her caregiver, now feel could it be me not detailed enough? I was already being pretty anal of hygiene issues yet this happened. And what kind of viral did she get that's infecting her for so long?!? :( sorry just ranting here....
 
kids get sick. that's part of growing up. it is NOT something that you did or didn't do. it happens!

hk is such a crowded place that it would be impossible to live here and not get sick. children get sick easier because they haven't had a chance to build up immunity. yes, bf helps to protect them, but it isn't a magic cure-all.

remember, as your girl gets older, the more anal you are about hygiene, the more she will get sick! she NEEDS to be exposed to germs and yucky stuff and she NEEDS to get sick in order to build up the much desired immunity.

so, again, my advice is relax. i know it is terrible to see your little ones in any kind of discomfort. (my girl has a stuffy/runny nose right now and is a little miserable.) but, there is NOTHING you can do about it except try to help them feel as comfortable as possible. if you are doing that, then you are doing your job.
 
When my son had diarrhoea, the pd advised us to put him on soya formulae for a week so that he will not get any reaction with lactose when his stomach is still so sensitive.

I feel for you, my son had diarrhoea twice and he is only slightly over six months! There is really nothing you can do when it is a virus...
 
fennho said:
It has not prevented my gal from falling sick or at least recover faster. Feel so disheartened......
Click to expand...

Please don't feel dishearten that you are breastfeeding or that it hasn't worked at protecting your baby. Although your baby is ill she hasn't been hospitalised. Formula fed babies are four times more likely to be hospitalised for gastroenteritis in the first 12 months than breastfed babies.
 
hi everyone

again, thanks to all for your comments and kind words. Took my gal to the PD again and was given meds this time as the PD agreed as well that beyond 2 weeks is not good for the baby. After slightly more than 24hours, the diarrhoea has FINALLY stopped! Hallelujah!!! Now she didnt poo for 24hours, but that's the least of my worries. She nows keep farting real foul smell, so i'm a tad concerned if the meds has cure her or has it just curbed her diarrhoea but whatever "toxic" or virus that causes the diarrhoea is still "lurking" inside her? Sigh.
 
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