Are You Fever-Phobic When it Comes to Your Kid?

Welcome to Mom Talk, a weekly feature at Medford Patch where local parents discuss a hot-button issue. Let's jump right in to this week's question:

A recent online medical journal asserted that many parents are "fever-phobic." What do you do when your child gets sick? And do you ever think you're taking it too far?

Adrienne Szafranski: Somewhere along the line, I read that the brain starts to cook itself at a fever of 104 degrees. Throughout my pregnancies and kids' early childhoods, I never read or heard anything to contradict this. So when my son had a fever of 106 for two days, we were both in hell. Motrin/Tylenol/Ibuprofen wasn't touching this fever and we were terrified.  It ended in a 4-day hospital stay to control the infection and reduce the fever enough to have surgery.

Fevers are scary.  They indicate a battle in the body that we can't see or control.  We act by exerting what control we can: medication.  Really high fevers can happen in really young kids, and we act in the only way we know how. 

I certainly don't feel guilty for every fever I ever dosed.  Now that my kids are older, I don't medicate them if the fever isn't affecting them.  If they can function during the day and sleep at night, battle on, white blood cells!  If my child can't sleep for discomfort, out comes the purple medicine.

One thing I can count on, though, is that they'll change this recommendation before my children get to 6th grade.  THAT is the only medical constant I've seen in parenthood.  

Adrienne has been a Medford resident since 2000, and mom to a 6 year-old and 4.75 year-old.

Nancy Quinn: After having our second child, my husband and I are much more relaxed about things. We usually give (children's) ibuprofen or Tylenol if one of our kids is visibly uncomfortable by a high fever or in serious pain - as in the case of teething.

We also rarely call the pediatrician for an appointment unless the illness is longer than a few days or new to us.

As a new parent - with our first child - things were much different. We did everything by the book. If she had a fever or cold - we called the doctor - we administered medication if told - we did it on a strict schedule. We did this to a point where we woke up our child to give her medicine. Looking back - this was definitely going too far. Sleep is far more important when fighting a cold! Luckily our doctor knew how to deal with new, nervous parents and guided us through that time.

It is only natural to want your children to feel well but now I know gauging their mood and temperament is a much better guide than taking temperatures constantly or giving them medication for every sniffle.

Nancy has been a Medford resident for 7 years this Spring. She has two kids - 4 years and 21 months.

Stacey Hilliard: When my kids were little (both under the age of 5), I think I was probably a little "fever-phobic." At one point, I had three different kinds of thermometers on hand to check temps, and always had both children's Tylenol and children's ibuprofen on hand.

Thankfully, I don't think I made too many trips to the pediatrician's office because Mystic Valley Pediatrics has a fantastic staff accessible by phone to help parents determine if a trip into the office is really necessary.

Now that my kids are older (7 and 9), and I feel that I really know my kids pretty well, I definitely place more importance on the way they look and act to determine if they're sick and need medication or medical attention. I think it's hard to do that, though, before a child is old enough to communicate how it is that he or she feels sick.

Even now, if my 9-year old can't adequately explain to me how he feels sick or what hurts, I call Nurse Maureen and have my keys ready for that trip to Medford Square.

Stacey is a mom to two boys, ages 7 and 9; and a Medford resident since 1998.

Tiffany Reevior: I generally believe fevers are a body's way of fending off germs, so we just ride them out.  If the fever got very high, I'd probably give him a fever reducer, but that's only happened a couple times in his nearly 7 years. 

We usually see the doctor once a year for well visits; I can recall just a handful of times we've gone in for sick visits.  When my son is sick, he often has a run-of-the-mill virus that can only heal with time and rest. 

I'm loathe to drag my miserable, sick boy into a doctor's office only to hear there's nothing to be done for him, and I'm wary of giving him unnecessary medication.  I am lucky to have a child who's been remarkably healthy; if he'd ever had a serious illness, I might do things differently.

Tiffany is the mom of a 6-year-old and has lived in Medford for four years.