My one-year-old son has had a fever for four days. Here's the case:

1. His cousins had the same thing. Fever with no other visiable symptoms (one complained of a headache.)
2. Fever started on Thursday (12/9)
3. Called doctor's office on Friday (12/10) and nurse told me if it lasts until tomorrow (12/10) then to call back. Got answering machine.
4. Highest fever: 103.2 (armpit) with no meds
5. Have been giving Tylenol/Motrin for four days now
6. Given cold baths (alleviated some)
7. Fever has gone down while on meds but spikes up an hour before they are to wear off.
8. Shows no other signs of illness. Though, at times, he rolls his eyes as if he's going to faint but then goes back to what he was doing. I figured that this is lightheadedness or dizzy (I get lightheaded when I'm sick.) Plus, he hasn't eaten much solids (a grilled cheese sandwich, some crackers per day.)

I'm calling the doctor tomorrow, but I want to know if anyone else has dealt with this. When his cousin's mother went to the doctor two weeks ago, her doctor told her it was a virus and it just needs to run its course.

Please help!

Worried mommy here,
Michelle

A fever for that long is a bit normal but still enough to worry about...a fever fights off the virus.103 isn't that bad but should still be brought down. You said a cold bath? Do a luke warm bath...cold could make them have a siezure. The thing that worries me is that you say his eyes roll back at times....that isn't normal and that is the reason I would have him seen ASAP...I might even take him to the ER. The thing with kids is they can become sicker seriously fast. Dehydrated seriously fast. Make sure he is drinking lots of liquids...sports drinks or pediolite. Keep track of when and if he's peeing and make sure his mouth is wet and if you semi pinch his skin that it goes back down...If it stays up then he is dehydrated. Make sure he can put his head back and he does't cry in pain....If he can not do it then it could be spinal meningitis which is really serious. But those are some things you can do on your own. I hope I helped some. Better to take him then to take a chance sweetie asap. good luck and please let us know how he is..

I was told a fever with no other visible symptoms was more of a cause of concern than one accompanied with vomiting, runny nose, ect. especially if prolonged. My son had an incident exactly like this around a year, and they ran the whole gammut of tests on him. After his white cell count came back really high, they checked his blood for bacteria, checked for a UTI, and if he hadn't gotten better by day 4 or 5 they were going to do a spinal tap. Bacterial infection is always a possibility in those cases, I was told. Luckily, on the 4th day, his fever broke and he broke out. He just had roseola, or the 3 day measles, a very common childhood virus that causes high fever. So we avoided the spinal tap.

The seeming dizziness or loss of balance would be disconcerting to me. I was also told if he experiences any mental changes, excessive sleepiness (you can't wake him) incessant crying, loss of coordination, etc, he should be taken to the ER ASAP. Those can all be symptoms of meningitis or some other serious infection.

But there have been several mysterious illnesses in children in my area, suspected West Nile (though the season is wrong now) viral menengitis, etc. IMO, this definitely warrants your concern! Good luck, keep us posted.

Whenever DS had an ear infection he'd just get a fever, then we'd notice that he wasn't eating as well as usual. No other symptoms, just a fever. We'd go to the doctor and he'd look in his ears and say -- yikes!

Watch for a rash. It could very likely be roseola. All three of our kids have had it. They run a fever for three or four days with no other symptoms, then break out. Its not serious and will run its course on its own if thats what it is.

Nancy
mom to:
17 year old Kyle
14 year old Matthew
5 year old Nikki

Well, I took my ball of sunshine to the doctor on Monday and she told me there is a virus running amok. He had the symptoms for it (five day fever and sore throat-which I had no idea he had!) He's doing fine now. His fever broke Tuesday morning and he slept for five hours in two naps during the day :) and slept through the night. He did the "eye rolling" thing once on Tuesday and not today. The doctor said he was probably worn out; fevers take a lot of a young child and he hadn't been eating much due to the sore throat so his little body became weak.

Thanks for your help! Even though some of you freaked me out. :jester:

Michelle