Forum Index
»
Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
teething - 102 fever?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
For the past week, DS has been super fussy. Lots of night waking, and reaaaally crying when he wakes up, then being really hard to soothe. No fever, then very low grade fever (100 or so). We basically figured it was teething, because he clearly has two huge lumps where his 15 month molars are coming in. We had some loose stool, but no throwing up, but then the night before last, he fever climbed to 101, then last night it was 102.3. It came right down with ibuprofen, but that was scary for us because it was his first fever. Today he seemed fine again until this afternoon, when he got really fussy, had a low-grade (100) fever, and was rubbing his face a ton again. He took a nap, slept fitfully, and I gave him some ibuprofen and he perked right up (his fever comes right down when we give it to him, though we generally only give it for discomfort, since we like to let the fever do its thing). Anyway, tonight, one of the two molars popped through and he's sleeping well, even without ibuprofen. (So far, and knock on wood).
Everything I've read says that teething will NOT cause a fever as high as 102 or more. But yet, it doesn't seem like anything else is wrong with him. No respiratory problems or congestion, no throwing up, and one day of sort of loose stools, but nothing more. But something is wrong, because he's fussy. Is it possible that teething really does cause such a high fever in babies? Or is it just coincidence? Maybe a small bug and infection caused the fever to climb? He's not eating very well, but we're still nursing and he's nursing around the clock (ayyyy, I'm tired). We were at the doc earlier this week so we've ruled out an ear infection, and since his fever comes down and he's fine when we use medicine, I'm not overly alarmed (did already call my pediatrician just to discuss when to consider ER, what symptoms to watch for, etc). Thanks for any insights on teething and fevers....or what else this might be. Happy thanksgiving! |
Anonymous
|
Wow, congrats on not getting sick for 15 months!
My pedi said that teething will not cause a fever over a 99 (nothing higher than low grade). Its probably just a virus. |
Anonymous
| No -- I'd guess symptoms will come. |
Anonymous
|
My toddler had had a few instances of 102 fever with no symptoms this year...ped said it was a virus. That's probably what your son has too.
Remember to sneak in and check his temp in the middle of the night, sometimes fevers spike overnight. |
Anonymous
| Have his ears checked. Night waking with lots of crying and a fever is often an ear infection. |
Anonymous
OP here. We did, no ear infection. So the days are completely fine. I'm perplexed by this. He is a little bit under the weather during the day, but no fever, even without ibuprofen. The night's are pure misery, with crying and fussing and a (low) fever. He did get one tooth yesterday and another one seems to be ready to erupt (molars). The fevers respond to ibuprofen and then he's much better (but still fussy and waking a lot). The fever has not been as high as 102 since. No other symptoms. I'm perplexed. Call into doc again today just to let her know it's been a few days and the fever is still coming and going; her office is closed so I'm waiting for a call back. Any other tips? I'm worried, but feel like he's basically okay, but something is going on. If this is teeth, holy s***, he's having a hard time! He is nursing around the clock but is refusing all solid foods now. |
Anonymous
| Any updates? You won't see 102 from teething -- there's something else going on, even if he developed an EI after being checked, or it could be viral, etc... |
Anonymous
| OP here. Not sure what was going on. Whatever it was, he's fine now! He seemed to perk up a lot yesterday and this morning woke up laughing - no fever since Thursday night. Never did get any symptoms, although we did get a molar (which may have been a coincidence). He's sensitive to teething and does the night wakings when they're coming in anyway, but the fever did seem high for teething. A mystery, I guess. I don't care, as long as he'd feeling well again! Sick baby is the saddest thing. |
Anonymous
|
When a baby/toddler starts teething, there is a small opening in the gums as the teeth push through. Sure, teeth can come out, but germs can get in! - hence the fevers that usually accompany teething.
So, no, the process of a tooth coming through the gum does NOT cause the fever. BUT the germs going IN do. In fact, for some people take antibiotics before dental procedures for that very reason. Their immune system/heart murmurs may be effected by dental work on gums...b/c it's an ideal place for infection to infest (get into the blood stream, enter the circulatory system, etc.). |
Anonymous
|
Another update here. Never got any other symptoms, and DS got two more teeth the day after i posted and then another today, so four molars in less than one week! I'm leaning towards believing that all four teeth coming in at once made the fever higher than usual.
Now let me tell you how little sleep I've been getting.................. |
Anonymous
| Teething does not cause a fever. |
Anonymous
OP here. My doctor disagrees with you and says that, with many kids, teething OFTEN causes a (low grade) fever. While my doctor does think that teething does not cause a 102 degree fever, and suspects a virus was also in play, she said, "it's not impossible" that getting four teeth at once might cause a higher than usual fever for teething. |
Anonymous
|
Agree with 20:10. I can tell you for a fact that my son's teething causes him fevers. And sometimes those fevers were pretty high, but they ALWAYS correlated with teething when no other symptoms were present (besides drooling/gnawing of course). His worst fevers coincided with him getting his 1 year molars, and then his canines.
It is definitely possible for a virus to coincide with teething and cause fevers, but you can have fevers caused by just teething alone. |