Toddler with fever that lasts only 1-2 hours - Any ideas what this is?

[Anonymous]

For the last 2 days, my DD, 18 mo, has run a fever (~101) in the early evening. The fever only lasts an hour or two and then she is warm, but doesn't have a true fever. I sent her to daycare today because I thought last night's fever was a fluke - it came and went so fast, but daycare called late (4:30) saying she had a fever of 101. (Typically when colds/fevers present at daycare I get called earlier - between lunch and 3). But by the time DH got back to the house with her an hour later, it was down again.

Additional information that might help. She had a rough night sleeping last night. She seems to be getting some more teeth. She has been coughing for a few days. The whole house came down with something late last week and we are all coughing/draining. No ear pulling. Her temperament has been good, not the typical whining baby that shows up with ear infections.

I haven't seen anything like this before (I also have a 4 yr old). I'm a bit stumped. Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe a slightly raised temp from teething that spikes to "fever" in the evenings due to natural body temperature rise? Sound possible?

[Anonymous]

Teething can definitely cause fevers. How is she acting?

[Anonymous]

She might just be fighting an infection. It's normal for a fever to increase at night, so maybe she's just running a very low grade fever that gets a bit worse at night.

[Anonymous]

Is she urinating frequently? Could be UTI.

[Anonymous]

I'd want ears and throat to be checked. When we have an ear infection or strep we really only see it at night most of the time.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

She's fine during the day, but has been fussy at night - typical of previous teething episodes.

Urination is normal.

[Anonymous]

Probably just fighting something off- body's normal defense mechanism! Happened with our son the other night- he woke up screaming an hour after going to bed, had a slight fever, gave him some Tylenol, he was fine.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious because my 11 month old seemed fine on sunday, went to bed at 7:30 as usual, woke up at 10:30 pm crying and crying. WHen I picked him up, he was burning up, with a fever of 103.5. We pulled off his warm jammies, gave him motrin, made sure he was hydrated (and he nursed A LOT), and his fever eventually went down to normal and he hasn't been running a fever since and has been generally in a good mood, if a bit subdued. We're crossing our fingers that whatever it was is over, but I was worried about such a high fever seemingly out of the blue.

[Anonymous]

I'd really suspect ears given the cold and night fussing.

[Anonymous]

You know this happened to one of my sons a few times - a fever of 100/101 or so that would come and go w/no other symptoms. He seems past it now (age 2.5) but perhaps it was/is teething. And/or I also thought maybe there are some fluctuations in body temp that might occur throughout the day (I know 101 is high for that but 100 is not).