5 Ways to Lower Your Child’s Fever

I recently had a very sick child with a very high fever for over eight days. I was not comfortable with giving repeated fever reducer medicine for fear that it could cause damage to her liver and stomach, so I discovered some alternative ways to reduce her fever. Now these methods are only temporary and may not work for every child.

The first method to reduce a child’s fever is of course Tylenol. Be sure to use the correct dose suggested by your physician and use the time line suggested as well. I find Tylenol is always my first attempt to reduce a fever because it is gentler on the stomach than other meds. Sometimes Tylenol is just not enough to reduce those high fevers in those cases I use Motrin.

Motrin is also a fever reducing medicine and works a little better on those high fevers. When ever I have had a high fever in my child at the Doctor’s office they have immediately given her Motrin to reduce the fever. It is also important to give the correct dose and use the time frame for dosing as suggested by your physician.

As I said earlier my daughter had a very high fever over 105 for 8 days her physicians instructed me to use a much more aggressive approach to reduce her fever. I gave her Motrin in the correct dose amount and followed it in three hours with Tylenol in the correct dose amount. I caution you to only use this method if instructed to do so by your physician.

I became concerned with giving my daughter so much medicine to reduce her fever over this prolonged period, so I came up with alternative methods that allowed me to extend the time frame in which her medicine was administered. The first is a luke warm bath. Although she was not fond of this method it helped reduce her fever for a short time and was better than destroying her liver.

The next method was to cool her with a fan. This worked ok but I discovered it works even better if you put a bucket of ice in front of the fan to make it a little cooler. You also have to remember even though you child has the chills their fever is very high, so never bundle them up. A light sheet is always best because it is cooler on them and allows air flow.

Popsicles were my next weapon against these high fevers. I would give her popsicles to suck on to help lower her fever. this method also allows you child to rehydrate which is important with fevers because they need more fluids. You can also give you child very cold drinks if you can get them to sip on it.

There are many great things you can do to keep your child cool. These were my favorites for my 17 month old child. I have also used a cold wash cloth and the “Be Kool” gel pads on my older child. I do caution you to always consult your physician when trying a new method for your chills because what worked for mine may not work for yours.

Be sure to never give asprin to a child to reduce fever. This could cause a deadly reaction called rye’s syndrome.

Disclaimer; This is not medical advice. I am not a physician these are only methods that I have used to reduce fever.