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How to Handle a Kid’s Fever

How to Handle a Kid’s Fever

Tips for treating your child's fever

The winter has arrived and that means holidays, snow days, hot chocolate—and flu!

This is, of course, flu season and if you haven’t already gotten flu shots for yourself and your whole family, then you definitely need to take care of that ASAP.

But even with a flu shot, if your child is in a classroom of twenty students, think about that as a petri dish full of germs that are getting passed from one person to the next. Chances are they are going to get sick. (After all, the flu shot only takes care of certain strains of flu—not all of them.)

 

So if your little ones start complaining about chills and aches, here are a few things you can do to take care of their fever:

 

Be prepared for your kids fever

1. To cover or not to cover

One of the biggest misconceptions that comes with fever is that you should bundle up and sweat it out. This is not the best move to make.

First, you need to take your child’s temperature to make sure that they do, in fact, have a fever. But if they do, they may feel very cold and want to bundle as much as possible. Don’t!

This can actually make them overheat and sweat too much causing dehydration.

Your body’s chills and shivers is your system’s way of fighting off the infection. If you bundle up, you’re not letting your body do what it needs to do and the fever will just take longer to get over.

Then, cover them in a light to medium blanket. Be sure to change these blankets out regularly if they do start sweating as a sweaty blanket is just horrible to feel and can cause more shivering.

2. Stay hydrated

So, wrapping your child up has proven to be a fallacy. What about drinking lots of fluids? That one is right on the money.

You should definitely encourage your child to drink as much as possible. A fever will make you sweat, so drinking water will keep you from getting dehydrated, which will just add to the misery of the flu.

Give your child regular drinks of water and also mix in an occasional glass of orange juice as the Vitamin C will give them extra nutrients to fight the flu.

3. What about baths

Another common technique for dealing with fevers is to use cold baths to bring down the temperature.

This may be necessary for rapid cooling if the person is running a dangerously high temperature, it’s actually not a good idea for a standard fever. But you can help keep your kid comfortable with a lukewarm bath.

This will keep them warm and also help deal with the shivering. Just be sure to keep the bath no longer than 15 minutes or the water will get cold and that will defeat the purpose.

These tips for fever help you feel more prepared

No one likes having the flu, but it’s even tougher on moms who have to watch their child suffer, often with a feeling of helplessness. If you follow these tips, even though they may go against some things you’ve been told in the past, then you can help keep your little ones comfortable while their body fights off the fever.

Stay Prepared for Life’s Accidents

Bumps, bruises and owies – oh my! Parenthood is never boring. Be prepared with a first aid kit designed exclusively with you and your kids in mind.  Check out PreparaKit.com for kits and tools created for busy parents who want to be ready for the unexpected.