BABY FEVER

Fever in babies less than a month old can be quite dangerous and calls for immediate medical attention and stay in a hospital under strict medical supervision for at least two days. In the first month of baby’s life, the immune system of the baby is still not mature enough to fight any infections and infection progresses in them very swiftly. Sometimes, birth itself may cause serious infection in a baby or bacteria in the mother’s body that was harmless to her may pass off to the newborn and harm her. For example, group B streptococcus bacteria is harmless to moms but may cause infection or even meningitis in babies within a month of delivery.

Similarly, high fever in babies so young is also an early symptom of the structural abnormality in the kidneys or bladder. Later in babies’ life, they may spike up fever and become fussy just after vaccination. Consult your doctor whether you can give a prescribed pain reliever such as acetaminophen to the baby. You should carefully monitor the fever of the child and other symptoms for the next 24 hours. After most early vaccinations, low fever is quite common and just indicates that immune system of the baby is working properly but if the baby remains fussy for more than three hours or gets a fever higher than 101 degrees, it’s time to see a doctor.