How long do you let a fever go for?

[Jahzara]

My Dr always said " anything from 39 onwards - go to Dr or Hospital "

You can never be too careful !!!

[skybie]

is she teething hun? my DD used to get a temp when her teeth were coming through.
I'd take her to the docs, he'll probably tell u to just keep doing what ur doing but its better to be safe

[SweetPea]

If it was 39 or over I would take them to the dr's or hospital if dr's weren't open. My ds1 recently had a temp of 39.3 and was showing no signs of being sick but I took up to the local medical centre just in case and it turns out he had a middle ear infection, and he wasn't pulling at his ears or anything! If the temp is going down with the panadol and then going up as it wears off for over 24 hours I would be going to the dr's, you just never know with little ones as they obviously can't tell you when they don't feel well. Hope all is ok!

[Snacks]

I'd take her, just to check the ears and the throat. If they are clear then you're already doing all you need to but at least you'll know for sure, KWIM? The other thing to do is keep her fluids up. With the fever she'll have increased risk of getting a bit dehydrated (I know you said the nappies are fine, so this is probably irrelevant but JIC!) so fluids are pretty important.
Natty had a mystery virus last year that was 4 days (and 4 horrible, horrible nights) of high temps. She was miserable too, so I kept the neurofen up to her. The Dr told me her ears were clear so there was nothing we could do but wait it out. She said if she didn't seem responsive and didn't have any "spark" to her at all, then to bring her back. (Possible dehydration.)
After 4 days she was maybe a little tiny bit snotty, but that was it! Nothing else wrong with her. Still don't know what that bug was about.
I hope Jazz is much better soon.

[suse]

Poor Jazz! Euan had the same thing a couple of weeks ago - temp around 38.8, responsive to paracetamol/ibuprofen but would rise again once the dose wore off, no symptoms of illness, was alert and generally happy, weeing/pooing as normal, heart-rate / breathing normal, was taking in fluids, was off most food but would still eat fruit by the barrel-load.

I rang the health nurse, because it was a weekend and I didn't want to subject DS to sitting in the ER for hours on end if it wasn't warranted, which I didn't feel that it was except that the lack of other symptoms beyond a fever concerned me.

She advised that as he was not showing any other signs of concern (eg: dehydration, rapid or shallow breathing, unresponsive to stimulus), if the fever goes beyond 48 hours, or goes to / above 40 degrees, or is not responsive to paracetamol, then to see a doctor. She also said that the current advice is to not give paracetamol unless the temperature goes above 38.3 or is sustained, but to monitor closely and to ensure good hydration.

DS's temperature lasted about 36 hours and then he was back to normal, and he showed no other symptoms, so who knows what it was.

HTH - and I hope that Jazz is feeling much better soon.

[Indadhanu]

Thanks everyone, made an appointment with the GP tomorrow morning first thing, hopefully I'll be able to walk in and say "well... she was sick yesterday" lol. She's getting a bit of diarrhea now, but her temp hasn't risen since her dose of paracetamol this morning at 9.30ish so thats a good sign. She's actually playing now too, not being clingy, so thats a good sign I think.

... LOL at your ETA suse!!!!!