Infant and toddler fever is a common occurrence. A fever is when the body temperature is elevated. The normal body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius(37 C) or 98.6 degrees Farenheit (98.6 F). Once the temperature reaches 38 C or 101 F, we call that fever (or we say the child is febrile or is running a temperature).

It is such a worry when your baby feels hot and has a high temperature. You feel you must bring the temperature down. You are concerned that your baby may be very sick. Don't worry too much. Being febrile is a normal body response and all babies will have a high temperature (have a fever) at some stage.

This page will give you information on what to do about the high temperature and why an infant or toddler fever occurs. You can also see the infections page for specific advice on illnesses that can cause fever in babies and toddlers.

The most common cause of an infant or toddler fever is an upper respiratory tract infection. These are nearly always caused by viruses, so no antibiotic treatment is required.

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Elevating the body temperature is the way the body responds to infection or inflammation. It is good that the body can mount a response to such invasion and fever is an important part of that response. Having an elevated body temperature (having a fever or being febrile), though, can make your baby or child feel miserable. You know yourself that being febrile can make you feel awful. Actually, the elevated body temperature also makes bugs like bacteria and viruses uncomfortable, and that is what we want.

Medications such as Paracetamol (Acetaminophen in North America) or Ibuprofen can make babies and children who are febrile feel more comfortable. Often they also bring the body temperature down. Our aim when we prescribe these medications is to make your baby or toddler feel more comfortable not necessarily to bring the temperature down (which is just an indication that the body is doing its job).

For doses of medications, click here.

Infant or toddler fever in itself is not a bad thing. Being febrile can be a sign of a serious illness and the serious illness might cause problems if not treated, but the temperature in itself rarely causes problems.

Sometimes mothers feel that it is essential that they always treat the temperature as it can cause damage to the brain or cause convulsions (so called febrile seizures or fever fits). This is not actually correct. Babies and toddlers who have febrile seizures do not get damage to the brain and we know that trying to keep the temperature under control with medication will not stop febrile seizures. It is not the height of the infant or toddler fever that predicts a febrile seizure and sometimes children have a febrile seizure before any temperature has been noticed. So trying to keep the temperature down is not the answer.