The way to reduce fever for babies at home is something many families are concerned about today because fever is a very common symptom in babies and young children. Many mothers are confused and often use fever-reducing medicine for their children to lower their child's temperature.
In fact, when the child has a mild fever, the mother does not have to use fever-reducing medicine. Because the abuse of drugs as a way to quickly reduce fever can also cause many unwanted side effects, making the child's body oily and harder to treat the next time the disease is infected.
What is the cause of a fever?
Fever symptoms can occur for one of the following reasons:
Infection: This is the main cause when a child has a fever. An infection or infection will cause the body to overheat. Fever is seen as the body's way of defending against invading agents.
Teething: Teething babies can cause mild hyperthermia. If your baby's fever is higher than 38oC, the fever most likely isn't the teething fever.
Immunizations: After getting vaccinated, babies and young children sometimes have a low grade fever.
Wearing too many clothes: If the baby is incubated too tightly or in a hot environment, the baby will very easily get a fever because the body does not regulate its own temperature like an adult.
Other diseases: In addition to the simple reasons mentioned above, the fact that a baby's body has a fever can be one of the signs of serious illness. That could be pneumonia, malaria, dengue fever, meningitis, septic encephalitis, ... Pay attention to if your child has symptoms such as chills, hemorrhage, convulsions, vomiting, difficulty breathing, purple pale, lethargic, struggling or lethargic or not. This is a situation that threatens the child's life if it is not handled promptly.
Expressed when a baby has a fever
These are the common symptoms when your baby has a fever:
Baby's body temperature is higher than 37.5oC
Irritable crying, or irritable
Sweat
Rapidly breath
Tired
Lethargy
Sleep a lot
Quitting feeding, loss of appetite
How to reduce fever for newborn babies: mothers should find ways to measure the temperature as soon as the baby has the above symptoms and find ways to promptly handle them.
In case the child does not have too high a fever, the mother can apply the following home-based fever-reducing methods to avoid overuse of medicine for the baby.
1. Giving lots of fluids is the simplest, fastest and most effective way to reduce fever for your baby at home
When a fever occurs, the body sweats so it easily leads to exhaustion, dehydration, dry eyes and mouth, leading to dehydration. You need to give your baby liquid food to make it easy to digest and drink more warm water than usual.
In addition, parents can also give the baby oral rehydration and electrolyte preparations such as oresol, hydrite. This is to rehydrate, purify the body to help the baby quickly reduce fever.
The way to reduce fever for babies at home for babies who are too young and are breastfed is that mothers should breastfeed more often and more often.
Note, drink warm water to replenish water, help the body detox, quickly reduce fever. The mother does not let the child drink water that is too hot to cause a mouth burn or cold that causes toothache or cold to the stomach.
2. Cool the baby with warm water
Another simple way to help lower your baby's fever at home is to cool your baby with warm, step-by-step water. First, take off all the baby's clothes, use 5 small towels dipped in warm water, squeeze it out slightly, then put the child's armpits and crotch, the other towel soaked in warm water to wipe over the child.
Warm water will evaporate, dilating blood vessels to help cool the body. Continue doing this until the child's temperature drops to normal (37oC). Usually, the temperature will drop in about 30-45 minutes.
Effective ways to reduce fever for your baby
Children from 6 months to 5 years old when the fever is too high can lead to seizures, mothers need to actively reduce the fever with some of the following quick ways to reduce fever.
3. Add vitamin C to help reduce fever for your baby
Orange juice and fruit juices rich in vitamin C such as grapefruit, tangerine ... are good drinks that help babies increase their resistance to being able to fight against external pathogens. In addition, the chilled fruits such as grapes, watermelon, dragon fruit ... also provide water to help soothe the body.
4. Wear loose, cool clothes that don't cover the baby
Children have a fever but still play flexibly, eat well, drink enough fluids and especially they have normal bowel movements, you don't need to give them medicine.
A simple way to reduce fever at home for children in this case is to put your child in loose clothing so that the body radiates heat to help the child reduce the fever . In addition, you can give your child a fever reducing patch to help ease the discomfort.
5. Reduce fever at home by bathing your baby
In the past, our elders often abstained from bathing when they had a fever, especially with children. But today, many studies have shown, bathing is the way to cool down the body very quickly but must follow the techniques.
It is extremely important to cool down when a baby has a fever because the child's brain is still weak, so it is very vulnerable. Bathing is the main way to cool down the brain.
6. Baby shower
One of the ways to reduce a child's fever at home is a sauna. Fill a bath or large basin with hot water and add a teaspoon of eucalyptus oil or benjoin. The bathroom must be tightly closed so that the vapors cannot be released.
Hold your baby in your arms or sit on the floor covered with a towel. Put a towel around the baby, no need to get dressed. Baby will sweat a lot. Hot oil vapor will seep through the skin and be breathed into the lungs by the baby.
7. Applying fresh lemon is an effective way to reduce fever at home
Fresh lemon is very effective in helping children reduce fever quickly , especially suitable for children with fever from 38 degrees. The method is very simple, the mother cuts the lemon into thin slices, and applies it to the forehead, elbow, legs and spine so that the child quickly reduces the fever.
How to reduce fever quickly with lemon effectively
However, when performing this home remedy for fever at home, be careful not to apply lemons on scratched areas or sensitive skin to avoid itchy and sore skin.
8. Reduce fever by using essential oils
One way to reduce fever for children at home is quite effective, but few people know it is using massage essential oils . This is a great natural fever reducer by lowering body temperature.
The rubefacients found in peppermint, ginger and cinnamon bark are able to warm the circulatory system and cause sweating. This partly helps the body to reduce heat, which is a way to reduce fever for babies who do not take medicine.
You can also use eucalyptus, peppermint and chamomile essential oil to help reduce fever, which is a safe way to reduce fever. Mom needs to mix 6 drops of oil in 1 teaspoon of carrier oil, use that solution to massage the baby's body, so focus on special areas such as the back of the neck and heels.
What is the way to reduce fever for babies you need to know?
9. Using wet socks is a quick way to reduce fever for children
A pair of wet socks will also help your child reduce fever effectively. This is a way to reduce fever for your baby without medicine. Choose a pair of small, long socks then dip them in warm water, squeeze them out, then wrap them around your child's ankles and feet.
When the socks are wet and cold, the mother repeats the process and continues until the baby's body cools down.
When they first wrap wet socks on their feet, babies may feel a little uncomfortable because they are not used to it. But after a while your baby will gradually feel cooler and more comfortable to fall asleep. The next day when he woke up, the baby's fever might have been blown away.
Hopefully, with the following ways to reduce fever at home, parents will have the safest and most correct way to take care of their children's health.
See more related posts:
How to take care of a child with a fever effectively and 5 things mothers should absolutely avoid
Infants have a fever - Use simple home fever-reducing strategies right away
How do I know if my baby is fussy because of a teething fever?