It is hard for me to say for sure what the miracle of reducing fever is, but I have had luck with a few things. Being creative and doing whatever was necessary...turned out to be productive. What began to happen as his fever increased was body aches, watery and bloodshot eyes and he became pretty immobile. I know everyone has their own solutions to fever and some do not use medicine. I would enjoy nothing more than to not give my children medication and go pure naturalist/homeopathic route, but we do whatever works and that does normally include medication. We rotated Motrin and Tylenol on a strict schedule, checked his temperature religiously and kept him hydrated.
Bath time- Lukewarm water with a few extras for about 15-20 minutes until his fever reduced. We turned to the bath to reduce his fever quite a few times.
o A saturated towel for the back and a wringed out dishcloth for the head. (Cup or small container for pouring water over the back onto the towel)
o Glowsticks bracelets with the little plastic connectors.- 15 pack at the Dollar Tree
-The glowsticks looked really cool at night and illuminated the room.
-In the daylight we closed the shades and closed the curtain on the window and the shower curtain partially closed. They illuminated the bath, which he thought was so cool.
-Building giant circles, little circles, bracelets, necklaces, swords and whatever else he wanted to create...really lightened his mood.
o Lots of action figures, water guns and water goggles made for much fun and imagination to happen.
-While his dad pretended by playing with jumping, diving, kicking and flipping action figures, little Gerry got a kick out of it and even laughed a little.
o We read through his favorite books as he sat in the bath.
Since, he was not hungry at all, the only things we could get him to munch on was juice flavored popsicles and frozen grapes (they defrost super fast and hydrate). It helped reduce his internal temperature as well. He drank water, oj and other juice boxes. He would eat a bite or two of something and that was it. We didn't force him and focused on keeping him extra hydrated. So these are the things that worked for us during this viral sickness. His nose has started to run, so now we will combat that. That is the only thing that sucks about Fall, all of that sickness that comes with it. They have started to take the 1,000mg of Emergen-C powder packets each morning to boost their immune system.
My moms says to sweat it out, but each time I put blankets on him, his fever would shoot up dangerously high. Now, when he went to sleep the last 2 days of his fever, we piled the blankets on him and he woke up fever free that morning, but the fever returned later in the day. I know the sweat out method does work, because when my husband and I get sick, we take Nyquil and crawl under the blankets to sleep and sweat it out. It works for us every time. However, we went with him being dressed lightly in his bottoms and a house coat, t-shirt and shorts or other light clothing. My mom used to give us liquid echinacea when we were little and any other herbal supplement she thought was beneficial to our immune system. We rarely got sick when we were little. I purchased some liquid echinacea a few days ago at the natural drug store and I will be administering it to my kids soon.
The first and last thing we did and did throughout was lots of love and hugging. That made him feel the best and the most at ease. I literally woke up every 2 hours, and I sat on side of him on the couch at his head for days and was so exhausted. A mother sacrifices whatever she needs to in order to be there and make her children better, in my opinion. I honestly got more sleep when he was a baby than with this latest sickness. Luckily, my husband got home on the weekend and I was able to catch a bit more sleep.
Day 6: On this hump day, I am so grateful to have been able to open my eyes and see the beautiful world around me.
Other helpful bloggers helped out with a few tips on our Consider Me Inspired Facebook:
Meg Shade Falciani Vinegar. Our doc told me about it and I thought he was nuts, but it worked. (And I'm totally not a non-mainstream person.) About 1/2 c. vinegar in a big bowl of tepid water, soak a cloth in it, wring JUST so it's not drippy and put around nape of neck. Change it as the cloth gets warm. If they're laying down, then on the armpits and groin, too. My kids have been known to throw 104+ fevers and it brings them down faster than anything (not to "normal" but to mid-101 where I'm not worried they're going to fry their brain. It's the same concept as rubbing alcohol, but using something FAR safer and less toxic.
Tammy McGirr Northrup We used to take a t-shirt, wet it in cold water, wring it out and then put it on them until almost dry - then repeat. Here's an article I came across the other day also. Might find some good info and suggestions here.http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/.../
