My son (16months) got fever yesterday morning and we gave him paracetamol (seems like his usual fever). And just 2 hours ago, when my wife feed him medication at about 1am, he was till ok. My wife then went down to clean up, and I can hear my son still talking to himself and then he climbed down bed himself. Walked around like normal.

Suddenly he came to me and collapse in front of me and started to shiver. I thought he was playing with me. But then I noticed something was wrong. He was stiff and shivering all over. His eyes were looking up. Not responding to call.

I went into shock. My wife too. Mother in law came and helped us. We tried to wake him up. The shivering and stiffness lasted about less than 5 minutes, but he is still very weak and not responding to us.

We quickly pack and headed to hospital. The Medical Officer said most likely my baby is getting Fever Fit, but our baby has to admit to be monitored. The pediatric will come and see our baby in the morning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Febrile_seizure

I am now back home to pack and then rush back again. The feeling that I just went through is so scary. I have never felt this scared before. God please help...

Any of you guys have experience of such... please share...

A video showing how it looks like...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQHWsNhkOg

Understanding Febrile Seizures (Health Guru)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5crX6ys9FA

What was the cause of it?

My youngest sister had it when she was a toddler. Elder say it is due to heatiness of the body. She would shiver and bite very hard. The nanny used her thumb finger nail to poke against the part above the upper lip (where misai grow for men) to get the mouth to open and put in a spoon to let her bite, else her teeth will crush each other. Yes, fever fit is that powerful. Never put your finger in, they will bite you till it breaks because the body is already too hot.

It also can cause brain damage and fatal. I am glad to hear that your son got the required medical attention. Please pay attention to him when he is back home and make sure he drinks a lot of water.

Get well soon!

Were you keeping a check on the temperature constantly? There is no such thing as an immediate cure for any fever or temperature spike for any child, so you have to constantly watch over the child and monitor the fever.

Constantly sponge the baby all over the body, especially the head, to lower the body temperature and if temperature spikes up, make sure you have one of those bullets which can help lower the temperature drastically.

>39°C/102°F is the limit for children when they have a fever, this will normally spike up during night at around 7pm and during bed time, which is because of the atmosphere at night, and due to sleep.

For babies and infants, fevers can be quite dangerous, I do hope your child is alright.

So sorry to hear, hope things will get better for him. I've never experience this but my MIL always warn about "zhe mou dan" something like what you describe.

My wife and I are now back to take a quick rest while baby and my mum is still at the hospital.

The doctor said Fever Fit is quite common. 10% people will get it . And if you have family history of someone who got it, then the chances of getting it is 20%. For our case, my brother got it once and same goes for my wife.

Once a person got Fever Fit, he/she may get it again if no proper precaution is taken. It will eventually go away when the child is 7 years old. Some people only got it once in their life, so if taken care, it is not serious. When the baby is in the seizure as long he/she comes back to normal within 15 minutes, there is no damage to the brain, etc.

Why it happened? Sudden change of body temperature to 38.5c and above.

How to prevent? Make sure the baby body temp don't go above 38.5c. When having fever, don't let him/her wear thick clothing. No direct fan. Can be in air cond room of 26c. Cool room, not cold room. Then use wet towel and put on his forehead, neck and underarms.

What to do if seizure happens again? Never ever put anything into his mouth. It may damage his tongue/gum. Lay him down facing sideways, then push his chin up. Don't shake him.

Doctor said she will prescribe us 2 medication to be used when Fever Fit happens again. Has to put into anal. 1 of the medication is DDA (dangerous drug).

How is my son? His fever is going up and down. Still on the high side. Doctor said could be some virus/bacteria. So they will take his blood test today. Definitely have to stay overnight today, if blood result is ok, then we can discharge tomorrow.

yea better to be in hospital, at least they monitor closely.

Thanks for the information about handling fever fit, maybe mod may consider pinning this info.

Fever up and down, dengue?

Thanks for the info. Good that he's being monitored...hope it's nothing serious.

It's always scary when a seizure happens. I'm worried whenever my son has high fever because I'm epileptic, though I've been fit-free and off medication for abt 10yrs+; so I'm worried that he'll likely to get febrile seizure.

I always have the paraceptemol that has to be inserted anally in my fridge...just in case the temperature soars high and I can't bring it down by sponging. That's my last resort.

Once my son has fever..I'll keep on checking his temp every 15 minutes or so.. As fever would suddenly creep in and goes up fast.

Spoken like a true parent.
My fridge also serve as a medicinal chest. And having a Digital Ear Thermometer is very handy.

auhckw - Hope your son speedy recovery.

Take Care... God Bless Your Cute Baby..

The seizure usually begins as the fever starts to spike, which is why many parents are caught off guard.

Use lukewarm water when doing sponging to bring the fever down. Using tap water makes the child shiver and the fever goes back up. Do away with those 'kool fever' patches on the forehead, it gives the false impression that the childs' fever is 'taken care of'.

When the child is febrile and 'shivering', it's a sign to sponge him already because the temperature is really high, not wrap him up in the blanket.

The doc usually prescribes paracetamol 6 hourly - that's the max the liver can take. To be safe, ask for some ibuprofen to be given in between the paracetamol doses if the fever spikes.

Febrile seizures do not occur beyond 5 years of age. If it does, then the child requires further investigation.

Hope ur child gets well soon.

Blood result came back. It was normal. He just caught a high fever which doctor said will normally last 3 to 4 days, which his temp will go up and down. During this time he may shiver, diarrhea and get some mouth ulcer. and when his body starts to show some rashes, doctor said it shows that he is recovering.

If his temperature is under control... maybe this evening can discharge.

A lesson learned the hard way... never play play with High Fever! It can caught you off guard!

PS: About his right hand... they do that so that they can easily take his blood (if required more than once) and also to put the drip (if required). The process of wrapping is so heartache.

This post has been edited by auhckw: Mar 20 2011, 01:50 PM

hey..such a cute little baby. Really disheartening to see him suffer. Being a parent, I understand the dilemma. Those who have never had kids will never understand this kind of feeling. It is sad and worries people. And some people I know actually said the reason they don't want to have kids is because of this kind of situation. However, they do not know the joy that a child can bring. It is infinite joy. These people do not know what they are missing and I personally think their are just selfish bastards.

Finally just reached home with baby and wife. Thank god for letting us go through this. His temperature is still up and down but is under medication control. Doctor said in few more days should go away.

Going through this episode really makes me understand being a parent is a really really responsible and challenging task. A lot of personal sacrifice, giving and worry... but in return of a lot of joy with him.

I have to really thank my wife to be so strong and able to go through this. She being 7 months pregnant has to take care of my son, herself and our next baby. Thanks for family and relatives that gave support, doctor and nurses, friends, you guys here and also to wife's company for giving ING that paid the bill

This post has been edited by auhckw: Feb 18 2011, 09:56 PM

what needs to be said has already been said....

anyway....for anyone with young children at home, it's always good to have ibuprofen available as it is safer than paracetamol.
also, ibuprofen is more effective in reducing fever in children than paracetamol. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7592585.stm

to control fever, ibuprofen can be taken.....then after 2 hours take paracetamol......then 2 hours ibuprofen. so minimum of 4 hours between the intake of same drug...for more clarification on this consult your doctor.

and always keep check on the temperature by having a thermometer at standby. do know the normal temperature for the part of body you are measuring.

when having fever no need to wear extra clothing or blanket...as mentioned.

for quick cooling of the body can mix water (room temperature) with alcohol to get concentration around 40% and use a cloth to wipe the body.

as mentioned above the antipyretic anal suppository medicine is very effective as it can be given even when there is seizure (oral route of administration of any drug is impossible), vomit (again unaffected in case of vomit) , and works very quickly (can see effect in minutes).

edit : seems like the link i pasted is out of date.....ibuprofen and paracetamol can be used safely together.....do consult your doctor for latest info.

This post has been edited by slimey: Feb 18 2011, 11:08 PM

auhckw, glad that your bb is back, I understand the stress you guys are going thru, when my bb is hvg fever its a very stressful time for both bb and parents.

My mum just called me. She said baby just vomit and diarrhea 5 times already. Lucky his body temp is ok.

I called the doctor, she asked us to change to soya milk and try to give more water.

I asked when to know it is serious and have to admit. She said, when the baby cannot take in any water and dehydrates/dry… then have to send admit

auhckw,

I hope your baby gets better soon. Dont hesitate or guess guess when you think you need to send him to the hospital. For soya milk, my son is currenly on Isomil Soya from 0 - 12 months. Quite good but need to drink a lot of water as soya based milk is said to be more heaty than cow based milk.

Take care!

take care
b strong for ur loved 1s