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Pediatrician Dr. Stephanie Grice explains when parents should call the doctor, when a fever is concerning, signs of dehydration, and how to know when a sick child needs medical care.

How do you know when your sick child needs to see the doctor? It’s one of the most common questions parents ask. Whether your child wakes up with a fever, develops a rash, starts vomiting, or simply seems “off,” it can be difficult to know when to call the pediatrician, when to wait it out at home, and when immediate medical attention is needed.

In this final installment of our Summer Pediatrician Series, Allison welcomes back pediatrician Dr. Stephanie Grice to help parents navigate childhood illnesses with greater confidence.

Dr. Grice explains how pediatricians think about fevers, dehydration, respiratory illnesses, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, and other common childhood symptoms. She also shares practical advice for determining when symptoms can be monitored at home versus when it’s time to schedule a sick visit, head to urgent care, or seek emergency medical attention.

Whether you’re caring for a newborn, toddler, school-aged child, or teen, this conversation will help you feel more prepared the next time illness strikes your household.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
— When to call the pediatrician for a sick child
— When a fever is cause for concern
— Signs of dehydration in babies and children
— When vomiting and diarrhea require medical attention
— How pediatricians evaluate respiratory illnesses
— When a rash should be checked by a healthcare provider
— The difference between a sick visit, urgent care visit, and emergency room visit
— How to monitor symptoms at home
— Why your child’s behavior often matters more than the thermometer reading
— How to trust your parental instincts when your child is sick

Resources Mentioned
Episode 246. [ENCORE] Making The Most of Your Child’s Well Visit with Dr. Stephanie Grice – Summer Pediatrician Series #1
Episode 247. [ENCORE] Understanding the Growth Chart with Dr. Stephanie Grice – Summer Pediatrician Series #2
Episode 43. Every Breastfeeding & Feeding Journey is Unique with Dr. Stephanie Grice
Connect with Dr. Grice on Instagram or her website

Wondering if your child is getting enough sleep? Allison’s free guides take the guesswork out of bedtime. Learn the optimal sleep ranges for every age so your little one can feel their best—day after day. Get your free copy now: 0-2 Years Old or 3 to 10 years old

From baby sleep to toddler sleep, daycare naps to sleep training—How Long ’Til Bedtime? is the podcast for parents who want practical, guilt-free sleep tips they can actually use.

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Scroll down for a full transcript of this episode.

248. Determining When A Sick Child Needs To See The Doctor with Dr. Stephanie Grice – Summer Pediatrician Series #3
Allison Egidi: Welcome back. This is episode three of my summer series with Dr. Stephanie Grice. If you miss the first two episodes in this series, check out episode 87 and 92. We discussed how you can make the most of your child’s well visit in 87 and growth charts in 92. This week we’re talking about sick visits, specifically how to know when to take your child in to see the pediatrician or into the Emergency Room versus when you should stay home and wait for them to get better.

Before we dive in, I just want to note that everything that Dr. Grice shares today is intended to be educational and should not be considered medical advice.

Well, hi, Dr. Grice, welcome back. Thanks for joining me again for the third and final episode of our summer pediatrician series. This series has been really awesome and so helpful. The first day of school is just around the corner, which means our kids will soon be getting exposed to all of the germs, new and old. Last fall in my experience, and I think the word on the street, at the playground, at all the soccer practices was that it was brutal. And I know my family had a, a hard season. And so in thinking ahead, I thought a great topic to wrap up our series would be to talk about sick visits with the pediatrician.

Absolutely. You’re right. It was a really tough season this last year, um, as kids, we’re all back in school. Almost all back in school. So I, I’ve been in practice for 10 years. I’ve not seen anything like it, so.

Oh, I think we’re all very validated to hear that. We’re not crazy.

But we made it through together so.

We did. We did. So let’s dive right in and I would love to know what symptoms absolutely warrant a sick visit.

Uh, well, you can really, we could break this down into two, uh, topics, or two, two categories. One is fever, so I’m going to come back to that because there’s some, um, different topics under that umbrella. But, um, if you are worried that your child is dehydrated, that would definitely prompt a doctor’s visit or ER visit if, if the office is closed.

Uh, certainly if your child’s having any breathing difficulty, wheezing, trouble catching their breath, breathing too fast, that’s call the doctor right away, uh, or going to the Emergency Department. So those two are definitely triggers. Um, if your child has a seizure that would need a visit right away, that would be, uh, going to the ER.

Typically, um, if we’re talking about fever, um, an absolute would be a baby under the age of two months with a temperature of 100.4 rectally or higher. Um, babies in that age group are still at risk of many different types of infection, but they could be very serious. So if the baby has an elevated temperature, um, they should see that their primary care provider um, within a few hours. And if, if they’re not open again, that would probably lead you to the ER.

And then, uh, another occasion that would absolutely prompt a visit to your well care or your primary care provider is, um, if your child has had a fever for five days or more. By that point, if they have not started to improve, there’s likely something else going on that your primary care provider needs to investigate or, uh, if that’s an urgent care, if that’s the weekend or your office is closed, or even the Emergency Department again, if you need to access that after hours.

Okay. And when you think about some of those things you mentioned, so the dehydration and the wheezing, sometimes I think those can feel a little blurry. Like, oh, we’re supposed to make the call on that. Right. And I just had in physical therapy for my Achilles, I said, this exercise you’re doing, it makes my big toe cramp up. And they said, you’re dehydrated. So I feel like sometimes dehydration gets thrown around. Obviously I, that being dehydrated, that my big toe cramped up in this exercise is very different than your child’s dehydrated and has to go to the doctor. So, and we, I’ve seen a lot of things lately around how we’re obsessed with making sure our kids are hydrated, which really makes me chuckle because my parents probably could care less if I was hydrated as a kid.
So how do you define dehydration, should see the doctor?

No, you’re absolutely right. And I think this is such a challenge for families in general, just to feel like it is their job to know yes or no, they’re dehydrated or that pressure and, and because terminology can be, um, used differently, like for example, or if we’re talking about difficulty breathing. Um, if you have nasal congestion, you have difficulty breathing, or if your baby has nasal congestion, they definitely, they have difficulty breathing. Um, so what does that mean versus what I mean when I say difficulty breathing, which is that they are in distress, that they, uh, if we’re talking about breathing a baby or a child who really, all of their energy is focused on breathing, um, they can’t speak in a full sentence or they’re not playing because really that effort, like I said, is going to breathing. So they’re most likely going to have a fast breathing rate. Um, you might be able to see that they’re sucking in between the ribs consistently.

But for parents, you know, there’s other illnesses that you’re going to see that a little bit or sometimes, and then it clears up like with bronchiolitis. So, um, but they’re usually happy in playing. And, uh, so it, it definitely makes it a challenge. In, in terms of dehydration, um, what I would be looking for if, uh, if we were going to call that dehydration that we’re worried about, we’re really looking at their urine output first. Um, naturally the body is going to decrease urine output for a child when they are, um, starting to become dehydrated. If they’re not taking fluids, the body wants to conserve fluids so the urine output will decrease. That’s the first thing in that at that point, we’re trying to get them to drink more fluids and of course, we’re probably talking about toddlers and they might not want to drink fluids, but we’re trying to get them to drink more so we can look for their urine output.

Um, if they’re not making wet diapers or urinating, and, and that’s maybe more than, um, six to eight hours, uh, for an older child or 6, 8, 6 hours or so for a baby, or less than four wet diapers a day for a baby, then you may be at that point, that would be a good time to get checked out by the doctor to see if anything else needs to be done.

And then some later signs of dehydration, if it would be maybe the baby stop making tears when they cry. Um, or the lips or the tongue look dry. Um, those can be signs that yes, that’s dehydration, that needs to be checked out. Um, certainly kids can have some mild dehydration in the summertime or when they’re sick they do. Um, we’re just trying to push fluids so that it doesn’t become more significant dehydration.

Okay. That’s helpful. What about the old school pinch test? Is that a legit one or are we too far gone if you pinch and the skin’s not going back.

Yeah. Yeah. You should go to the Emergency Room at that point. That’s ok, that’s a more severe sign. Yes.

Okay, perfect. I feel like that’s the old school, like my parents were like, can we pinch your skin? Does it go back? You’re good.

Well, you know that that actually brings up a point of just how medicine has changed and progressed. We’re all a little bit more aware of these things thanks to the internet and the, and the progression of medicine. But you, our goal as parents now is to try to prevent illness or si significant, uh, complications. So for, I think our parents, it was like, okay, your arm’s still attached. You’re all right. Go back outside. Versus, you know, is it, let’s say you have a broken arm, is the growth plate going to heal if it’s not set properly?

There’s some things we’re thinking about more long-term, uh, that uh, we kind of want to jump on those problems earlier, maybe than previous generations. And, and that’s okay. But that’s where the, the balance lies. And maybe some of the anxiety parents feel today is that if they miss this thing, then there’s going to be big problems.

Right, right. Well, along those lines, I feel like 75% of the time I’ve taken my kids in for a sick visit, it’s a virus. There’s nothing the doctor can do and it’s to go home and wait it out. And so I’m curious when we’re thinking about should I take my child in for a sick visit or should I just let this work itself out, what symptoms typically indicate that a child is fighting a virus and the parents should just stay at home and wait it out?

You’re, you’re absolutely right. The overwhelming majority of illness that we’re going to see today is a viral illness that’s going to pass on its own over the course of three to five days. That includes the flu, that includes bronchiolitis in most cases of older babies, toddlers, and young children. Um, of course the common cold and even classic viruses like hand, foot, and mouth, nobody’s favorite. Um, but some of the signs that you’d be looking for, um, if it’s going to be an upper respiratory illness, like a common cold virus, then typically you are going to see some nasal congestion and cough, either or both in the first 48 hours.

Sometimes they will start with the fever first and not have many other symptoms associated with that fever. Um, but typically within 48 hours, the cough and congestion will, um, start, um, sore throat. Headache of course can be associated with, um, the viral illness. I mentioned the fever, um, but you’re really looking for, okay, is there something else that’s going to tell me this is a viral infection and the cough and the congestion, that’s virus.

Um, another scenario for parents where this is most likely viral and you can stay at home and do home care is, um, actually a fever of about three days without any other symptoms. But then on the third to fourth day, they develop a rash. There’s a number of viruses in this category that, um, usually manifest with a fever, maybe a little bit of runny nose, usually some crankiness when the fever’s present and, and then the rash finally develops. I mentioned hand, foot, mouth and that is one of them, um, or a very classic toddler virus, roseola falls in this category as well.

And what about, um, if it is, uh, I think what is strep bacterial, is that right?

Exactly.

So if it’s bacterial, And you didn’t go in. Would it fix itself or is that, would you know like, oh, because the fever went on so long, right, I’m curious if the bacterial things will fix themselves, if not treated.

In some cases. Let’s take strep. Um, What the, the main reason that we actually use antibiotics for strep is to prevent a complication from the strep infection that’s known as rheumatic heart disease. So in this scenario, let’s say you, your child has had a fever for a few days and you waited it out, but now it’s day three or four or five, like I mentioned, and it is not going away at that point, something probably more than viral is going on. Um, or in a scenario where they didn’t have fever at first and they did have cold symptoms and now they have a fever, you know, four or five days into the illness. This usually indicates something else is going on and that might be bacterial. Um, so it’s a good time to get checked out and um, like I said, yes strep is bacterial infection.

Other examples might be ear infection that in older kids can clear up on its own without antibiotics. So if you didn’t go in right away, it’s possible that your infection would actually clear on its own um, in an older kid. Usually in a younger baby, we’re going to use antibiotics for them. Um, so we did want to see them and check their ears.

Um, again, fever, three to four days. It doesn’t seem like it’s going away. Another clue that it might be from a bacterial infection that needs antibiotics is that the fever will gradually rise over the course of several days without treatment. So maybe you started out at 101 and now the next day you’re 102 and the third day you’rey 103, versus with a virus, it’s usually going to be hovering around the same temperature.

So it’s kind of like the virus resets the kid’s thermostat. So the virus tells the body you need to be around 101 or 102, or even sometimes 104. But the, the, the number will keep kind of hovering around that same maximum, um, for those couple of days until it passes. So those are some differences you could pick up.

Okay. And so speaking of the fevers and the varying numbers, I think we should talk about high fevers because I personally find as my kids start to go above 103, I do start to feel anxious. And of course they’re generally more uncomfortable at that point. Right. And there have definitely been times where I’ve gone in most recently, this past fall, I took one of my girls in, um, and she had 104 something and the pediatrician I saw said, it’s fine. I’m not worried, it turned out she had the flu and he said, I’m not worried about the fever, and I’ve had, this has happened to me multiple times. I’ve been at this for 10 years, and I still get above the 103 and I start to get antsy. So let’s talk about the number and what you want parents to know about high temperatures.

I’m so glad you asked. This is actually my favorite question of all time, I have to say. Um, it’s because it’s so common, but it’s, um, such an important one. So let me, hopefully I can shed some light on this. So there’s no absolute number that means anything bad is going to happen. Um, a lot of people do worry around 104 or 105 that something’s going to happen, um, a lot of times it’s actually maybe that there’s going to be a seizure. Uh, that’s a, a fear of a lot of people that a seizure will happen if they hit 104 or 105. Um, but that’s not the case. There’s actually no number that the, that a, an infection will create, um, in the child that’s so severe that something, um, permanent will happen.

The biggest risk for kids is typically dehydration from the fever. Um, and that would be that they’re, because they’re so feeling so bad, um, and the fever is actually consuming more fluids from their body. So dehydration is something that can cause more serious, uh, harm to your child.

Another thing you would want to watch out for is physically overheating somebody who has chills. Um, but since their body temperature is going to increase, and if you’re putting on too many layers, um, you’re trapping the heat and so you’re, you are physically increasing the temperature that can cause harm, but the infection itself won’t cause a fever that’s at some number, that something bad or permanent happens.

Uh, we’ll circle back to febrile seizures for anyone who is picking up on that word. I will come back to that to talk a little bit about that. Um, so the infection is, like I said, with the virus, oftentimes it’s just changing the body’s thermostat. It’s the body’s way of trying to burn out the infection, to try to fight the infection so the virus isn’t going to like a higher temperature. Um, the immune that is part of the immune system trying to protect the child and fight off the virus. So fever can be a good part of fighting off a virus as long as your child is staying high and we’re being mindful about their overall, um, body temperature.

So how do um, medications like Tylenol and Ibuprofen play into it. Um, my goal is for, I, I mentioned, they need to stay hydrated. And so if your child is feeling so uncomfortable that they’re not willing to drink, whether it’s sore throat or they’re just cranky and achy because of the fever, that’s when Tylenol and Ibuprofen are a good idea to use.

You want to try to keep them as comfortable as possible so they will drink and stay hydrated and prevent dehydration, and maybe even eat something. But hydrating, fluids are most important. Um, in that time, the body will continue to fight, uh, that infection and the, the infection will pass, but in the meantime, the fever will come back.

And again, that’s part of the immune system. So if your child is feeling comfortable and playing, they could have a 104 and be absolutely just cheerful and playful. That’s okay to let it ride. 104 is okay. In that situation, they’re happy, they’re playing, they’re drinking. You don’t need to give any medicine at all for that.

They could be 99 and absolutely miserable and refusing fluids. And I would do Tylenol or Ibuprofen in that case, um, to help them hopefully start drinking and cheer up a little bit.

So if they’re not miserable, is there benefit to trying to let it ride because it is letting the body do its own fighting of the virus?

Yes. Generally, exactly. If you’re continually giving Tylenol or Ibuprofen to try to prevent the fever from happening, you might actually be taking away a little bit of their immune response.

Yeah, I think that’s helpful. And as you were talking, I was thinking of back when my daughter had that high fever and I remember I said, well, the pediatrician said it’s fine that it’s 104, whatever. And my dad said, well, back in the day, I did have a brother who had the seizures, which I am interested in hearing more about. But they said, they told us to bring the temperature down with an ice bath. And I, I didn’t do it. I thought, I think that might be like an old wives’ tale, but I am curious because I do think there is a lot of the generation before us that received that advice. What are your thoughts on trying to physically cool the body with a cool bath or an ice bath or anything like that?

That is such a good question, especially here so if you or child has a fever and you plunge them straight into an ice bath, you’re going to quickly lower their temperature. But you haven’t changed the body’s thermostat. And as soon as you pull that out of the tub, they’re going to have chills and they’re going to try to shoot their temperature right back up to where it was. So physically plunging them into an ice bath doesn’t really help them at all. Often it can actually be detrimental, um, passively cooling them down by maybe removing a layer of clothing or, um, or if, if they’re, um, just in one layer you can remove, if it’s a baby, you know, remove the t-shirt, um, or if they are undercover, removing a blanket or a sleep sack if it’s at night to allow them to passively cool. You can do a cool cloth, but an ice bath, um, would not be recommended.

Okay. That’s helpful. So another thing that comes up is, when a parent, and I’ve definitely been in this situation, feels like I want to take my child in something about this makes me feel uncomfortable. But then they call and talk to the nurse who kind of screens people to decide whether they should come in and they’re told no. Nope. You should wait it out at home. And so I’m curious, what are your recommendations for parents when they feel their child needs to be seen by a doctor, but the nurse at the office is saying, no, no, you, you’re good. Stay home.

So I think the first step is to take a minute to evaluate which situation are you in? Um, we’ve talked some about some more serious findings like dehydration and breathing difficulty or prolonged fever, and we’ve talked about some things that certainly make us pretty anxious and antsy as parents, like when that number reaches 104, but it might be okay. There might not be anything else that the doctor or your primary care provider can do to help your child fight off whatever’s going on.

So first, kind of take a step back and ask, what is it that I’m worried about in this situation? Um, the nurse might be hearing your story and saying, well, there doesn’t seem to be any red flags here because they’re hydrated and they’re breathing comfortably. And maybe it’s just that little bit of angst of it’s getting 104 and, and what’s, what’s going to come of this. Um, and if that’s the case, then perhaps an, an appointment isn’t necessary.

But if you’re, um, feeling like there’s something else, um, that’s going on or that just something in the pit of your stomach tells you that you need to be seen, I would take a breath and try to calmly continue to advocate. There might be something that you’ve said, uh, or that you could say differently to help somebody understand what’s going on, you know. Um, you have the value of when you’re calling, you’re looking at the child and you know your child. Um, and a lot of times they’re going to be pokey at home, but when you are looking at them, you have an advantage that the, the person on the other end of the phone doesn’t have.

So if you feel like they’re not picking up what you’re trying to describe, I would try again in a different way. There might be something else that’s going to catch their attention about what you’re seeing.

Okay. That’s helpful. And so what about injuries? So that’s another area where I think sometimes it’s a little blurry, um, about an injury, you know. Once I took my daughter and the pediatrician was like, whoa, that’s clearly a broken elbow. Let’s move right along to the next steps. Granted, this was like the fourth day of Covid, so I was a little bit unsure what to do with her.

Oh no.

Um, and then I recently had a friend whose daughter broke her collarbone and it was a little bit of the wait and see approach. And then the, you know, it, there’s, it, there’s the injury thing I think is complicated because kids are getting injured all the time. Like once a lamp fell on my daughter’s head, she knocked it over and the pediatrician did treat it so, what injuries warrant calling the pediatrician or at least talking to that nurse versus, no, it’s a bruise, let it ride.

Some of this depends on where on the body there’s an injury. One of the most common is going to be upper body or upper extremity injuries. So, uh, a trip in a fall and a hand placed to try to catch yourself. There’s a lot, uh, numerous different types of injuries that can happen in this situation, uh, especially for older kids and adults. So, uh, including a higher likelihood of a broken bone. So I guess in terms of if we’re thinking about injuries, what, how to differentiate, um, what should be seen is any chance if there, if you’re feeling that there might be a fracture, what can be, um, monitored would be if it seems like a sprain or a bruise or contusion.

Generally we do want to hear about concussions. So if there’s been a head injury, um, that’s something that we would want to evaluate. And of course, if there’s a head injury with any altered mental status, that’s an emergency, uh, but to break down maybe some arm type of arm injuries. If a child is falling onto a hand or trying to catch themself as they fall, they’ve got the potential for a wrist fracture, an elbow fracture, um, a hand fracture or just a sprain. Um, so depending on their overall pain level over the next 24 hours after the injury. And, and this could be applied to lower extremity injuries as well, um, typically you can treat with Ibuprofen and give it about 24 hours to let some of the pain and perhaps swelling subside and reevaluate how they’re moving or using that, that extremity.

Um, if they’re able to slowly use that extremity more and more over the course of 24 to 48 hours, then most likely there’s no fracture. But
if they’re really consistently complaining, uh, typically one finger, this is what hurts and their range of motion isn’t improving, then you have a higher likelihood that there could be a fracture, fracture there. Um, if you notice anything is significantly deformed, then that’s going to take you in right away. Of course that could okay, could be the case with, um, different types of elbow injuries, for example.

Yeah, apparently I didn’t notice the significantly deformed.

Well, maybe it wasn’t significantly deformed.

But she walked right in and was like, that’s a broken elbow. Do not pass go, go straight to the ER. Um, so along those lines of what are those things that people show up for and you think, oh, you should have bypassed us, you should have gone right to the ER. So obviously significant deformity. As far as an injury, yeah what are other things that you say, don’t even waste your time calling the pediatrician’s office, go straight to the Emergency Room.

Well, elbow is a very special type of fracture actually. Um, because some of them are surgical, some of them need surgery, so, and some are going to be very mild, but there’s such a range, so that elbow injury where you feel like there could be a fracture and that would be they really, uh, cannot move the elbow because of the pain that, that one, um, sometimes it’s okay to stop by the office and see if you do need to go to the Emergency Room, but, um, often you might need a higher level of care for that one.

Um, certainly if there’s been a head injury where the child is not acting normally afterwards, so, um, their memory is off or they don’t seem to be alert, that’s a 911 emergency. Another one might be, um, bike injuries. If the, um, sometimes the handlebars will go into the, the abdomen if they kind of fall over the handlebar. So if they’re having a lot of pain in the stomach area after an accident or injury like that, that would also be appropriate to go to the Emergency Room straight away.

Okay. And I assume calling to talk to the nurse, they can help you decide, right?

If you’re not sure, you can call and ask for advice from your primary care provider and, um, or even health insurance companies also typically have some triage advice now, um, right through your own health insurance company. But calling to ask for advice. If you’re unsure, that’s a good step.

Perfect. Before we wrap up, I do want to hear your thoughts on the seizures.

Thank you.

Because you mentioned it and I want to make sure we touch on it because I do think people, I personally, my kids have not had them. My brother’s daughter has, my parents talk about he had them. Yes. And they sound very scary. So can you address that?

Absolutely. So the truth about febrile seizures is that they are genetic. Yes. So you just outlined, your brother had them and her and his daughter had them, and it’s, it would be possible, you know, if there is an aunt or uncle in the family that is still a close enough link that it’s, it’s possible, but, but they are genetic.

So typically if your child is going to have a febrile seizure, it’s predestined, uh, whether or not you know that at the time you may not, but it is not necessarily something that all comers are um, at risk for. Um, but yeah, they certainly are scary to see. So typically what happens in that scenario is, um, the child may develop you, often it’s a viral infection with a higher fever like a 104, and their body temperature changes from low to high very quickly and it just triggers the seizure.

Um, so certainly if you’re in this situation, it is a scary time. You most likely had no idea to expect it. And most of the time the kids, when this happens, they haven’t already been sick. They’re just becoming sick. So it’s kind of the first thing like, oh, okay, wait, what’s happening? So certainly they are scary, um, but it wasn’t because you didn’t treat their temperature at a certain number. Um, if you do have a child who has febrile seizures, generally the idea is to try to keep them from, from going from a low to a high temperature, so we do generally use Tylenol and Ibuprofen a little bit more often with them, but the truth is, it’s like most of the time it’s right at the beginning of the illness and you didn’t even know that they were sick, uh, until that moment. So it’s a scary thing, but it’s um, a low probability, especially if you don’t have that in your, your family history.

And if you do, it might be something that you want to just, uh, be prepared for if that were to happen. Uh, one other point about that, Allison, is that it’s typically going to happen in a young child, uh, between the ages of about one and two for their first seizure. That’s the most common time. So if you have a child who’s four or five or six who’s never had a febrile seizure, then they’re not likely to at that point.

Oh, that is interesting. And so, and would you out, you outgrow them, correct?

Yes, that’s right. You do outgrow them. So again, around one to two years old and two to three years old is the most common time to have them. But generally by age six or seven, most kids with febrile seizures have outgrown them.

And if your child experiences one for the first time, and this is your first experience with it, remind me, is it to the pediatrician or to the Emergency Room?

I would call 911 and go to the Emergency Room.

Yeah. I think when my brother’s daughter had her first one, it was with the nanny, the poor nanny, and she did call 911 and I can’t remember what they were told afterwards, but I said, well, if I was a nanny, I would’ve called 911 too. I didn’t, wouldn’t wait for the parents.

Well, at that point, you, you want to take all precautions. Um, after the fact, if they diagnose your child with febrile seizures, then you will have a full plan of what to do next time. And so maybe the next time you won’t have to go to the Emergency
Room. But if this is your child’s first seizure, the best thing to do is to go to the Emergency Room and, and be evaluated.

Right. Yeah. And I, I think she had one or two after that and it, they were prepared, they knew what to do. I don’t remember what they were told to do, but they did have marching orders.

That’s a great example of, of how you can navigate febrile seizures. And it sounds like she’s outgrown them as well.

Yes, yes. Luckily. Well, this has been super helpful. I’m curious if you have any final thoughts on fall illnesses or sick visits in general that we didn’t already touch on.

One thing that I did want to circle back to is, you know, we were talking about fever and the fear of fever really. And um, all parents have it, it’s a bit of an innate, natural feeling to have some fear around fever or just in general when your child’s sick.

It, you know, if we look back, not just to our, our parents’ generation, I should say. Um, there were many different illnesses at that time that were more life-threatening than what we have now. And that’s really, I, how the vaccine era has changed illness, uh, that we see here in the U.S. So if you look back, I guess it’d be 80 years ago and your child had fever, you might be worrying about polio.

You might be worrying about meningitis from, um, haemophilus influenza. There were numerous other types of really serious illness that were life-threatening that we really don’t have to worry about as much anymore in the vaccine era. So now when we’re talking about, uh, kid has a high fever that’s 104, the really good news is we probably don’t have to worry about polio. Um, thanks to vaccines and so, so all the advice that we’re talking about where most of the time you can do home care, I think it’s important to note that that fear, it’s real because your kid that’s, you’re in charge of keeping them healthy and we totally see you parents trying to navigate this new world of what’s okay to be home with, what’s okay, what needs to come to the doctor.

Please always ask questions. Like you said, if you call and you feel like you’re just not hearing the right advice, please calmly keep advocating for what it is that you’re seeing, what you’re worried about.

But on the other hand, we can take kind of a sigh of relief and say a lot of the things that we are dealing with, we don’t have to worry as much about how, uh, significant that will be, or we can have a little bit of relief that they are going, that their immune system will fight it and that they are going to be okay, even if they’re home getting fluids, um, without seeing a doctor, which is very cool.

Yeah, I think that’s a great point because I’m sure even though, you know, my parents were born when they were getting vaccinated, but I’m sure their parents carried in this stress of fevers are stressful and all of that. And so then it gets conditioned to my parents and of course they have, my brother had those seizures and, and so I, I do think we, we carry all of this forward as we do in so much, and I think it is a, a valid point that this is part of where we’ve progressed in medicine is learning more about viruses, but also we’ve been vaccinated against so many of the things that were terrifying to our grandparents. And I think that’s a great point.

I think we’re blessed to, to have a different scene than we used to, and it doesn’t necessarily take away any of the struggles that we have or have seen.

And there’s still other viruses out there like RSV that really wreaked havoc last year in the fall and, and can still be a really serious virus, but most of those viruses kids can overcome. So we’re really thankful for that. I’m very thankful for that in the field that I’m in. I love how resilient kids are and they don’t just, you know, they don’t give up when they’re sick. They, they might not drink fluids well. So that’s where, where parents come in, but they want to play and they want to get better. And I love that about pediatrics. Um, but I think it, it’s just kind of finding that, that comfort level with illness that we, that we have the privilege to be, um, experiencing in this time.

Well, this has been great and I’ve loved having this summer series with you, and I’m so grateful that you took the time to share all this valuable information with my listeners. And in case folks missed your previous episodes, can you please tell everyone how they can find you?

Sure. Um, @parentinggricefully and at Wellspring Pediatrics. And Allison, thank you so much for having me. It’s been awesome. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you and thank you.

All right. Well, I will link to all of those spots in the show notes and thanks again. You’re the best and I hope to connect again soon. Bye for now.

Thank you.