TempoLife › Features › Fever and childrens medicine dosing by weight › care
Looking after a feverish child
Fluids first, comfort second, medicine for comfort rather than the number, and the two things that make it worse.
This is a reference, not a prescriber: the package insert of the bottle in your hand outranks every number on this page, aspirin is never for children, and in a baby under three months any measured fever is urgent — call now, do not dose. If the child is on other medicines, or has a known liver, kidney or stomach condition, dosing belongs to a clinician.
The treatment target is comfort
The medicine treats the child, not the thermometer. A child who is sleeping comfortably at 39 °C does not need waking for a dose; a child who is miserable at 38.4 °C does. This is the principle behind the dosing pages: use the medicine when the fever is costing the child comfort, at the weight-based dose, and stop when it is not needed.
Fluids are the real medicine
Fever costs water — faster breathing and sweating both lose it — and the dangerous downstream problem in a febrile child is dehydration, not the temperature. Offer small amounts constantly rather than a glass they will refuse: water, milk, diluted juice, soup, ice lollies. The measure of success is wet nappies or trips to the toilet, and the red-flag page gives the dehydration signs.
Dress for comfort, not for sweating it out
The fever will not be broken by blankets, and a child who is shivering is cold and should be covered; one who is hot and flushed should be lightly dressed. Follow the child's own comfort — this is one place where the folklore (sweat the fever out, or strip the child and cool the skin) is actively unhelpful, and cold baths or alcohol rubs are worse than unhelpful.
Food can wait, fluids cannot
A feverish child often eats nothing for a day or two, and that is fine — the appetite returns with the illness, and the body's priority during an infection is not digestion. What cannot wait is fluid, because fever costs water faster than a child notices. Do not fight over the plate; keep the cup in reach, and count the wet nappies or toilet trips rather than the mouthfuls.
Fever thresholds and red flags: the national paediatric guidance in the region. Dosing: the standard weight-based rules — paracetamol 15 mg/kg per dose every 4–6 hours, at most four doses a day (60 mg/kg/day ceiling); ibuprofen 10 mg/kg per dose every 6–8 hours, at most three doses a day (30 mg/kg/day ceiling), from 3 months and about 5 kg. Febrile seizures: the standard paediatric emergency guidance (simple vs complex, the five-minute line). Checked 2026-09-06.
Frequently asked questions
Should I give medicine just to bring the number down?
No — the medicine is for the child's comfort. The fever itself is doing immune work and is not dangerous at ordinary heights; the child's misery, headache and aches are what the dose treats.
Is a cold bath or a wet towel good for fever?
No. Cooling the skin makes the child shiver, and shivering raises the core temperature — the body fights back. Cold baths are distressing, and alcohol rubs are absorbed through the skin. Light clothing and room air, plus fluids, is the whole physical treatment.
What can they eat?
Whatever they will take, in small amounts — the classic advice is bland and light, but the evidence is thin and appetite is the guide. Fluids are the priority; food follows when the illness lets go.
The rest of the fever pages
Fever at every age
All seven fever pages, with the thresholds, the ladders and the red flags.
What counts as a fever at each age
The measurement thresholds, why the site matters, and the one age where any fever is urgent.
Measuring temperature: which thermometer at which age
Rectal is the reference, the armpit is the compromise, and the ear is only as good as its aim.
Paracetamol dosing by weight
15 mg per kilogram per dose, every 4–6 hours, four doses a day at most — with the arithmetic worked.
Ibuprofen dosing by weight
10 mg per kilogram per dose, every 6–8 hours, from 3 months and about 5 kg — and the situations where it is the wrong choice.
A medicine log that answers the call
TempoLife timestamps every dose so the daily ceilings stay visible and the doctor gets exact numbers instead of a guess.