Consider all the child's symptoms, not just temperature.
A child running a fever is no cause for alarm, but that doesn't stop many parents from worrying — a lot.
Now a leading group of pediatricians is counseling doctors and parents against going overboard in treating mildly feverish kids with over-the-counter medicines. The pediatricians say keeping kids comfortable should be the goal rather than reducing their temperatures to a particular number.
Most fevers are caused by viruses and don't last long or cause any harm. "There is no evidence that fever itself worsens the course of an illness or that it causes long-term neurological complications," says the report in the latest issue of the journal Pediatrics from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Indeed, fever is one way the body fights infections.
