A fever usually indicates that your child’s little body is busy fighting an infection. It could be caused by anything from a cold to a more serious infection and often enough, each presents with its own symptoms.
Listed here are some of those symptoms to watch out for. However, the information provided is meant to be used only as your diagnosis starting point (do keep in mind that your child may not have all the symptoms listed for each illness).
Be sure to consult your pediatrician to confirm the diagnosis, and always call the doctor if a baby under three months is running a fever of 100.4ºF or higher, or if a child older than that is running a fever of 101.5ºF or more.
Fever due to: A cold
Possible symptoms:
- A runny or stuffy nose
- Sneezing
- Headache and sometimes muscle aches (may fuss and cry)
- Loss of appetite
Fever due to: A flu
Possible symptoms:
- A runny or stuffy nose
- A dry cough
- Muscle aches and pains (a child may refuse to be held)
- Unusual sleepiness
- Chills
- Loss of appetite
Fever due to: An ear infection
Possible symptoms:
- Tugging or pulling at the ear
- Earache or headache
- Crying more than usual
- Sleeplessness
- Failing to respond to sounds
- Crankiness and irritability
- Crankiness when lying down, chewing, or sucking
- Decreased appetite
- A fluid that’s clear, bloody, or contains pus and drips out from the ear
Fever due to: Pneumonia
(a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection that inflames lungs)
Possible symptoms:
- A runny nose, sneezing, and cough that get worse
- Fast, labored, or wheezy breathing
- Chills
- Loss of appetite
- Bloating and a stomachache
- May turn blue color around the lips or fingertips
Fever due to: Tonsillitis
(a viral or bacterial infection that inflames tonsils)
Possible symptoms:
- Refusal to nurse or drink (because it hurts to swallow)
- A red throat
- Swollen tonsils
- Swollen lymph glands in the neck or jaw
- Hoarseness in voice
- Irritability
- Stomach pain
Fever due to: A sore throat
Possible symptoms:
- Refusal to nurse or drink
- Sleeplessness and night waking
- Irritability
- Loss of appetite or nausea
- A thin, red rash on the torso and limbs (occasionally, in babies)
- Red throat (in toddlers)
- Swollen neck glands (in toddlers)
Fever due to: Hand, foot and mouth disease
Possible symptoms:
- Painful, red, blister-like sores in the mouth
- A non-itchy rash (flat or raised red spots, sometimes with blisters) that appears on the palms of hands, soles of feet, and sometimes on the buttocks or genitalia
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
- Irritability
Fever due to: Urinary tract infection
Possible symptoms:
- Irritability
- Cloudy, bloody, or foul-smelling urine
- Frequent urination
- May vomit or experience diarrhea
Note: Sometimes, a fever is the only symptom a child with urinary tract infection will have.
Fever due to: Meningitis
Possible symptoms:
- A headache (may tug at the hair)
- Vomiting
- Irritability
- Drowsiness
- Loss of appetite
- A stiff neck (has trouble turning the head)
