Help! My Baby has a Fever!

About 6 weeks ago, as we went to bed, I discovered that little Daniel (7 months at that stage) had a fever! We do not use a thermometer, but I know the difference between hot because of a high room temperature and a fever. He had just cut his first tooth the week before and I immediately thought this must be the reason for his fever – another tooth perhaps.

We own a health shop and use only natural medicine (herbal and homeopathic medicine). We never use anti-pyretic medicine (medicine that lowers fever) or any other normal chemical children’s medicine. We also do not vaccinate (another story for another day). Thus we do not follow the usual route when a child develops a fever.

What do I do when my baby has a fever?

For a start, I immediately give a Viburcol suppository (from Heel). This is a homeopathic product and you can insert one suppository every hour, with NO harmful effects. Viburcol will NOT take the fever away; it will only manage the fever within safe borders, but has the same efficacy as any paracetamol based product, without any of its side effects.

It took me some time to understand that you do not want to take the fever away. Fever is a symptom, like a red light on the dashboard of your car. Always find the reason for the symptom. When suppressing the body’s symptoms, you suppress the body’s way to heal itself the way God intended it to. God made our bodies fearfully and wonderfully, why do we treat it like it cannot heal itself?
The body reacts with a fever when there is an infection developing. A bacteria or virus cannot multiply at a temperature 2-3 degrees above the body’s normal temperature (37.5 deg Celsius). So by increasing the temperature – fever – the body inhibits the proliferation of the pathogens, while its own immune system is given the time to manufacture a unique anti-body to the invader. When we bring the temperature down with unnatural medicine, to ‘normal’ body temperature, the bacteria or virus thrives and the body’s own precise fighting mechanism is inhibited.

With Viburcol you only prevent the temperature from rising above forty one degrees, which could become dangerous.

We also gave Daniel Engystol tablets (from Heel). Engystol helps the body fight against a possible virus or bacteria by stimulating its immune system. This is also homeopathic medicine, with NO side effects. You can give baby 1 tablet every half an hour. I crushed the tablet between two teaspoons and put the powder little by little, with my finger, in his mouth.

Christo also mixed together some Traumeel S tablets, for body pains and inflammation, Chamomile powder, for its calming effect and Ferrum Phos ( a tissue salt) to help with the fever. He crushed these together in a pestle and mortar, into a fine powder, which I gave regularly.

After giving Daniel the Vibercol suppository and the powder mix, I laid down beside him for the rest of the night and let him be on the breast, as much as he wanted to. I believe in feeding on demand, so Christo and I are used to me breastfeeding sometimes through the whole night. My babies usually sleep in our room on a mattress on the floor, until I’m pregnant again (babies’ average between 8 – 12 months old). When I’m pregnant, I sleep very lightly and wake up with the slightest sound. We therefore move baby to his/her sibling’s room, so I can get some sleep.

The next morning Christo made sure I got in some herbs and vitamins and minerals that would reach Daniel through the breast milk. He gave me extra Vitamin C, Omega SLO, Olive Leaf extract, Berriola, Activ 8 and my Viridian multi vitamin, and made sure I remembered to drink ample water (around 4-6L of water with Coral Calcium sachets in) during the day.

Since we suspected it was teething that caused the fever, and we knew the gums could be painful and sore, we rubbed some Traumeel S ointment onto the gums. Traumeel S is a homeopathic product from Heel with no side effects for baby. Traumeel S is also excellent for any bruise; I always have Traumeel S in my handbag.

Daniel had this high fever for almost 48 hours. During this time I gave him a Viburcol suppository every 2-3 hours during the day and 2-3 during the night. I gave him the mixture Christo made, as often as I could. I made sure I drank more than my normal quota of supplements and double my usual volume of water to provide enough milk for his needs. We also managed to feed him a mixture of organic apples, pear and carrots three times a day (that we made freshly with our Oscar juicer).

Daniel’s brothers and sisters also prayed a lot for him. They could not bear it that their always friendly, smiling baby brother would try to smile and then start to cry…

By Thursday night Daniel’s fever dropped and he was back in his normal sleeping and feeding pattern. Praise the Lord for keeping His Hand on our baby.

Friday morning we discovered the actual reason for Daniel’s fever. He had Baby Measles. Baby Measles or Roseola is a very common viral infection. It usually begins with a sudden onset high fever. Some babies may also have a slightly sore throat or a runny nose and swollen glands in the neck.

Once the fever goes away a rash usually appears. The rash is usually composed of tiny flat pink patches or spots, although there may be some raised patches as well. The rash usually starts behind the ears, then spreads to the chest, back, and abdomen, and then spreads out to the arms and neck. It may or may not reach the legs and face. The rash, which is not itchy or uncomfortable, can last from a few hours to several days before fading.

I’m used to Baby Measles, some of our babies had it 3-4 times in their first two years, but there were also one or two of them that never got Baby Measles. I therefore didn’t panic at all. Daniel most probably will get it at least one more time, before his 2nd birthday.

In a next posting I would like to share with you my First Aid Kit for Babies. Maybe you would like to get some of these for your baby. Or you could include it in your next Baby shower gift.