If my child has a fever, do I need to wake him up at night to give him medicine? Will it burn out the brain?

Let science answer it. Under normal circumstances, there is no need to wake up children to give them medicine. Seasons have changed recently, and the temperature has fluctuated between hot and cold. There are many children with colds and fevers. There are also some infectious diseases that make us more worried and anxious. Especially at night, once the child\’s temperature is measured and he has a fever, we start to struggle with whether to wake him up and take antipyretics. After checking a lot of information, I found that most doctors and popular science books recommend that when the child is asleep, there is no need to wake him up and take antipyretics. Because fever itself is not a disease, it is just a symptom, and it will not cause harm to the child. In fact, many times, a fever is a good sign that the body is actively fighting the infection. When we give children antipyretics (Tylenol or Motrin), they are not treating the cause of the disease, nor are they allowing the body temperature to drop to \”normal levels\”, but rather to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms caused by fever and make the child feel better. Therefore, if your child is sleeping comfortably and peacefully, there is no need to wake him up and give him antipyretics. If you don’t wake up and take medicine, won’t your brain be burned out? Why do many parents wake up their sleeping children and give them antipyretics? Because we are worried. I am worried that if left untreated, high fever will damage the child\’s body organs and brain, because I seem to have vaguely heard of many tragedies of high fever \”burning out the brain.\” But the real situation is that high fever (really, high body temperature) may not damage the brain, it depends on the specific situation. As mentioned before, fever is a symptom of illness, not an illness in itself. Most fevers are caused by viruses, bacterial infections, poisoning, cancer and other diseases. A simple pathological fever will almost never cause brain damage (unless the body temperature reaches an ultra-high temperature of 41 to 42 degrees). Even if a child has a febrile seizure, it usually does not cause permanent damage. It is said that \”high fever burns out the brain\”. In most cases, it is caused by children contracting viruses, encephalitis or meningitis, and has nothing to do with fever. What you really need to worry about is not high fever caused by disease, but hyperthermia (commonly known as heat stroke) caused by \”overheating\”. Unlike fever, hyperthermia is generally caused by overexposure to high temperatures and severe lack of water. In these cases, the body\’s normal thermoregulatory mechanisms are disrupted and cannot regulate body temperature, making it impossible to cool down by taking antipyretics. Prolonged \”super high body temperature\” can cause permanent damage to the brain and organs. In the hot summer, some extremely careless parents leave their children in the car, causing the child to become comatose or even die. The direct cause is \”hyperthermia.\” When a car is exposed to the sun, the temperature inside the car rises rapidly, and in an overheated car, it can cause brain and kidney damage to a child in 15 minutes; when the body temperature reaches 40 degrees, the main organs of the body stop working; when the body temperature reaches 41.67 degrees, the child dies! But this is completely different from a fever caused by a disease, which generally does not cause direct and permanent damage to the brain and organs. ! ! ! Exceptions are made for babies under 3 months old who have a body temperature exceeding 38 degrees in any state (regardless of whether they are sleeping well or not). Seek medical attention immediately. This is very necessary. For babies 3-6 months old, in any state (no matter how well they sleep)Not good), if the body temperature exceeds 38.3 degrees, you need to wake up and seek medical treatment. For babies 6-12 months old, if the body temperature exceeds 39.4 degrees, wake them up and take medicine. If serious, seek medical attention immediately. Regardless of age, even if you sleep well, if you develop an extremely high fever (more than 40 degrees Celsius), you need to wake up to take medicine and seek medical attention immediately. Very high fever often indicates a more serious illness. Under these exceptional circumstances, regardless of whether the child is sleeping well or not, the child needs to be woken up to take antipyretic medicine, and in severe cases seek medical attention immediately. Apart from these situations, if he sleeps comfortably, there is no need to wake him up to take antipyretics. On the other hand, if the fever is very uncomfortable, the child will not be able to sleep well. There are still three situations where you need to seek medical treatment: A baby under 2 years old has a fever for more than 24 hours, even if he eats well and sleeps well. A baby over 2 years old may have a fever for more than 48-72 hours continuously, even if he eats well and sleeps well. The child has abnormal symptoms such as stiff neck, confusion, difficulty breathing, and convulsions. I deeply understand that when a child with fever is woken up in the middle of the night to take antipyretic medicine, it is because he is worried about \”what if\”. When Xiao Chuan was a child, Chuan\’s father and I lived like this. We would take turns waking up and staying up all night. We would check our body temperature every hour. If it exceeded 38.5 degrees (sufficient interval), we would grab him and give him medicine, wipe his body, and take a bath. Although this in itself does no harm to the child, seeing him being woken up from his sleep, giving medicine, wiping his body, and swaying pitifully due to sleepiness really made me feel a little unbearable. Now, with some medical knowledge to rely on and several more attempts, as long as the body temperature is not too high and I don\’t wake him up, I can let him sleep peacefully. Dad Chuan and I can also sleep a little longer and check our temperature every few hours to prevent accidents. Mastering the scientific method will make it easier for your children and yourself.