Fevers

So after teaching a workshop on Homeopathy for infants with a focus on fevers I found my little one sick, and slowly after a few days developing a fever. Being a first time mom faced with my first frightening fever I forgot all that I taught in my class, threw common sense out the window and started fretting over the "very high" 40 degree fever the baby was expressing.

I called my colleague and child's homeopath like 10 times that day, and despite his comforting words and warnings not to use any remedies unless the fever got really high (isn't 40 really high?). Of course I did not listen, and soon she was getting doses of chamomila, and belladonna. Eventually in fear of another sleepless night (as I also caught the cold and the fever) I resorted to Tylenol.

I'm happy to say baby has an vibrant life force which resisted all my attempts to suppress the fever. And after a couple of exhausting days and sleepless nights the fever resolved itself. Hurray! I hope I've learned my lesson and will avoid such silly parent behaviour next time I'm confronted with a fever.

So here's my advice in the face of a fever in an infant. Stay calm. According to the telehealth nurse there is no need to worry about a fever less than 40.6 degrees Celsius. And even then you're probably ok, but contact a Dr. just in case. And of course there are the common fever remedies such as Belladonna for a sudden high fever (yes higher than 40), Aconite for first stages of a cold or fever after exposure to cold and Ferrum Phos. for a low or medium fever that comes on slowly.

But if you can help it let the fever do its thing. This is a tool the body uses to heal itself, and who knows what can happen when you try to stop the body's innate ability to heal.