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  Teeth, fevers, and modern medicine  
posted by nathan

All the baby books (yes, I've read about a billion of them) say that, despite what all your parents and grandparents will tell you, teething does NOT cause fevers, or at least, not high fevers.  And I tend to put a good amount of trust in evidence-based modern medicine.  So when Aaron's first tooth started coming in last week, and he got a high fever (almost 104) the same day, we went ahead and called the doctor to ask if it was normal.  And the doctor said it wasn't, so we believed her.  They checked him and checked him and decided he must have a virus and that he'd be sick for 4 or 5 days, and that Audrey would probably get it also.

But instead, his tooth broke through, and the fever went away by the next morning.  And then a couple days ago, his second tooth came through.  And the same day, he got another high fever (only 103 this time), which also went away within 24 hours.  So at this point, it's pretty hard for me to believe that his teething didn't cause the fevers.  But why do the doctors and modern medicine insist on the fact that teething can't cause fevers like that?  Almost everyone who has had kids will tell you that they can get fevers when teeth come in -- and our small sample (2 fevers in his life, both only on the day a tooth was coming in) seems to agree.  I don't get it.

The funny part of the story is that we've seen Aaron's teeth coming for a few weeks....he'd grin and show his sore gums, and we could feel them coming when we stuck our fingers in his mouth (which the poor kid hates!) So yesterday, when we were talking to Aaron about his teeth, and asking Audrey if she was planning on getting some any time soon, I stuck my finger in her mouth to see if I could feel any coming.  And surprise!  She had a tooth!  That had already come through! She somehow snuck one in there without any of us noticing.  Crazy. 

So there you go, 2 weeks, 2 kids, 2 fevers, and 3 teeth.

 
Jan 06, 2009
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Nathan Tolbert, Sara Tolbert. This page created by Nathan Tolbert