# Can teething really cause a fever?



## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

I finally figured out why dd took such a long nap today. She has a fever of 101. Also, she is cutting at least one first year molar and one lateral incisor. She seems ok otherwise, but just very tired. I have read conflicting info about whether or not fever can be related to teething. One baby book says yes, one says no. My web search turned up the same. Any thoughts from some more experienced mamas?


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## SandraS (Jan 18, 2007)

I've only had one of my kids get "teething fevers". She gets HIGH ones (104+) when she teethes. My boys never got one. I too have read the conflicting info!


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## J's Mombee (Aug 21, 2006)

My "stinky pinky" had a fever while both teeth were coming in...


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## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2bja* 
I've only had one of my kids get "teething fevers". She gets HIGH ones (104+) when she teethes. My boys never got one. I too have read the conflicting info!

wow. that is high. dd's is rising now at 102 and she is getting rather lethargic. she is laying over my shoulder. i am getting a bit worried.


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## PGNPORTLAND (Jul 9, 2005)

my dd has had a small fever with teething (like around 100.0 ish) - maybe your daughter has something else going on? does she have any other symptoms? tugging at her ear at all?

I hope she feels better soon


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## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PGNPORTLAND* 
my dd has had a small fever with teething (like around 100.0 ish) - maybe your daughter has something else going on? does she have any other symptoms? tugging at her ear at all?

I hope she feels better soon

thanks. no other symptoms other than increasing fatigue. i think this could be more than teething now. she is almost asleep over my shoulder and if you knew her you would know that is very very unusual. she is normally very active.


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## schatz (May 6, 2003)

both my kids had fevers with teething but not high ones - well, I never actually took their temps but they weren't so high that I felt I needed to take the temp. The only time my kids have had high fevers (well, again, I didn't take their temps but they felt really hot - well, no, I did take dd's once but I don't remember the temp - sorry, that ramble wasn't helpful) -- anyway, my kids have had really obvious fevers with viral infections. Like when dd had rotavirus. We just let it run it's course and made sure she was hydrated (nursing regularly even though she was vomiting as well). She was lethargic but not to a point where I would have taken her in.


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## les7699 (Jan 19, 2007)

Without fail my first daughter would get a runny nose and fever with every tooth she got. Of course our ped told us it wasn't related, but that's a lot of teeth to happen to have a fever and runny nose at the same time. Especially on a child that was never otherwise sick.


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## schatz (May 6, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *les7699* 
Of course our ped told us it wasn't related, but that's a lot of teeth to happen to have a fever and runny nose at the same time.

My dd got hives when she was sprouting 6 teeth at once - the doc and nurse said it couldn't be due to teething but I know there was nothing else different. Then at 2 yrs when her molars were coming in, she got hives on her palms and finger tips and they peeled. I thought perhaps she was allergic to fish since we had eaten that the night before. Fast forward to when ds was a year and getting his one year molars. He got hives on his palms and fingers and they peeled. We had not eaten any fish or other new foods. I am convinced my kids just have all sorts of weird stuff happen when they are teething. Their teeth come in batches very quickly.

Anyway, that's my story as unscientific as it is.


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## nascarbebe (Nov 4, 2006)

yes! i think so. My 18-mo. old has 16 teeth and he did not get a fever until he started cutting molars. Fortunatelly he cut those in pairs.


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## J's Mombee (Aug 21, 2006)

My ped claims that teething somehow effects the immune system; which in turn makes them more susceptible to illness. She described the fever as a viral infection that the baby has bc he is teething: his immune system cant fight it off right now.

The nurse at the peds offc claims lots of babies tend to get fevers with teething... My grandma seconds that theory... I have to agree in my case, bc ds had a fever with both bottom front teeth...


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## TabbyK (Jan 14, 2007)

Our pediatrician's office says that anything over 99.5 isn't caused by teething. I have to respectfully disagree with him. DD is prone to high fevers to begin with, and with every tooth she cut, her temp would shoot up to around 102 and her ears would be irritated. Within _hours_ of the tooth breaking through, everything would be back to normal and not return until the next tooth. Teething is the devil's own creation in this house!

K.


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## Emma's_Mommy (Apr 28, 2006)

Emma always gets a fever and runny nose when she cuts a tooth....i'm use to it and give her half a dose of tylenol to help relax the symptoms!


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## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

She uke all over herself, her carseat, and the entire back seat area of the minivan on the way to the peds office. I decided to take her after her fever hit 103 and she got really lethargic and out of it. Doc thinks she has a stomach bug.







I wonder if the fever just made her tummy upset and maybe it is just teething because she no other symptoms at all. I don't know.







She is feeling a bit better and happily sleeping so all is well for now. Thanks for all of your responses.


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## schatz (May 6, 2003)

Well, if she pukes again and then has the most foul smelling diarrhea you've ever smelled, she might have rotavirus. My dd ran a fever with no other symptoms until she began vomiting and having diarrhea. The entire illness lasted about a week. We just nursed her as often as she would and she came through fine. We've had one other 24hr stomach bug in our house that we all got but there was no fever with that one.


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## Qestia (Sep 26, 2005)

DS definitely had one--and took the longest nap ever (4 hours!!!) when he was cutting molars. He was really miserable. But it was totally the molars. But the puking makes me think your DD has something else (or in addition to) teething. There's a lot going around, as I well know (my whole family had norovirus 2 weeks ago, ugh)


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## dawn1221 (Sep 27, 2006)

We went through this not long ago. I swear by the feveral suppositories!


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## SquirelNutkin (Mar 4, 2002)

All three of my kids get outragesly high fervers while teething.
The oldest 2 also vomit.
My youngest has had rotaV, and just about every other illness that causes body liquids to be expelled!

Anyhow- For us, the high temps last just the night before. They throw up a couple times the night before, and its all resolved after a few hours of the start, after a bath and nap.

The main difference between the illness and the teething is the length, and fitfulness or crabbiness verses lethergy.
I now can smell the difference between teething throw up, and illness throw up. Sorry if thats just too gross for some out there.

My doctor claims no fever is caused by teething. I personaly, think doctors are too scared that parents wont bring their kids in when they have a high fever thining it is teething.

If you conclude that she was teething, you will know next time.

good luck
b


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## Qestia (Sep 26, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *riverscout* 
She uke all over herself, her carseat, and the entire back seat area of the minivan on the way to the peds office. I decided to take her after her fever hit 103 and she got really lethargic and out of it. Doc thinks she has a stomach bug.







I wonder if the fever just made her tummy upset and maybe it is just teething because she no other symptoms at all. I don't know.







She is feeling a bit better and happily sleeping so all is well for now. Thanks for all of your responses.

Can I ask how this resolved? Because DS had a high fever Thurs, (102.8), seemed okay, it broke overnight, he was cranky, not hungry, and drooly and biting stuff though, I assumed 2 year molars... then last night out of nowhere same thing-- barfed all over the car seat (WHY on earth do they make those impossible to clean?). Barfed again after OJ this morning and has bad diarrhea, reminds me of our bout with norovirus only 2 weeks again. Anyway... I thought it was amazing that our situations were so similar!


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## Ex Libris (Jan 31, 2004)

My ds got stuffy and feverish out of the blue yesterday, so I looked in his mouth and sure enough, he's cutting his two year molars (finally!). He always has these symptoms when cutting difficult teeth.


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## momaste (Oct 9, 2006)

Yep, DS get a fever and his cheeks turn BRIGHT red when he's teething. He also tugs his ears. I thought he was getting ear infections and with each tooth took him to the ped. for his ears with no problems. It was only after his 6th tooth that I realized the connection.


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## jennnk (Feb 6, 2005)

Andy always gets a fever, runny nose, lethargy, etc. when he's teething. He's just now getting over a week of sickness and his first molar has broken through. I figure it's because teething is incredibly painful & intense prolonged pain can weaken the immune system, thus rendering them unable to fight off whatever they've got running around their system.


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## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Qestia* 
Can I ask how this resolved? Because DS had a high fever Thurs, (102.8), seemed okay, it broke overnight, he was cranky, not hungry, and drooly and biting stuff though, I assumed 2 year molars... then last night out of nowhere same thing-- barfed all over the car seat (WHY on earth do they make those impossible to clean?). Barfed again after OJ this morning and has bad diarrhea, reminds me of our bout with norovirus only 2 weeks again. Anyway... I thought it was amazing that our situations were so similar!

Well, she seemed to get better as quickly as she got sick. Although this time was worse, this is actually the second time this has happened...long afternoon nap, then high fever and major lethargy, then massive amount of vomit, then by the next day pretty much fine except a little bit tired and a bit of a low-grade fever.









As far as the car seat, I actually posted about how I cleaned it. http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=606081 The only thing I didn't mention in it was that I ended up using Bio-Kleen Bac Out on the car seat straps to get the puke smell out. I didn't have time to wait for new straps because we had to make an 8 hour road trip yesterday.

I really hope your ds is feeling better. Good luck cleaning that car seat!


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## Qestia (Sep 26, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *riverscout* 
Well, she seemed to get better as quickly as she got sick. Although this time was worse, this is actually the second time this has happened...long afternoon nap, then high fever and major lethargy, then massive amount of vomit, then by the next day pretty much fine except a little bit tired and a bit of a low-grade fever.









As far as the car seat, I actually posted about how I cleaned it. http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=606081 The only thing I didn't mention in it was that I ended up using Bio-Kleen Bac Out on the car seat straps to get the puke smell out. I didn't have time to wait for new straps because we had to make an 8 hour road trip yesterday.

I really hope your ds is feeling better. Good luck cleaning that car seat!

Ack, sadly it turned out to be a tumy bug we all got, I'm fighting it today.


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## TripMom (Aug 26, 2005)

This issue bugs me so much as I have had pediatricians tell me "no" to this question.

Whenever I can't figure out what is wrong with my kids . . .its almost always teething! My kids get fevers, runny noses and have even thrown up from teething.


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## nfpmom (Jun 4, 2004)

Considering the time of the year, fever and barfing is probably an illness, not teething.

My pet peeve is moms who bring sick kids along to playgroups and whatnot and call their fevers and green snot "teething".

I have 2 kids and neither has had a fever or illness from teething. They have had fever from being sick, puking from being sick, and runny nose from being sick- but from a couple of teeth working their way through? no. When in doubt, assume an illness and quarantine


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## Yo Becca (Apr 17, 2005)

My DD ran a low fever and developed a pretty bad diaper rash with every tooth that came through. She had some snot (not thick and green, but runny and snotty) with most teeth also. When the teeth cut, the symptoms went away. this was pretty much the only time she ever had diaper rash (except for one time when I let her have pineapple juice







). I think every child's body probably processes teething differently. My DD generally teethed fast and hard, 2-5 teeth at a time. The symptoms of teething (fever, rash and snot) only lasted 2-3 days. When she was actually sick with a cold or other illness, the symptoms took longer to go away.


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## CeciMami (Nov 15, 2005)

My little one has had a high fever with every batch of teeth until this one. And I'm talking a 104 degree fever (scared the crap out of me the first time until i figured out what was going on!). We only use the Feverall suppositories when EO's and cool baths don't do the trick...but they take the edge off when we need them to!


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