National clinical guidelines do not recommend physical cooling for fever reduction, such as ethanol body rubs and ice water enemas, which often significantly increase the discomfort of the child (chills, goose bumps, crying, etc.). At the same time, excessive or extensive use of physical cooling methods to cool the body can lead to the body overcoming the effects of physical cooling by producing heat (chills) and further reducing heat dissipation (skin capillary constriction, skin goose bumps from contraction of the erector pili).
Proper care of the feverish child can improve the child’s comfort by applying warm water to the child’s forehead, warm baths, reducing the amount of clothing worn, antipyretic patches, antipyretic blankets, fans and lowering the room temperature, all of which remove heat from the body by conduction, convection and evaporation and make the feverish child feel comfortable.
In turn, cold water can be used to soak a towel, or small ice cubes can be placed in a plastic or rubber pocket to make an ice pillow, or wrapped in a towel and placed on the child’s head to help cool the body. If the temperature does not decrease consistently, or if the temperature exceeds 39°C and the general cooling measures described above are not effective, warm water wipes can be tried to lower the temperature.