When a child has a fever, the majority of parents are anxious to give their children a fever, generally first with warm water baths, antipyretic patches, ice packs ice head and other physical cooling methods, physical cooling is not good before eating antipyretic drugs. Unfortunately, these practices and concepts are actually not very correct. Fever is not as bad as you think. In fact, an elevated body temperature can reduce the replication and reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms in the child’s body, and can also improve the body’s inflammatory response, which is conducive to the clearance of disease-causing microorganisms, so fever is beneficial to the recovery of the child’s condition. The relevant guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasize that unless it is super high fever, fever will not harm the child, but rather is beneficial. The currently recognized effective methods of reducing fever are, the antipyretic drugs ibuprofen and acetaminophen. The main purpose of using antipyretic drugs is not only to reduce fever, but also to relieve the pain associated with fever and illness. Therefore, the goal of fever treatment is to improve the child’s comfort level rather than simply seeking to lower the body temperature. So, how do you measure a child’s comfort level? Chinese guidelines are that children above 38.5°C (the consensus of American experts is above 39°C) will be more uncomfortable. Except for some children with genetic metabolic diseases, cardiopulmonary diseases, epilepsy and other diseases, if the child is not obviously uncomfortable, most children do not need fever reduction if their body temperature is below 38.5°C. Naturally, they do not need physical cooling means such as baths and ice packs; the body temperature exceeds 38.5°C and the child is obviously The need to reduce fever only when the child is not feeling well. Physical cooling sounds beautiful There are many ways of physical cooling, including taking off clothes to dissipate heat, baths, warm water baths, alcohol baths, ice packs, fever patches, blowing fans, air conditioning and so on. Among them, warm water bath is the more used way, and there are more clinical studies related to this. Most studies have concluded that warm water baths can lower body temperature in a short period of time (20 to 30 minutes), but the body temperature gradually rises soon after the bath is finished. The temperature difference between the water and the body is used to take away the heat, so a small temperature difference is ineffective, and a large temperature difference can cause discomfort in children. In fact, many parents have found that bath rubs cause a large percentage of children to recoil, cry, and even chill. Since the goal of treatment is to keep the child uncomfortable, warm baths may make the child more uncomfortable, and since they are ineffective and short-lived, they are clearly not a good form of treatment. So, what do professional guidelines and various authorities say about physical cooling? Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis and management of acute fever of unknown etiology in children aged 0 to 5 years: physical cooling is less effective than antipyretics, and can be used as an auxiliary antipyretic method. When physical cooling is applied in combination with antipyretics, the body temperature drops faster than when antipyretics are used alone, and the physical cooling method of using antipyretics in combination with warm water body rubs is recommended for high fever. Hong Kong Department of Health: Warm baths do not help reduce fever in babies, but many people will give their babies warm baths to make them more comfortable if they have the following conditions One is unable to take oral medication, the second is vomiting after taking medication, and the third is acting irritable or very uncomfortable. The 19th edition of Nielsen Pediatrics: Physical methods like warm baths and cold blankets are not considered effective for reducing fever. American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines for the Use of Fever and Fever Reducing Drugs in Children: Whether bringing the body temperature down to normal improves the child’s comfort is not clear to us; external cooling methods, such as warm baths, can lower the body temperature but do not improve comfort. As you can see, physical cooling is only used as an adjunct to fever reduction and is not the first choice. Of course, there are many physical cooling methods, not all of which cannot be used. As mentioned earlier, wearing less clothes and turning on the air conditioner also fall under the category of physical cooling because it makes the child more comfortable. For children with fever, comfort is the most important thing, wear it when it’s cold and take it off when it’s hot. Air conditioning is the same, hot on the cold, cold on the heat. As for ice bags, ice packs, fever patches, these small areas in contact with the skin cooling methods, not only can not lower the temperature and make the child uncomfortable, should naturally give up. And alcohol baths can be cooled, but may lead to alcohol poisoning in children, should be prohibited.