Home › Instruction sheets › Fever in a child: care at home

For parents of a child who has a fever and has been seen by, or is waiting to see, a doctor.

Drawing: A digital thermometer, syrup with an oral syringe, water, light cotton clothes, and a favourite toy. — A digital thermometer, syrup with an oral syringe, water, light cotton clothes, and a favourite toy.

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Fever is a temperature of 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) or more in the armpit. Use a digital thermometer. Fever itself is the body fighting infection. How the child looks and behaves matters more than the number.

A baby under 3 months with a fever: go to a hospital now

Do not treat at home. Go to a hospital with a children's emergency department.

Paracetamol

Dose: 15 mg for every kg of body weight, each time.
Gap: 4 to 6 hours between doses. Never sooner than 4 hours.
Not more than 4 doses in 24 hours.
Give it when the child is uncomfortable, not only to bring the number down.
Measure with an oral syringe marked in ml, never with a kitchen spoon.
Many cough and cold syrups also contain paracetamol. Read the label, so that the child does not get it twice.

Paracetamol: how much for each dose

Child's weight	Drops 100 mg in 1 ml	Syrup 120 or 125 mg in 5 ml	Syrup 240 or 250 mg in 5 ml
4 kg	0.6 ml	2 ml	use drops or 120
5 kg	0.7 ml	3 ml	use drops or 120
6 kg	0.9 ml	3.5 ml	1.5 ml
7 kg	1 ml	4 ml	2 ml
8 kg	1.2 ml	4.5 ml	2 ml
9 kg	1.3 ml	5 ml	2.5 ml
10 kg	1.5 ml	6 ml	3 ml
12 kg	use syrup	7 ml	3.5 ml
14 kg	use syrup	8 ml	4 ml
16 kg	use syrup	9.5 ml	4.5 ml
18 kg	use syrup	10.5 ml	5 ml
20 kg	use syrup	12 ml	6 ml
25 kg	use syrup	use the 250 syrup	7.5 ml
30 kg	use syrup	use the 250 syrup	9 ml
35 kg	use syrup	use the 250 syrup	10.5 ml
40 kg	use syrup	use the 250 syrup	12 ml

Read the strength on your bottle every single time. Drops are about four times stronger than the 120 syrup. The same number of ml from the wrong bottle is an overdose or an underdose. If the strength on your bottle is not in this table, do not guess: ask. If the weight falls between two rows, use the lower row. Over 40 kg: one 500 mg tablet per dose. A baby under 2 months, or under 4 kg, gets paracetamol only on a doctor's advice.

Do

Offer fluids often: water, breast milk, ORS, coconut water, soup.
Dress the child in light cotton clothes. Keep the room airy.
Let the child rest. Food can wait, fluids cannot.
Check on the child at night.

Do not

Never sponge with cold water or ice.
Do not wrap the child in blankets.
No aspirin for a child, unless a children's doctor has prescribed it.
No ibuprofen or mefenamic acid unless a doctor has advised it for this illness. Ibuprofen is dangerous in dengue and in a dehydrated child.
No nimesulide: it is banned for children under 12.
Do not give two fever medicines together.

Take the child to a hospital now if

The child is drowsy, limp, hard to wake, or does not respond to you
Breathing is fast or difficult, or there is a grunting noise with each breath
The child has a fit
There is a rash that does not fade when you press a glass on it
The neck is stiff, or the soft spot on a baby's head is bulging
The child is not drinking at all, or vomits everything
No urine for 6 to 8 hours
Hands and feet are cold while the body is hot, or the skin is pale, blotchy or blue
There is bleeding from the nose or gums, or black stools
The child cries without stopping and cannot be comforted

Caspian has no children's ward and no children's emergency room. Take the child to the nearest hospital with a children's emergency department, or call 108.

See a doctor the same day if

The fever has lasted more than 3 days
The temperature is 40 °C (104 °F) or more, or 39 °C (102.2 °F) or more in a baby of 3 to 6 months
There is ear pain, pain on passing urine, or a sore throat with difficulty swallowing
The fever went away for a day and has come back
You are worried. A parent's worry is a good enough reason.

If the child has a fit with fever

Lay the child on their side on the floor, away from anything hard.
Put nothing in the mouth. Do not hold the child down.
Note the time.
If the fit lasts more than 5 minutes, call 108.
After a first fit, take the child to a hospital at once, even if the fit has stopped.

Fits with fever happen in some children between 6 months and 5 years. Paracetamol does not prevent them.

Questions about this sheet? Call Caspian Healthcare reception on +91 89193 41154. A doctor is on duty at all hours for problems that are not critical. Caspian has no emergency department: in an emergency call 108.

Where this comes from

Prepared by Caspian Healthcare from the sources above. Last reviewed October 2026. General information: your own doctor's written instructions come first.