My six-year-old boy has intermittent fever, stomach pain, and (sometimes) very light colored stools. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. Yesterday, he complained of stomach pain, ate very little, and had fever of 102.4. I gave ibuprofen. Woke up with 102.2, I gave more ibuprofen. He is now normal and hungry, but this seems to be recurring. What should I do? (He has also been diagnosed with anemia in the past - twice -- successfully treated with iron drops -- but now he has that pinched look and very pale lips he had the other two times. Related?)
Hello, Fever of few days without any localizing signs could as well a viral illness. Usually rather than fever, what is more important is the activity of the child, in between 2 fever episodes on the same day.  If the kid is active and playing around when there is no fever, it is probably viral illness and it doesn't require antibiotics at all.  Once the viral fever comes it will there for 4-7 days. So do not worry about duration if the kid is active. Paracetamol can be given in the dose of 15 mg/kg/dose (maximum ceiling dose of 500 mg) every 4-6th hourly that too only if fever is more than 100F.  I suggest not using combination medicines for fever, especially with Paracetamol. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Chat Doctor. 