marydell | Babies are like lizards (Reply)

...in that they don't internally regulate heat very well. We had a fun night up with young Charles, who got a bit overheated yesterday (90+ degree weather outside, us running the dishwasher a couple of times to steam the place up, and being held for a long time by his dad, who is like a human furnace...). The doc said if his temp is 100 in the ear (using a digital ear thingy), to call, but first make sure that he's not just overly warm. So we had him hang out in just his diaper, and I took him down to the basement library where the AC is more effective, and that brought him down to 99 degrees. Got to use a butt therm on him for the first time, too, since the ear therm is hard to get an accurate reading with, so it's good to confirm it once or twice with a rectal temp. Fortunately, todays butt therms are not like the cold glass ones we knew as kids--ours is made of a flexible material and has a flange to stop it from going in too far. Just like all the best adult butt devices. Nothing's too good for our Charlie!

Anyway, he was lethargic and wouldn't eat properly etc., so I spent a few hours sitting up worrying and zapping him with the ear therm. Eventually after a few hours of sleep he was hungry and started eating and fussing like normal, and his temp was down to 97-98 ish. Whew.

Times like this I'm thankful that I spent so much time babysitting in high school. Also I'm glad that I'm an engineer, because focusing on troubleshooting, instead of "awfulizing," helps me to stay calm and get thru it.

Tired today, though.