Fever: What Now?
The 2 a.m. question, answered with the same thresholds we cite in the guides. When in doubt, skip this page and just call. Calling is always right.
Every fact checked against the linked sources · July 2026
The names behind the initials — who we cite, and why they count
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- The professional organization of America's pediatricians. Its guidance on safe sleep, fevers, feeding, and screen time is what your own pediatrician is trained to follow; its parent site is HealthyChildren.org.
- MedlinePlus
- The plain-language medical encyclopedia run by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. government's medical-research agency.
Check the temperature
Use a rectal digital thermometer for babies under 3 months — it gives the reading that counts at that age. AAP
The thresholds behind this page: AAP AAP checker MedlinePlus — and the full picture, including everything that isn't a fever, lives in What to Look For.
This page is not a doctor
It's an educational summary of published guidance for otherwise-healthy, full-term babies. Your pediatrician's office expects calls at every hour and would rather hear from you than not. If anything about your child worries you, call — whatever this page says.