Mom refuses to take her son to the hospital after he spikes a 106.3 degree fever: 'That's over 41 degrees Celsius'

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Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Oct 1, 2025 8:00 PM EDT

There is no shortage of debates in parenting forums about how to treat (or not treat) a child's fever. Opinions range from rushing kids to the hospital the second their temperature reaches 99.5 degrees, and letting their kids fester with no medicine when their fever is over 104 degrees. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of that, but it's easy to focus on those extreme cases and worry about those kids. 

While parents shouldn't be freaking out the second their kids' temperature creeps over 100.4 degrees, there can be good reasons for fearing fevers. Fever usually indicates that an illness is more severe than a common cold. A lot of people know someone with a history of febrile seizures, and that's more likely with a high fever than a low-grade fever. Despite what health influencers might say, there is little harm done in giving your kid fever reducers if they are clearly suffering from a high temperature. It's better than going to the ER and paying a boatload of money for doctors to tell you to do just that.

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  • The mom in this story either has a broken thermometer, a son in desperate need of a fever reducer, or a son who needs to go to the hospital right away. We don't have enough information to ascertain which one, but we can infer that she's being very blasé about her son's health. 

  • A sick young boy getting his temperature checked
    via Curated Lifestyle (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Just a slight fever

    + Yall say some prayers for A ... If this does t go down we will be going to the emergency room 106.3 M 31° 0.4-2 in 2 興 Q2.1K ☑
    via u/Fraulein-Naptime

    Why is she not in the car already?! I have no words, truly

  • Rose1982 Gotta get the Facebook points first obviously. Don't worry, she'll update with horribly invasive pics of her kid in a hospital bed feeling like absolute sh.
    via u/Rose1982
  • pandagurl1985 Omg is that a forehead thermometer? The temp is probably even higher than that.
    via u/pandagurl1985
  • irish_ninja_wte Yep. With a temp like that, I'm not consulting the Internet. I'm deciding between driving to the hospital or calling an ambulance
    via u/irish_ninja_wte
  • BarelyFunctioning 15 Literally. Shoving husband and my baby out the door and packing a bag with all our necessities and meeting them at the hospital...
    via u/BarelyFunctioning15
  • Mom checking the temperature of her sick baby girl
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Goldfinch-island This scares me. However, to be fair, my son had a fever this high this summer. We called the pediatrician who helped us bring it down at home to 102, so it was more manageable. Ended up in the ER a few days later because it was 5 days of super high fever - so crazy. Just some bug.
    via u/Goldfinch-island
  • la_polilla My parents told me when I was a baby that I had a crazy high fever of 107. My dad is a retired navy SEAL and I have never seen him look the way he does when he retells the story of hearing baby me scream as they dunked me in a cold bath in a desperate attempt to lower my body temp (they did take me to the hospital. Just some bug. My only life long complication is my adult teeth grew in yellow.)
    via u/la_polilla
  • turquoisebead That is CRAZY high but one time my daughter was maybe 3 and had one that was like high 104s low 105s and I called out on-call which connects to our children's hospital and I remember the nurse saying to give Tylenol and if it came down she was fine to not come in. She said there wasn't a number reading on the thermometer that would make her say to bring her in immediately and that it was really a combo of factors like if she was speaking normally and not having any alarming symptom
    via u/turquoisebead
  • Obviously I'm sure there is a number where they'd be like um yes we need to see her now, but she explained that a 105 fever on a kid is so much different than a 105 fever on an adult and as long as Tylenol moved the needle we were good to wait it out. I've never forgotten that because I assumed if it got up to 104 it was like 911 emergency and it really helped me calm down.
    via u/turquoisebead
  • Pm_me_baby_pig_pics We always say to treat the kid, not the number (essentially) Is the kid acting relatively ok with a 104 temp? Drinking fluids and able to stay awake and breathing ok? Then they're probably actually doing ok, the number is very scary looking, but the kid is drinking fluids and breathing ok and not so sick they can't stay conscious enough to get through an episode of paw patrol, then you probably don't need to bring them in just to be told they're doing ok and keep giving fluid
    via u/Pm_me_baby_pig_pics
  • On the other hand, if they're 100 and labored breathing, refusing to drink anything, so tired they can't even get through ryders intro song, yeah def bring them in and let's have the experts take a closer look. It's harder as a parent tho, even if you know all of these things front to back, the parent brain kicks in and you desperately just want your kid to feel better, what if I'm missing something and this is actually really bad and I just didn't catch this one symptom that changes everything?
    via u/Pm_me_baby_pig_pics
  • But even 106 I'd be on the phone at the bare minimum while I'm sticking my kid in a tepid bath and pouring as much Tylenol as I safely can down their throat.because even though I KNOW they're going to tell me to do those things, I tell people to do those things, my parent brain takes the reigns and I need someone else to tell me
    via u/Pm_me_baby_pig_pics
  • specialkk77 Measuring by responsiveness to paw patrol is peak little kid parenting lol. My 4 year old can sing the theme song in her sleep. I really don't even allow a lot of screen time. It just burrows in there!
    via u/specialkk77
  • PrettyProof My daughter hit 103 when she had RSV at 5 months and I remember feeling like my soul was going to leave my body. I couldn't imagine pausing to take a picture and post it on social media
    via u/PrettyProof
  • lifeisbeautiful513 If you don't give your kid a fever reducer, the ER is just going to give them a MUCH more expensive fever reducer. There are times to go straight to the ER for a fever, but if it's not an infant and it's not an issue of an external heating source (a hot car or something), a fever isn't an emergency. These thermometers are also highly inaccurate - it's likely in a more normal range. That being said, weird to post on social media.
    via u/lifeisbeautiful513
  • NotAPeopleFan I've always heard medical professionals say they treat the kid, not the number. Like unless they're showing other scary signs like lethargy, not eating or drinking, etc then they don't worry as much about the number. However, something tells me she's not giving meds to this poor child to try to reduce this which I absolutely would be! Meds, a cool bath, anything! Fevers like this are not comfortable.
    via u/NotAPeopleFan
  • Skeen441 The highest fever ive ever had was 104 and I was so delirious I got trapped in my loft because I forgot how stairs work. This poor kid.
    via u/Skeen441
  • Sick man lying in bed wearing pajamas suffering cold and winter flu virus and drinking water
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • kaytay3000 Sincerely hoping this is a mom that is looking for internet points and pulled a Ferris Bueller by faking the high temperature.
    via u/kaytay3000
  • PinkGinFairy My U.K., Celsius using self almost the plot before I remembered that this will be Fahrenheit. I mean, I appreciate that's still awful but at least this child isn't 6 degrees above boiling point. I really hope they got that poor child some help.
    via u/PinkGinFairy
  • romethmar That over 41° celcius !
    via u/romethmar

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doctors office hospital doctor fever bad parenting illness sickness bad parents parenting high fever sick doctors Reddit mom Parenting Fail Parenting FAILS
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