baby body hot no temperature

Baby Body & Head Hot but No Fever [Should You Worry?]

The baby body can feel hot to the touch without actually having a feverish increase in temperature. This could be due to many factors which can be managed in a variety of ways to make the toddler feel cooler.

Sometimes the cause of baby body hot but no fever is nothing to worry about. Toddler’s head can feel warm but the temperature be normal due to too much clothing, teething, hot weather or room, etc. But when a child still feels hot after you have tried to cool him down you should speak with the doctor to be safe.

Steps you can take to bring the temperature to normal include making baby position more comfortable, taking off all extra clothing, run your child over with a wet cloth, changing environment to a cooler place, giving more water, and breastfeeding.

Products that come in handy when monitoring and keeping baby cool:  wall thermometer with a hygrometer to monitor the room temperature and humidity. This is important in ensuring that the humidity and temperature of the room are not uncomfortable for your little baby. Comfortable baby diapers prevent excessive heat and subsequent irritation and discomfort which may make the baby feel overly warm. Use baby thermometers  to monitor and keep track of the changes in body temperature. Baby teethers ease discomfort during the teething period which can often be discomfiting for baby including an increase in temperature.

baby head hot no fever

Should you worry when your baby’s body is hot?

A baby thermoregulatory system is still quite undeveloped. This means that babies are more susceptible to changes in temperature caused by the environment than adults.

While an overheated baby is prone to higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and a baby that is overheated and feverish should receive prompt medical attention, sometimes the cause of a baby feeling hot but not feverish is no cause for alarm, as it can be due to a series of environmental and personal conditions which can be easily taken care of at home.

My baby is warm but doesn’t have a feverish temperature

If a baby is warm without a rise in temperature, there’s no immediate need of seeing a doctor as it is most likely due to environmental thermal conditions which the baby underdeveloped thermoregulatory system is struggling to adjust to optimal limits rather than an infection (which is usually the case when the baby temperature is feverish).

In this case adequate steps highlighted here can be first taken with the need for medical attention arising only if baby body refuses to feel cooler to the touch after a reasonable interval has passed following the application of those steps.

Why is my child hot but doesn’t have a fever?

A variety of factors constitute reasons why the body of an infant or toddler can feel warm to the touch without necessarily being a fever. Most of these reasons hinge on the baby’s environmental conditions such as:

The room where the baby is kept is too hot

It is important to note that babies have poorly developed thermoregulatory systems, so if a baby is kept in a hot room, the baby skin and head can likely feel hot to the touch after a while.

The baby is too tightly wrapped or wears too warm clothes

When a baby is too tightly wrapped, it becomes harder for the baby to lose adequate heat as the tight wrapping and overly warm nature of the baby clothes can serve as an insulating layer that traps body heat and then the baby body can then feel warm to the touch without being feverish or having any serious internal condition.

Positioning

If the baby is positioned in such a manner that blood flow to the head is high, this can lead to the baby head feeling warm to the touch.

Baby is teething

If your baby is teething, the head can sometimes become warmer than usual.

Baby is excited or does a lot of physical activity

If a baby is physically active, the rate of blood circulation to the head and other areas increase and metabolic rate also increases. This can lead to the baby body feeling warmer than usual.

newborn hot to touch

What to do?

First, don’t panic!

If the temperature of the room where the baby is placed is too hot, you can try bringing it down by either increasing the ventilation and other appropriate measures. If it’s not feasible or it’s impossible to bring down the temperature, you can relocate your child to more comfortable surroundings.

If the baby is too tightly wrapped or the clothes are too warm, you can remove the extra layers of clothing on the baby or wrap the baby more comfortably in such a manner as to increase air circulation around the body.

You can also try to bring down temperature by gently rubbing them with a wet cloth. This will cool the baby temperature in a manner similar to evaporation by sweating.

If the baby has been engaged in a lot of physical activity and is now hotter than normal, you should first relax the baby and calm them down to let them get some rest and their metabolic rate to fall. You can stay close to the baby and make a soothing presence by humming his favorite lullabies among other methods to get him to rest and sleep.

If the cause of the baby body thermal rise is due to teething, you can try teething gels and also a baby teether.

If the baby is uncomfortable as in cases where the baby has been crying or generally giving distressed or discomfited signals, thus leading to the baby body temperature rising, you can relieve the baby of the cause of the distress perhaps wet diapers.

Only my baby head is warm but the rest of the body is cold

Babies tend to lose most of their body heat through their head so it’s usual for the baby head to be a bit warmer than the rest of the body. 

However, if the baby head still feels too warm, you can remove the head coverings or if the baby is in the teething period, you can follow the guidelines mentioned earlier with regards to teething.

You can also try bringing the head temperature down by gently rubbing with cool water.

Should you see the doctor if your newborn is warm but doesn’t have a temperature?

On a general note, baby body being hot without fever is usually nothing much to worry about. However adequate measures such as these highlighted above should be taken to reduce the temperature back to optimal levels.

But if baby still remains in distress despite all this, is vomiting or having diarrhea, or a feverish temperature, then you should see a doctor.

baby feels warm

Conclusion

A baby body being hot without fever is possibly due to a series of reasons as highlighted above. 

Appropriate steps as listed above should be taken to bring down a toddler’s body temperature. However, if these fail, or a series of other serious symptoms as stated above are present then your child should be taken to see a doctor.

Better safe than sorry.

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