We just do things a little differently, that's all! (Fevers)

I have wanted to write this post for awhile now.

Derek and I often hear a lot of the following:
"Your kids don't hardly ever get sick, do they?"
"Tell me about your natural childbirths."
"Where is child xyz on the percentile charts?"
"So what do you do when your kids DO get sick??"
"What kind of supplements do you take?"
"How much did child xyz weigh at his last well-child visit?"
etc.

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile, because, well...we just do things a little differently than a lot of people and a lot of those people don't know that about us!! Some of you might assume things about us since Derek is going into the field of Chiropractic. Or maybe you see the cloth diapers on our children and think, "Oh, brother...she's one of those moms!!"

Well, maybe a lot of those stereotypes about Chiropractors and cloth-diapering moms are true about us...the Frye's!! I wanted to write this, though, to tell you why those things are true about us. I could go on and on and on about the way we deal with health, pain, and general wellness in our home, but who would want to read the many pages of my ramblings? Probably not many none of you. SO I'll do this in many installments over the next few weeks/months and hope that you might be enlightened to do some of your own research about so many of the mainstream ideas out there that are just plain FALSE.

Fever: My baby won't stop crying and seems to be in pain or sick or something! I don't know if it's teething or if they're sick with something...I will take their temperature to see if they have a fever!! I need to bring it down. What do I do???!!!!

What we think and do, and why: Your baby is crying, because he/she has pain or discomfort for whatever reason...isn't God awesome?! He created that amazing, heart-wrenching-for-us-moms cry to let you know that something is not right. A baby's cry can almost never be ignored easily. Be thankful for that cry, and know that your baby is communicating and you are responding and being very in-tune with what your baby is telling you. Often, it is only you, the mom, who knows whether something is really wrong with your baby. Trust your instincts.

Now trust this, as well. God also created that fever in your child's body to fight off viruses and diseases. We VERY rarely attempt to bring down our kids' (or our own) fevers. I could probably list on one hand the number of times we have ever given our kids Tylenol...one hand for all three kids. I am NOT in any way trying to make any statements about our parenting skills. Please know that. I have not always been aware of all of the FACTS, and my only goal is to make you aware of what we have learned so you can do your own research and maybe just re-think things in a little (well, maybe a MUCH) different way than you have been. Tylenol has many possible long-term side-effects, and since we know that bringing down fevers is usually just not necessary, we choose to leave the Tylenol on the First Aid shelf.

We hear so often from articles we read and doctors we talk to that teething does not cause fever. As moms, we think..."Well, then what the heck??!!" (It's like that annoying "You can't catch a cold by being cold" idea. Well, okay, BUT...) Here's my thought on the teething one. Very often, babies get fevers when they are teething, because their bodies are working to fight off viruses/bacteria that might possibly enter through the open wounds in their mouths. When a baby cuts a tooth, his/her gums are getting CUT by that tooth (hence the term, "cutting a tooth!") I'll give them the "Teething doesn't cause fever," but fever OFTEN accompanies teething. This is yet another reason we use homeopathic pain management during teething episodes as opposed to Tylenol. Why would we want to compromise what their little bodies are working so hard to do CORRECTLY??!!

(Maybe I should have done a separate post for Teething!! :) )I understand the pain in hearing your baby cry, in seeing them in so much agony over that discomfort. We use Hyland's Teething Tablets (available at CVS and many other drugstores/plain old grocery stores), I nurse them a lot and offer cold drinks/lukewarm drinks (whatever seems to feel best in their mouth), we give them anything and everything we can think of to chew on (soft, plastic baby spoons, those wrist key chain holders...they work fabulously!!, teething biscuits, bottle nipples if they don't take a pacifier, etc.), and the best thing?? We get out of the house!! It is amazing what fresh air will do for a teething baby. Go for a walk! Go to Target, walk around the mall, play at a friend's house. It can seem like the last thing you should do with a cranky, teething baby, but I must say it works for us almost all of the time. (At the very least, you will get in the car, and the baby will go to sleep. Then you can just drive around and enjoy the quiet!! :) )

If I haven't lost you yet, I'll finish with this: God allows our bodies to develop fevers for a reason. We try to always respect that and give our kids (and ourselves) a chance to fight off viruses with those fevers. We don't use fever-reducing drugs, and we don't use drugs to fight off any of the other symptoms that are also serving their own purposes in our amazingly created bodies (but another post on that later :) ) When we or our kids have a fever, we provide plenty of opportunities for rest and quiet, we stay hydrated, and we don't worry about it. That's what WE do anyway ;)