Why does a baby under 21 days old need to be hospitalized with a fever?
Why does a 10 day old baby have to be hospitalized for a fever, but a 3 month old doesn’t? Every baby who has a fever over 100.3 degrees fahrenheit under 3 weeks old has to be admitted to the hospital for antibiotics because their risk of developing a life-threatening infection is much higher than an older infant or child. In well appearing full term infant under 21 days (meaning no signs or symptoms of illness except an isolated fever)- up to 5% chance of bacteremia, meaning a serious life threatening infection of the blood; up to 2.7% chance of meningitis, a serious life threatening infection of the brain; urinary tract infection up to 28%, a not as serious infection but one that has to be treated quickly so that it does not enter the bloodstream. These risks drop significantly with every day that a baby of a baby’s life – By the time they are 30 days, that risk of a bloodstream infection drops to 2% and meningitis down to 0.25%, and by 61 days, the risk of any of these is less than 1%, and after 91 days even lower.
