[14]

My guess is the down vote comes from someone thinking your comment sounds like you don't have any children or know what you are talking about. You don't give ibuprofen for pain during a fever, though doctors will say it can help because often times the source of the fever will cause pain like an ear infection or strep throat, you give it to reduce the temperature. There is a serious risk of seizure in children if you let fevers run high. So to say you don't have to give them anything is certainly not true in many cases and in fact could be life threatening to just ignore. That would be my guess to the down vote. I have multiple kids and never has the thought in my mind been I will give them analgesic for the pain of their illness. It is about the temp 100% of the time. I do not like to take drugs nor give them to my children if avoided but certain things you must treat. Fever is one.

[logicchains]

According to the first article I found while Googling, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well... :

"The best evidence suggests that there is neither harm nor benefit to treating a fever with fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen."

"In 1997, these data led to a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ibuprofen in 455 patients with sepsis, a life-threatening infectious condition. In this study, ibuprofen failed to prevent the worsening of sepsis and failed to decrease the risk of death."

The science doesn't seem to support the notion that reducing fever will reduce the risk of fatality in the general case. I had assumed the same thing also applied to children, as before this thread I'd never heard of children getting seizures from fever (at least not from any of the children/parents I knew growing up in rural Australia).

[stolsvik]

Why do you not help your kids when they are in pain?! This is truly shocking to me, it is definitely a cruel and inhumane sentiment.

[coldtea]

Why do you pose a ridiculous question, implying the parent commenter is a bad person who doesn't love their children or whatever?

Do you give your children general anesthesia when they are in pain? E.g. they've fallen and bummed their knee or something?

Why not, since it would be the ultimate pain-killer? Because it's both dangerous and unnecessary.

The parent has the same reasoning for other unneeded and dangerous drugs.

Why can discuss whether they're really as unneeded and dangerous as the author implies, but that's another question, not loaded with "why don't you love your children" implications...

[logicchains]

Painkillers are not side effect free; if the pain is something minor, like a bruised knee or normal headache, it's not unreasonable to decide that experiencing the pain is a better choice than risking the side effects of a drug, which in uncommon cases can be much more severe and long term. It's not as clear cut as "helping" vs not helping, as unfortunately we don't yet have any side effect free painkillers.

[distant_hat]

Also, the pain sometimes keep activity low which may help with healing. If I give my kid something pain relieving he'll be up and bouncing around and could hurt himself more.

[ada1981]

You could also teach your kids meditation techniques to be deployed when in pain.

[coldtea]

"Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis" (Jack Handey)

[ada1981]

Unsure why this got downvoted, meditation has been show to reduce pain up to 90%.

Seems like teaching kids to meditate would have all sorts of benefits, including drug free pain management.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindfulness-in-frant...

[ada1981]

Can someone please explain the downvotes? Do you not like the idea that meditation can mitigate pain? Don’t think it’s true? Find it wrong to teach kids? What?

[14]

I meant in the sense I don't give pain killer for pain during a fever but I give it during a fever to help with the temperature. It is not to take away the pain of a fever but the temperature but often times there is something painful causing the fever so it helps. Now as for giving my kids analgesic I do give them Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen occasionally when they really need it. I encourage things like rest in a dark room and more fluids first but you get to know as a parent when they are really not well and when they just need to take a break from screen time or activity or take something like tylenol. Medicine is not my go to but I use it accordingly.

[kristiandupont]

I am sure there are nuances to your statement that get lost in the short text so I assume that you don't mean it quite as hyperbolic as it comes across but my immediate reaction to that sentence is: you can't protect your child from pain forever -- physical or emotional. How will they learn to handle it if they aren't exposed to it gradually?