My 4.5 year old came down with what seems like a virus. On Sunday afternoon she spiked a low grade fever (100.4), and crashed asleep at 6 PM. Monday-Tuesday was much of the same- fever held still, she felt warm, tired, and some nasal congestion and a mucusy cough set in. Went to the doc to check for any infections, all was clear.

Yesterday (Wednesday) she had more energy, and she seemed fever free all day (she started feeling cool Tuesday before bed). Today I decided to keep her home just to give her an extra day, even though our PreK-rule is 24 hours fever free. She was still asleep at 9 am (very unusual for her), so I woke her. She asked to go to her favorite play center, which I took as a good sign, but she seemed like she was still dragging a little, though she felt cool. She played for a couple hours, seemed to have decent energy. We got home after having lunch and running an errand and she crashed with a 101 fever. Slept for nearly 3 hours and woke up cool again.

Just out of curiosity, I took her temp and on 3 different thermometers it registered 100.3, even though she felt completely cool to touch (head, body, everywhere). Tried it again before she went to bed, same thing. I’ve never seen this before, so now I’m wondering if this is normal or a sign of something I should take her to the doc for? I also feel like a major jerk because I probably took her out with a fever, thinking she’s been fever free for over 36 hours because she was cool to touch.

Any ideas?