When to call a doctor about your baby

Call the same day for a rectal temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher in a baby under three months, for fewer wet nappies with a dry mouth or no tears, or for a baby who is unusually hard to wake. Seek urgent help for laboured breathing, a rash that does not fade under pressure, or a baby who will not feed at all.

Which signs mean call today?

• Under 3 months: a rectal temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher — call the same day, even with no other symptoms.Source: AAP · Fever and Your Baby
• Fewer wet nappies than usual, a dry mouth, no tears when crying, or unusual sleepiness.Source: AAP · Signs of Dehydration in Infants & Children
• Yellowing of the skin or eyes that appears in the first 24 hours, is getting worse rather than better, or is still there after two weeks.Source: NHS · Jaundice in babies
• Yellow-green or green vomit, or vomit with blood in it or that looks like ground coffee.Source: NHS · Diarrhoea and vomiting
• A baby who is difficult to wake, will not wake up, or has gone floppy.Source: NHS · When to get urgent medical help
• Not back to birthweight by three weeks, or losing weight after the first week.Source: AAP · Your Baby's First Month

If your baby is struggling to breathe, will not wake, or has a rash that does not fade when you press a glass against it, do not wait for a call back — that is an emergency number, today, now.

Why the threshold is lower for a newborn

Under three months a fever is treated as urgent on its own, without any other symptom, because a very young baby's immune system gives fewer warnings and an infection can move quickly. Above three months the same temperature is read alongside how the baby looks and behaves rather than on its own.

Stage by stage guidance is on the guides page.

This is general information, not a substitute for your own doctor, midwife or health visitor — they know your baby, and this page does not.