Tylenol or Motrin?

Motrin, because it works faster. And I agree, only use it "sparingly" to alleive the child of the pain/symptoms, otherwise fever is body's normal way of fighting germs.

My Peds recommends alternating Tylenol and Motrin. But I also want to add that my 8 year old Daughter has a mukticystic kidney and only O. normal kidney. Her Nephrologist warned me NEVER to use motrin because it is horrible on the kidneys and he mentioned that he is a grown man with two normal kidneys and he would never take any Motrin type med. Hmmmmm Although too much Tylenol is not good for the Liver so who knows. Knowing this info has made me think twice before giving any meds to my children. So now I never give Motrin to my O. kidney daughter but I admit that I do give Motrin to my other two children SPARINGLY and IF their fever is above 102, and especially if it does not respond to tylenol. Motrin does seem to work better. As a Mom it is always so hard to feel as if you are doing the right thing. Good Luck!

I've had numerous nurses and doctors tell me to alternate them to keep a fever down. I personally prefer ibuprofen because (for me) it keeps the pain at bay better and longer, and I feel like if my child has a sore throat, aching head or something like that, then it helps better than acetaminophen. My oldest and I went through 2 bouts of strep in December, and ibuprofen definitely was much better!

I do Tylenol if the fever is below 101, Motrin if higher. Motrin works better on high fevers and lasts longer.

I too have done the alternating, but ONLY when the fever is coming back after 4 hours. The alternating should not be done if the medicine is holding the fever down. My O. exception to that is if the current dose will wear off in the middle of the night.

M.

My pedi recommends alternating Tylenol and Motrin. Be careful though with the timing. Motrin should only be given every 6-8 hours and should be given with food. Both meds metabilize differently by the body and affect people differently. Sometimes O. works better over the other depending on the illness so alternating helps.

Tylenol (acetaminophen) is okay as a fever reducer and for mild headache pain. But in my opinion, Motrin (ibuprofen) works much faster, lasts longer, and does a much better job at reducing pain. Tylenol is easier on the stomach though so that may be a factor in your choice making.

I use Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen together. O. does not cancel the other out but you must give the proper dosage of each at the recommended intervals. I don't know why Ibuprofen seems to work better but I do know that the two drugs given at the same time does bring a high fever down rather quickly than if only O. drug is given. Yes, you are absolutely correct, a fever is a normal and healthy response for the body to fight an infection. So many people are paranoid of fevers but as long as the child is hydrated and made to fee comfortable, a child can tolerate a higher fever than an adult. With that said, it is not always necessary to dash off to the ped, or for some the E.R. for a high fever. For me, other life threatening symptoms would have to be present for me to justify a visit to the doctor or the E.R. Are his ears bothering him? That would be an indicator that an ear infection is present. Is his throat hurting him? While strep throat is highly contagious, it is always very painful, is he complaining of his throat hurting so badly that he cannot swallow? Can he eat and drink, does he have an appetite? Does he have energy or is he lethargic? Vomiting? Diarrhea? Sometimes just a call to the pediatrician is all you need to do to determine if the doctor needs to see him at all. My goal is not to convince you to NOT take your child to the doctor. That is a personal call that only the parent of the sick child can make but if it's JUST a fever, you can always manage the fever at home for a few days and more than likely whatever viral illness he has will pass in a few days and you will have saved yourself a trip to the doctor and saved yourself an unnecessary expense.

My triage nurse told me, in reference to my son, that for a fever around 100-101.5, it's probably viral, and it would be fine to simply let the fever do it's job and make your child's body inhospitable for the virus. For virus fevers, rest and fluids, and waiting a few days to let the symptoms dissipate is about all you can do....treat the symptoms.

For higher fevers, 102+, it is usually caused by a bacterial infection, seek medical care for possible infection (ear, nose, throat, chest).

In any case, if you feel uncomfortable, trust your intuition, and also your child's symptoms. If they have a 101 fever and are having obvious unusual pain, difficulty breathing, sleeping, keeping fluids down, or in.....goodness, contact your pediatrician.

Take care!

I prefer Ibueprofen - BUT....you have to give it to them w/food because it is not good for your stomach. That is why most Dr.'s suggest tylenol. To me, ibueprofen works better, lasts longer, and relieves the aches better than tylenol. I really only use tylenol when the kids are super sick and I have to rotate in between tylenol and advil because it is so bad......

Motrin lasts longer and works better. You can use it in conjunction with tylenol for a better, longer lasting effect. It's an anti-inflammatory and just works differently and in my experience it works better, longer than tylenol. When they are really miserable and achy the motrin will really help them feel better. It is a 6 - 8 hour dose, really seems to help so much better. Even for myself, I prefer motrin/ibuprofen to tylenol. If any of my kids are really miserable, I give Motrin and Tylenol at the same time. Just read the dosage instructions, motrin is every 6 to 8 hours before you can repeat the dose.

Just a motrin vs tylenol perspective - When my oldest son was 2 1/2 he started waking up every night crying and saying his legs hurt. It was not just a little crying, he was clearly in pain. It was diagnosed as growing pains, we would give him Tylenol and he would wake up at least once or twice at night with more pain. We started giving him a single dose of motrin at bed time and he never again woke with pain. His growing pain lasted almost 2 years, it was horrible and I would have bought stock in motrin that is how much it helped him.

I personally do not treat fevers unless they are above 103 and/or my child is so uncomfortable that they can't rest (and it's nighttime).

That being said, when I do need to treat it, recently, I've been choosing Motrin.
My son's allergist gave us an sheet stating that Tylenol contains a strong prooxident that increases the risk of asthma significantly. Once he started suggesting Motrin in his practice vs. Tylenol, he said that they saw a MARKED reduction in asthma symptoms in his patients. An article about it can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/13/acetaminophen.may.do... & I'm sure you can find other info online.
This article, though starting from a totally different stance, has a lot of good info too: http://guggiedaly.blogspot.com/2011/01/dont-fear-fever-fe...

Hope that helps!

I do the same as the other posts....Ended up taking my daughter to the pediatrician last week because even with motrin her fever got up to 104.5...Scary...Turned out it was Strep throat!!! Glad you are taking your son to the doc...

Motrin/Ibuprofen brings fever down faster and for longer. Tylenol/Acetominophen is less likely to cause stomach upset.

Whenever my daughter is really sick with a high fever her doctor has me alternate doses Motrin and Tylenol every 3-4 hours (first give a dose of Motrin and 3-4 hours later give a dose of Tylenol and then back to Motrin, etc.). Check with your child's doctor to see if they recommend doing that or something else.

Depends on all of the symptoms. My oldest had strep a few weeks ago and he had a headache with it so I gave him Tylenol seems to help more with the headache plus he wasn't eating to much the first few days of it and Tylenol is easier on the stomach. When he had Lyme during the summer he had a lot of aches along with a fever and motrin helps more with achiness so he took motrin that time.

I use both.

For highgrade fevers (103+) I give both at the same time. Ditto for "stubborn' midgrade fevers. For normal midgrade, I'll use either (honestly, it's whatever happens to be handy). Lowgrade I leave alone unless kiddo's unhappy.

I alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 4-6 hours (per the ped). This way it hopefully takes care of the fever. At his age, it could be teething. If so, use Hyland's Teething Tablets (or I heard chewing on cinnamon sticks works well too) if you don't want to use OTC medications.

For just fever in my kids, I use acetominaphen (tylenol). If there is anything with swelling (like an ear infection or soreness in muscles from exercise or pulled from something -- they both do karate) then I give them motrin/advil. It does not just reduce fever, but reduces inflammation also. So unless there is inflammation involved, then no need for it and tylenol is fine.

Motrin helps with reducing inflammation - in which is the main cause behind most pains. Tylonel simply aids in minor pain relief and fever reduction.

I usually wait until 102 also, before giving motrin... but if really bad, I stagger the Motrin and Tylenol so the relief lasts longer.

Motrin reduces the fever and it lasts longer. tylenol may last 4-6 hours whereas motrin lasts a good eight hours. with a higher fever it is better. I hope your son it ok.

For me: I do not use anything, and let the fever burn out.
I monitor my kids/their temperature every hour or less taking their temp. and watch their behavior. All day and all night.
IF it does get too high, then sure, I give Tylenol.
But I usually let the fever run its course.
Or I give the a room temp bath and use cool towels on their forehead etc.

Even if giving Tylenol/Motrin, a fever WILL return, if the child is still ill.

If my kids fevers are over 102, I give them Tylenol or Motrin.
If lower than that, I let the fever run its course.
But I always monitor my kids and take their temp very frequently.

Tylenol is usually used for low fever or minor aches and pains. At 101 fever I don't usually give anything, unless the little O. is uncomfortable or in pain. I use Motrin when the fever is high (103 or more) or when there is an ear infection. For ear infection for example, Tylenol doesn't help with the pain. I tried and it was of no use. Motrin did help and the little O. could finally sleep. So, it depends on the situation. I hope your son gets well soon.

well Motrin is an anti inflammatory so it treats fever and inflamed tissues. antihistamine is for pain and fever. so if your child has an ear infection Motrin brings down the redness and swelling of the ear.