Normal body temp for PP mom w/i 48 hrs after delivery

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Is it normal for a PP mother to run a lowgrade temp in the 48 hrs after delivery? If so, at what point would the OB want to medicate? I'm just curious b/c I'm so used to medicating medical patients on the floor w/ Tylenol for anything above 101.0. Do the OB's usually have a standing Tylenol order so they wouldn't have to be called in the middle of the night? :redpinkhe

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Specializes in MCH,NICU,NNsy,Educ,Village Nursing.

A slight elevation may be related to dehydration & can be corrected w/rehydration. However, I would be concerned if the temp is 100 or more, and would watch it carefully, rehydrate & call the doc even if it is at 2 in the morning if it continues an upward trend or doesn't decrease w/hydration.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Some moms will run a low grade temp. when their milk comes in.

To be honest, it may be hard to assess, since many moms are receiving Motrin for cramping and/or Tylenol (with or without codeine) for episiotomy pain.

Is your patient showing any evidence of infection such as a UTI, foul-smelling discharge, etc? Perhaps a CBC would shed some light on this.

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thanks for the reply. It's not regarding a current patient. I had this experience in the past when I floated to a PP unit from med/surg and was concerned about lowgrade temp for the mother but it turned out not to be a big deal. I was just wondering if that was common or if my concern was warranted.

thank you again!

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Specializes in Rural Health.

I had a PP mom, about 4-5 days out that came into ER one night "just didn't feel right". She ran a pretty low grade fever (about 100.9) but had also been dosing herself round the clock with Motrin and Tylenol. After some further discussion she had some other pretty vague s/s that could've been attributed to either the pregnancy and/or delivery or a massive infection. I don't remember the details but the CBC showed a major infection and she was sent up the M/S floor for a few days to be further evaluated by her OB/GYN and rounds upon rounds of ATB.

The inital triage nurse dismissed this woman as "being crazy after having a baby and there was nothin' wrong with her". However, I had a way bad feeling about her the first time I looked at her.

Sometimes it's better to trust your instincts :coollook:

And she was difficult to assess w/o labs because we really didn't have a clue what was causing her to "not feel right".

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