First: Take a Breath
Fever is not a disease. It is your child's immune system working, and in most cases it means a virus — the same colds, throat infections, and stomach bugs children catch at home, picked up on the plane or at the hotel kids' club. The number on the thermometer matters far less than how your child looks and behaves. A child at 39.5°C who drinks, complains, and watches cartoons is generally in less trouble than a quiet, floppy child at 38.2°C.
So before anything else, look at your child, not the thermometer. Are they responsive? Drinking? Producing wet nappies or urine? If yes, you have time to treat the fever calmly, watch, and reassess. If any red flag from the box above is present, skip the rest of this guide and get medical help immediately.
How to Measure the Temperature Properly
A fever is a temperature of 38.0°C (100.4°F) or higher. Hotel rooms in Vietnam are strongly air-conditioned, so a forehead that "feels hot" after coming in from 35°C street heat is unreliable — use a thermometer. If you didn't pack one, every Vietnamese pharmacy ("Nhà Thuốc") sells cheap digital thermometers; armpit readings run about 0.5°C lower than true core temperature, so add that back mentally. Recheck every 3–4 hours rather than constantly; the trend matters more than any single reading.
Fever Medicine: Dose by Weight, Not Age
The single most common dosing mistake parents make abroad is guessing by age. Children of the same age vary enormously in weight, and every proper paediatric dose is calculated per kilogram. If you don't know your child's current weight, most hotels have a luggage or bathroom scale — weigh yourself holding the child, then alone, and subtract.
- Per official pediatric dosing guidelines: Paracetamol (acetaminophen): 15 mg per kg, every 4–6 hours, maximum 4 doses in 24 hours. Example: a 12 kg toddler gets 180 mg per dose; a 20 kg five-year-old gets 300 mg.
- Per official pediatric dosing guidelines: Ibuprofen: 10 mg per kg, every 6–8 hours, given with food or milk. Example: a 12 kg toddler gets 120 mg; a 20 kg child gets 200 mg. Avoid ibuprofen if your child is vomiting, dehydrated, or if dengue is possible (see below).
- Never give aspirin to a child for fever — it is linked to Reye's syndrome.
- Do not alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen on your own schedule. Alternating is occasionally advised by doctors for specific cases, but done freelance at 2 a.m. in a hotel room it is the classic route to double-dosing. Pick one, dose it correctly, and let a doctor decide if more is needed.
What to ask for at a Vietnamese pharmacy: the local children's paracetamol brands are Efferalgan (effervescent sachets in 80 mg, 150 mg, and 250 mg strengths, plus suppositories — invaluable for a vomiting child), Hapacol kids (orange-flavoured sachets, widely stocked), and Doliprane (the French brand, common in tourist areas). Show the pharmacist your child's weight written down — "15 kg" — and the word "paracetamol"; they will match the sachet strength. Children's ibuprofen syrup is sold as Brufen or generic "ibuprofen siro." Check the concentration printed on the box every time; sachet strengths here may differ from the bottle you use at home.
Remember that fever medicine treats discomfort, not danger. It is fine — even sensible — not to medicate a mild fever in a comfortable child. Treat the child, not the number.
The Vietnam-Specific Part: Dengue and Hand, Foot & Mouth
Dengue fever circulates in Da Nang and Hoi An, particularly during the rainy season (roughly September to December), and children are not spared. It starts like any viral fever: high temperature, headache, aches, sometimes a flushed face. There is no way for a parent to rule dengue in or out at the bedside — which leads to one simple, important rule:
If dengue is possible — any unexplained fever in Vietnam — give paracetamol ONLY. Ibuprofen and aspirin interfere with platelets and increase bleeding risk in dengue. This is why paracetamol is the default first choice for fever here. Dengue warning signs that need immediate care: persistent vomiting, severe tummy pain, bleeding from gums or nose, cold clammy skin, or lethargy — especially if these appear as the fever drops around day 3–5. A doctor can order a rapid dengue test (NS1 antigen) that gives an answer from a finger-prick blood sample, and this can be done during a home visit.
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is very common among small children in Vietnam year-round. Look for mouth ulcers (which make children refuse food and drink) plus small blister-like spots on the palms, soles, and sometimes the nappy area. Most cases are mild and pass in about a week; the real job is pain relief and keeping fluids going — cold drinks, ice lollies, yoghurt. See a doctor if your child stops drinking, seems drowsy, or the fever is high and persistent.
Home Care That Actually Helps
- Fluids are the priority. Small, frequent sips beat big glasses. Oral rehydration salts — sold in every pharmacy as Oresol — are ideal for a feverish or vomiting child. Breastfed babies should feed more often.
- Dress them lightly and set the air conditioning to a comfortable 24–26°C. Do not bundle a feverish child in blankets, and equally do not aim the AC at them at 18°C.
- Skip cold baths, ice packs, and alcohol rubs. They cause shivering, which raises core temperature, and alcohol rubs are dangerous for children. A lukewarm sponge is acceptable for comfort only.
- Let them rest, but don't force sleep or food. Appetite loss during fever is normal for a day or two; fluid intake is what counts.
- Keep a simple log on your phone: time, temperature, dose given. At 3 a.m. on holiday, nobody remembers when the last sachet was. The log also helps the doctor — and your insurance claim.
About Febrile Seizures
Around 1 in 30 children between 6 months and 5 years will have a seizure with fever at some point. It is terrifying to watch and usually harmless — but on holiday, every first seizure needs medical assessment the same day to rule out serious causes. If it happens: lay your child on their side on a safe surface, do not put anything in their mouth, time the seizure, and call 115 (or have reception call) if it lasts more than 5 minutes or your child does not wake normally afterwards.
Getting a Paediatric Doctor in Da Nang or Hoi An
The traditional option is the hospital paediatric department — in Da Nang, the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children on Le Van Hien is the major public centre. It is competent, but expect long queues of sick local children, limited English, and upfront payment. For a genuinely unwell child that is where you should be; for the common middle ground — a feverish, miserable, but stable child — there is a better option.
A paediatric home visit means a licensed doctor comes to you and examines your child on the hotel bed: ears, throat, chest, hydration, rash check, and a dengue rapid test if indicated. Your child stays calm in a familiar room, in pyjamas, with their own toys — and, just as importantly, is not sitting for two hours in a waiting room full of other sick children, catching the next bug before you have finished with this one. The doctor brings appropriately dosed children's medication, oral rehydration supplies, and leaves you with a written plan for the next 48 hours.
In Da Nang, we cover all districts — the beachfront hotels along My Khe and Non Nuoc in Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son, the city-centre apartments of Hai Chau, and family resorts near the airport. In Hoi An, we reach the Old Town hotels, the An Bang and Cua Dai beach villas, and the Cam An and Cam Chau homestay areas — a doctor from our team can typically reach any Hoi An address within the same response window as Da Nang. Our hotel doctor service runs every day, and every visiting doctor is a fluent English-speaking doctor, so nothing about your child's history gets lost in translation. If your child needs hospital care, we say so plainly, and we help arrange it.
After the visit you receive an English medical report and an itemized receipt formatted for travel insurance claims — most family policies (Allianz, AXA, Cigna, World Nomads, SafetyWing and others) cover a child's acute illness abroad, and clean paperwork is what makes the claim painless.
When You Can Safely Wait Until Morning
You can generally watch and wait at the hotel if your child is over 3 months old, the fever came down with a correct weight-based dose, they are drinking and producing wet nappies or urine, they have no rash, no breathing trouble, no stiff neck, and they perk up at least somewhat between fever spikes. Recheck overnight, keep fluids going, and reassess in daylight. If your gut says something is wrong even though the checklist looks fine — trust it and call a doctor. Parents' instincts about their own child are genuinely good data, and no reasonable doctor in Da Nang or Hoi An will mind being asked about a feverish child at any hour.
For more guides like this one — food poisoning, dengue, travel pharmacy basics — see our full library of health guides.