Baby2010,
For me, when baby have fever above 37.5, I would give fever medication that the baby had taken before. As for cool pad, depends if he/she let me put it on. Then I bring baby to see my GP 1st. I want to rule out any form of inflammation (throat, ear ). You may choose to bring to PD, if you wish. As baby grow, the doctor would adjust the amount of the fever medication too.
Personally, I don't want to risk with fever above 37.5 and still raising. I know with sufficient amount of medication, can bring down fever. But fever is a symptom to say "something is wrong, so body is working harder to try to solve it", it is not an illness itself. Thus I prefer to bring to doctor for medical advise to try find out the cause of fever especially baby can't speak for themselves (not necessary PD thou, if you know an experience GP, that's fine too). My GP has 4 daughters herself while the other one is a grandma [IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/happy.gif]