He has been unwell a couple of days - very hot and saying his neck hurts which I presumed to be his throat. Just now he was sick all over me. Milky white chunky stuff like cottage cheese. Dont want to over react but am concerned. Would you go to GP?

Phone your GP and ask if you need to bring him in.

How old is he? Is he old enough to differentiate between throat and neck?

check for a rash that doesnt disappear when pressed.

receptionist at the GP said it was up to me.

he is 21 months so not old enough to get clear info out of. will check for rash.

Can he kiss his knee? (if he's old enough to understand)

yes, phone GP.

Take him to the GP. You are obviously concerned.

(The rash is one of the last things that appears in meningitis.)

Personally I'd either get him to the doctor or A&E.

According to NHSDirect, if your child has a fever, alongside, "a severe headache, severe pain in the eyes when they are exposed to the light, a stiff neck that is painful when they bend their head forwards, or confusion and sleepiness?" then you should call an ambulance, so if you call them that's probably what they'll do.

My friend's eight month old didn't get a rash when he had it. Not trying to panic OP but you need to get him checked out for your piece of mind.

there's a lot of it about. Tbh menangitis usually comes on quite quicky, ie within 12 hours or so. If he's been like this for a couple of days then it's likely a bug/virus.

Is his temperature coming down with calpol/ibuprofen? is he drinking plenty of fluids? If his temp is coming down then I would leave it another day or so before taking to gp. gp will probably just say it's a virus anyway.

am taking him to see nurse at gp at 10 to 5. Leaving the house now and I will post when we get back to let you know the outcome. I couldnt see a rash - the only other one of those symptons he has besides fever and vomiting is sleepiness and a little irritable. Keep a good thought for us will let you know!

there's been a bug going round our school and also which my nephew has had which involves headache/high temperature which lasts for about 5 days.

Good luck! Hope it goes okay.

has he drunk/eaten anything milky or white? i would take him over the neck thing though.

just got back. The nurse thinks he is ok because he is really perky. She thinks the vomiting could be because he has a lot of snot going down his sinus'. She looked at his throat with a little torch thingy and didnt see any white spots or anything. So I dont know. Must admit I am still a little worried as we have been let down before but I will just keep a close eye on him. Thanks for your good thoughts!

what time does the doctors close?? if he still has a temperature later go to the out of hours docs or a&e.

I'm glad that the nurse was able to reassure you a little. I hope he's better soon.

keep a close eye on him. You can alternate calpol and ibruprofen to keep his temperature down (according to instructions on the bottles), and keep up his fluids. If you can't control his temperature, or if he gets worse in any way, then you need to see a doctor.

yes I will keep a very close eye on him and take him to a&e if needs be. Have already been giving him calpol but will add on ibuprofen.

how is he?

Thanks for asking. He seems fine today - still very hot and still giving calpol and nuerofen but not being sick anymore.

have you tried those cooling pads that go on the forehead for bringing down his temperature?

My two little ones (ages 2.5yo and 14mo) are both poorly at the moment too - been extra sleepy, rather sad looking eyes, and temperature. Strangely, the main symptom is a fever (last year when they just seemed to have a temp it eventually led to chickenpox, so can't be that again!). My daughter (2.5yo) had it first...extra sleepy on Sunday, temp on Mon/Tue, then eventually temp went away tho she's still been a bit extra tired. Now my 14mo son is really miserable, vomitted a few times (mainly after a good milk feed from mummy - he's gone off foods just now - even his favourite ones!). He won't sleep anywhere except on me - so can't really get anything done! I think he woke about every 30 minutes last night. He had a temp of 102.4 F (39.1 C) last night, but he hates Calpol (or anything else like that) and would probably vomit even more if I gave it to him. I managed to sneak about 2ml of calpol in him this morning, but only barely missed making him sick. I just hope he gets better soon!!! He's soooo miserable.

But does seem like maybe it's the same/similar to what the OP son has. At first I was afraid my daughter was sick from licking some raw pork on Saturday (posted about that on MN that night) but since my son has it too, I'm not entirely sure - tho he might have touched it as well!

ooh rachel I hope your LOs get better soon!

nappyaddict I havent tried those cooling pads but I will if he still has a fever tomorrow. I am potty training him as well so he is nudey rudey all the time which I hope will help with the fever too. You are all so sweet to care about him!

the current guidelines is to not try to cool them with cool water/cool baths. The body will try to compensate by warming itself up. Instead put him in a warm bath. It will make the body react by trying to cool itself down.

yes it's meant to be tepid isn't it.

no its meant to be warm. tepid will make the body warm itself up. trying to find a link

slightly different but I have heard drinking a hot cup of tea will cool you down???

oh i always thought the definition of tepid was lukewarm ...

yes tepid and lukewarm is the same. both mean not hot not cold. when you touch it feels like nothing.

now i'm confused lol. i thought you said it was meant to be warm. is warm and lukewarm not the same?

lukewarm is coolish. you need proper warm bath water to make the body cool itself down.

no, lukewarm isn't cool - but it's only just warm.. like a baby's bottle warm.

Tonsilitus?

i suppose it depends on how warm your baby drinks their milk ds' has his probably at about 37 degrees which i would say is warm.

My DS drank his breastmilk from the breast - not sure what temp that is - formula at room temp and now he is on cows milk and that comes straight out of the fridge!! He has never been into warm stuff really!

I dont know about the tonsilitus thing - he seems better today much perkier than before. I will keep an eye!