Come reassure me about DD's fever please?

[pavlovthecat]

DD (2.7) has had a stinking cough this week since probably sunday, getting gradually worse. Monday night she was sick after a coughing fit, presumed it was this caused the sickness. She seemed fine in herself before, and after vomiting.

She has had a cough this week, but been eating and drinking fine, tired (and telling us she is tired), and napping (and therefore not sleeping until later) each day, but her usual happy bouncy self. Yesterday, she got up in the evening about 9pm to say she felt sick, got to the loo, chucked up once, back to her happy normal self, but said he tummy was sore.

Today, she was not her normal self. DH said she ate all her breakfast of porridge, nothing else all day, refused everything, including water. Napped at 1pm ish woke up hot but DH did not take temp. Later said she was hungry but refused to eat. She has been sick 3 times this evening, including vomiting up her medicine for fever. She is complaining of sore tummy

Fever is 39.2, cannot get it down as she won't hold down food. She is miserable. Currently asleep but she would normally be asleep now.

She is asleep with nappy on, cover over her, but is really burning up.

She is ok isn't she? I should know its just a bug, but although she gets coughs and colds all the time, she is not physically sick very often at all.

[pavlovthecat]

Oh and she has also had horrendous burps for a week or so, seriously noisey burps after eating.

[pavlovthecat]

Bumping....

[pavlovthecat]

[pavlovthecat]

Thanks herbietea - I have sponged her down a little. We do have a fan, in the loft. I will get DH to go get it. She is refusing water, but has asked for milk, which is her comfort drink. But it is just coming straight back up so we have said just liquids, she is not interested, and even those were coming up earlier anyway.

She is sleeping fittfully, breathing fast, but I am not sure if faster than normal when she sleeps , funny the things you only notice when your LO is poorly.

I am keeping a look out for signs of dehydration...loose skin, no/little wee, what else?

[Lilyloo]

Pavlov my sympathy my dd 12 mths has this too.
Has been really chesty / coughing etc vomiting earlier this week seemed little better yesterday just sleeping more but raging temp today and very lethargic.
Managed to get her to have 1/2 ice pop earlier!

[BlueBumedFly]

Perhaps tonsillitis? That can bring high fever and sickness, something to do with the type of infection.

Have you tried any meds to bring the temp down? My DD gets sick when her temps spike and I do too, just something we do.

Any doubt then ring NHS direct as Herbie said.

To check for dehydration look under her botton lip - is it wet or dry? Also if she cries are there any tears?

[pavlovthecat]

oh your poor DS lilyloo! Least DD can tell us a little what is wrong now.

She wanted 'brown cake' (chocolate cake) earlier, before she was sick, and as she is poorly and not eaten anything since brekky, we thought why not. She took the tinsiest inciest nibble, like a hamsper, sip of watery juice, then chucked everywhere! In sainsbury's . Luckily the assistant who came to our aid was lovely, got her a flannel and some water, asked if I wanted a first aider to check her over as DD went very very hot quickly and extremely pale, while I waited for the vomiting feeling to pass and risk moving her outside . I apologised for the mess, said I should not have taken her out to shops. she was very 'oh don't be silly, kids go from being fine to not in minutes when they are poorly, do not worry luv'

[BlueBumedFly]

OK, just read that bit so its a bug.

OK, I was told the following by a paediatric doc when DD had gastroenteritis:

Give flat, fat, coke. I know, I would NEVER give coke to a child but apparently it helps settle the tum and replaces the lost electrolites in the system promoting recovery.

When vom has stopped 'water' down a yogurt with milk, helps to settle the tum again. Some would say NO dairy with bugs as they can keep the infection going but as a last resort I tried this and it worked for us.

With bugs hydration is paramount, I would phone the docs personally honey.

[pavlovthecat]

Herbie - oh I shall put some cordial in the water bottle and offer to her when she wakes up.

We gave her paracetamol, but it came almost straight back up, and we were worried about if we can give her any more. I was also worried about her being sick again so did not give her any ibuprofen, but I will do that in a minute.

How cute of you DS to speak in german when he is poorly!!!

[pavlovthecat]

Blue - thank you. No coke, but I am sure DH will be badgered into an errand if I think it is needed!

She is sleeping now, so I am going to see how she is in half hour, and give her ibuprofen and squash.

If that does not touch the fever or if she refuses squash, I will call gp out of hours for advice.

She has a little colour in her face right now (I am watching her, she is in our bed) and just talked in her sleep 'chocolate cake, mmm, I better now, I am better now' without opening her eyes or showing any signs of being awake!!!

[BlueBumedFly]

Bless her pavlov. We would not normally have coke in the house but now I keep one tin at the dusty back corner of the larder for such an occasion!

I would try the meds, tiny bit at a time as not to 'catch' the back of her throat. They are so sticky and sweet, I have done this before only to have DD cough and vomit all back up again - soul destroying for all!

Good luck, this too shall pass as they say., big hugs for your poorly little one and you.

[frumpygrumpy]

pavlov, herbie has already given great advice. It can be the temp that causes the vomit (as well as the bug). 39 is high so you must work hard at keeping it lower to avoid anything worse. do keep her stripped down, cover her with a sheet not a duvet. If she is awake and really hot, get her onto a cool floor (perfect if the bathroom has tiles or lino) and fill the basin with water just a bit cooler than lukewarm. Wipe her down with a cloth and don't dry it. This will cool her skin very quickly and once the temp is down a little she will have a better chance of keeping down some meds.

You can alternate Calpol and Nurofen (paracetamol and ibuprofen) so that she has something every two hours at the worse times to avoid her temp doing a rollercoaster between doses. So: she could have Calpol at 2pm, Nurofen at 4pm, Calpol at 6pm. You are still allowing 4 hours between the doses of each specific med. (This is normal practice not my rantings).

If you syringe in the Nurofen, aim for the side of the mouth.

Last week my DD1 had really horrid bug. She vomitted every hour or half hour from 4pm one day until 5.30am the next morning. I couldn't get any med to stay in and so I gave up. I got her through just by sponging and getting her to sip water. She would bring it all up again the next vomit but at least it kept going in to prevent dangerous dehydration. They dehydrate very quickly.

Keep working at it. And good luck for your night. I'll pop in again and see how its going xxxx.

[frumpygrumpy]

and tempting as it is......your bed will be very warm....

[Mumnnanny]

pavlovthecat:

She most likely has a fever. Where did you take her temp from as the temp under the arm is 0.5'C less than the rectal temp. This is the one the hospital would do on a young child. This means her temp could really be right close to 40'C.

This could be dangerous so I suggest you lie her on a clear matteress - no duvet. Sponge her down with cool tepid water - not cold as this can put them into shock.

Keep her nappy on if she is still in them. If not leave her in her underwear. Put the fan on but not directly onto her.

Feel her stomach and the back of her neck every 10 min and take her temp every 20-30 min.

Dont worry about her eating. I can tell you- not to give her any sugar as this can actually make sickness worse.

Sugar (in small doses)allows the breakdown of food in the stomach, helping the acid to work at its best. BUT! if she has not eaten anything she will just sick up the bile in her belly.

Comfort her but dont hug her too much as your body heat wont help.

The fast breathing is due to her body working overtime. Keep the lights dim, room average temp of 16-18'C and if not using the fan open a window to let the air in and the bugs out.

[Dalrymps]

Can you use paracetamol supositaries (sp?), not used them myself but heard people talking about them on here..

[Mumnnanny]

If you can get to a late night chemist buy calprofen. Combines paracetamol with ibuprofen. One dose as it says on the box fro her age, every 4 hrs. no need to get her to take two lots of medicine.

Let her sleep as much as she wants but check her every 15min. Breathing etc... If she doesnt look right to you then wake her up and call the doc out.

[Mumnnanny]

why do people have to make things personal on here. Your child had a serious problem obviously with being sick. this child is just poorly.

[pavlovthecat]

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions, sorry I did not post back but DD slept and I dozed off too.

I gave her ibuprofen and put on a light vest, nappy, no duvet. I gave her weak cordial in a bottle which she drank all of through the night, and a little more. Her temp has risen to 39.3. I was using an under the arm therm, and added one degree, so the 39.3 was the actual temp, rather than the one said by the therm, as advised by both gp and hosp when DD has croup about 18 months ago.

Her temp dropped but in the night rose to 39.3 again, so I gave her more ibruprofen, which brought her temp right down. and she went from being really pale to really red in the face.

She woke when her temp raised in the night (at the point not as high as 39.2 and could not give her more medicine yet) with a guess a bad dream/night terror. she has never had one before. she was hysterical, very clingy, and wanted daddy who was on the sofa sleeping (he was there in an instant). She would not let us put her down for about an hour, kept saying over and over again she was scared. She was really really fretful and only daddy to cling to stopped her screaming.

She then slept until 8.30am, and is running around being almost her normal self, apart from very pale and dark circles under eyes, but no more vomiting. I guess she broke the back of it. Not hungry, but that is ok.

Cheers all, you helped keep me sane.

[Dalrymps]

Glad to hear she's a little better today

[frumpygrumpy]

pavlov, these nights are hard! Hope she stays on the mend and that you get some rest time today too. Well done, great job.

Mumnnanny, FWIW, it didn't sound at all personal to me, merely just throwing everything into the pot from which everyone can pick out what they like best. Its hard to see in type what the tone is but really, i don't think it was meant in the way you interpreted it