Vomiting and fever - what to do?

[Grockle]

Erm, this will seem like a silly question but DS(5) is never ill and I don't really know what to do .

NHS direct website just said to take him to A&E

He woke up at 1 this morning with a fever of 39.6 and was sick several times then slept til 7 when he was sick again.

Been home all day, temperature around 39.3. He's not being sick anymore but is sleepy and hot but shivery. I assumed sleep and ice lollies would be the best thing (he's refusing Calpol) but should I be doing anything else?

[Grockle]

It's not an A&E thing, is it?

[CilantroLarry]

Fluids, little and often. Ice lollies are good. Keep stripped off, no thick duvets or anything but if he wants to snuggle (he will if he's feeling sleepy and shivery), a thin blanket or sheet to give the illusion of being covered. Assess his temp with your hand or lips, the back of the neck is the best place to get a true feel of how hot he is. You can also put a fan on in the room (though not directed at him) if he's still hot.

Just keeping his temp naturally down and stable and making sure he's hydrated are what you need to do.

Any worsening of symptoms, new symptoms like light aversion, rash, aches, lethargy, unresponsiveness, anything that just doesn't seem right to you at all then seek help.

But it sounds like his first gastro bug. Avoid dairy once he's eating again and administer lots of cuddles.

Hope he's better soon. Don't be alarmed by how tired it makes him. He'll probably need to sleep a lot and for a while after the vomiting has subsided. That's normal too.

[CilantroLarry]

Meant to say, you can check responsiveness when they're sleeping too. Just nudge or stroke and check they respond. You don't need to wake him up all the way. I was always worried by how sleepy dd was when she had a gastro bug but physically vomiting and having a temp is exhausting. Both are good things though. The vomiting gets rid of what's making him poorly and the temp is his body fighting to make him better.

[Grockle]

Phew, thank you!

He has moments when he seems perfectly normal, then goes all sleepy and dopey again. I was quite sure he was ok until NHS direct alarmed me. Will do all you said, thank you - I feel much more reassured now.

[CilantroLarry]

It's probably his age and presence of certain symptoms that leads to NHS direct telling you to go to A&E. If he has one symptom of meningitis (vomiting and temp both are actually) and he's a little child, they will automatically flash that up as advice. But vomiting and a temp is very rarely meningitis and nearly always a vomiting bug. It's just a computer programme. If you phoned them and spoke to a real person, I suspect they'd advise fluids and keep an eye.

Periods of seeming normal are par for the course with gastro bugs. They can be a bit up and down for a while.

[Grockle]

He did remind me earlier that he had a bump on his head on Tuesday (still has a bruise & lump) but I'm fairly sure that this is a bug and not delayed concussion. He wouldn't have a fever if he had concussion, would he?

Don't know why I'm being so PFBish about this!