Anyone awake - anxious about my son

It sounds the flu everyone has in Yorkshire at the moment. If he’s eating / drinking a little I wouldn’t get him seen. Red flags are lack of fluids, rashes, struggling to breathe, high pulse etc.

If he’s coping at home see how he goes, this virus does last a few days OP! For the coughing at night when it’s worse prop him up on some pillows

It's possibly Covid.

There's not a lot A&E can do other than make sure he's hydrated which you can do at home, and keep taking paracetamol.

There is no cure for coughs or colds. Unless he's already got asthma, in which case you'd know what to do.

Hot drinks with lemon and a squeeze of honey can help coughs.

Please do not take him to a&e, this is not an emergency.

You say it's his forehead temperature, have you taken his temperature in his mouth? It's possible for those to be different.

If he's eating, drinking and responsive I'd give it until Monday and put in a GP appointment

Lots of ice lollies, no apples or crisps as they will irritate his throat and potentially make him cough more.

Keep on top of the paracetamol, prop him up and encourage him to drink enough fluids.

At the moment I wouldn’t worry too much, both try to rest.

And if your DP isn’t working today, try to go for a nap. If you suffer from anxiety, you must’ve had a v difficult night and your DS’s cough may be bad again tonight.

Important to look after your immune system via sleep, liquids and vitamins to avoid catching it yourself.

Hi Op am glad you got some sleep in the end.
all this advice above is also what I would do to.
calpol and nurofen were what I was told to use for DC by doctor in this situation - every 4 hours - so if Calpol is 9am 1pm 5pm and 9pm - Nurofen 11am 3pm 7pm etC obvs using correct dose for your DC weight and age and monitor temperature with a thermometer.
keeping them upright, hot drinks lots of honey - if they don’t like lemon I used to squeeze half an orange with honey or even dilute squash with hot water to keep liquids in. If you can find a safe way for him to inhale steam where you’ve added some Vicks that’s also useful.
have a lovely cuddle today and watch movies and hopefully he will eat bits to keep his energy up.
message 111 for anything you’re more unsure of. Hope he gets well soon x

Glad to hear he’s feeling reasonably OK. How was your night? Did either of you get much sleep?

I’d advise against apple if he’s coughing a lot, as it’s quite hard and could get stuck in his throat if he suddenly coughs when eating. You could grate it into porridge instead.

When mine were ill, I’d move them to the sofa with a duvet in the day and to give them a change of scene. Keep him sitting up or propped up with pillows.

It sounds like he might have flu or a similar virus. My DC had it recently, and it started with a fever, cough and occasional vomiting. Just keep his temperature down and keep him hydrated. I wouldn’t be seeking medical input unless he deteriorated.

If he’s feeling better today, it might well not be flu anyway. My DC was ill for around 5 days and barely ate at all. Why not get some tests in - Covid and Flu? I found it reassuring to know what it was.

I hope he feels better soon. Benylin do a good cough mixture for children for chesty coughs, if needed.

I am pregnant and mine was higher than this with a shocking cough a couple of weeks ago. 111 said it was only too high because I was on day 5 and having other symptoms of a chest infection. Not sure if that helps.

Yes, but not a usually a cause for concern unless it lasts more than a few days.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/fever-in-children/

Above 37.5 is a high temperature. But how high the temperature is doesn’t indicate how unwell a child is. A child with a temperature of 39.5 isn’t automatically more unwell than a child with a temperature of 38.5.
A temperature is the body’s natural defence against illness, so it’s not something to be afraid of. A fever however can make you feel really lousy which is why we treat with paracetamol/ibuprofen. Have you called 111 yet? They’re likely to tell you to get him seen this morning. Sometimes they’re able to make you an appointment at an out of hours/walk in so that you don’t have a really long wait.

@Anxiousmother23 not really high. But the number doesn’t matter, it’s whether it is responding to medicine and what the other symptoms are. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid at that temp and I do suffer from health anxiety in other ways so I do get how you’re feeling. Kindly, this is your anxiety at play and all the people advising you to call 111 aren’t helping that anxiety.

It's higher than a normal temperature but not concerningly high unless he's struggling to breathe, eat or drink.

I'm surprised by the advice for cold air instead of steam, but that's because I'm asthmatic and breathing really cold air makes your asthma really bad. Obviously croup is different .

I wouldn’t be going to out of hours for a cough and mild fever, monitor him today, any signs of a chest infection get him checked out but for a cough and mild temp its fine to treat at home.

My three DC are all older now. But I wouldn’t take them to GP for these symptoms unless they’d had them a few days.

My yardstick for going to GP is would I pay for a doctor for this? A GP visit isn’t ’free’: it costs us all and prevents others who might be really ill getting an appointment. Also, if he’s coughing a lot it risks him infecting the GP and entire waiting room, including v vulnerable people. Plus, it’ll be unpleasant for him being taken out in the cold when he’s feeling grotty and tired.

As others have said, keep him elevated to help with the cough. Two of my DS’s would get terrible coughs in the winter. I used to put two pillows to make a v-shape and then one on top. Rub his chest with Vicks. Few drops oh Olbas Oil on a tissue inside pillow case. Make sure he drinks plenty of water. Warm water with a squeeze of lemon and teaspoon of honey. Put in a drink bottle or sippy cup to make it easier to drink when coughing.

Reassure yourself by remembering the temperature and cough are his immune system working. I wouldn’t be worried at 6, if he has no underlying health conditions or disabilities, as they can let you know how they’re feeling and more robust than a baby/toddler.

However, if it’s making you ill due to your anxiety, try NHS online for reassurance.

I get the anxiety I definitely do!
However… if the calpol or nurofen take away the temp then that’s good. Coughs are renowned for being hard to stop especially at night! I got my son the benylin night time cough stuff to help with drowsiness now he is 6 to use next time we might need it!
You only need 111 if the temp won’t go down or he’s breathless etc.
To help the cough I sometimes wedge my son up on me so he’s sitting up and can sleep.
Hope he improves today!

Unless he was struggling to breathe I’d see how he is today and call 111 if any worse.
Our 6 year old is rarely ever ill but over the Xmas hols was really poorly, one night she had a 40 degree temp and was coughing loads, temp came down a bit with calpol and we checked on her multiple times in the night as we were a bit worried, but by the next morning the fever was better. She went off her food, it took a week to go, but she fought it off without needing to see a dr. We think she might have had flu, I had it too and had a horrible fever.

My 2 get respiratory viruses really easily - like your 7YO my 3YO seems to have had the same cough for years. A normal cold leaves them with hours of overnight coughing for 5/6 weeks and they’ve both had RSV and bronchiolitis requiring hospital treatment.

That said, or maybe because we’re so used to it now, I personally wouldn’t phone 111 for a cough and a temperature, without any other symptoms.

I’m with you OP, it’s horrid. My 1 year old is the same and I feel so helpless. We’ve ‘slept’ on a mattress together in the living room for the past week. I’ve had her at the doctors but all her stats are good. They’ve given me an inhaler to help with the inflammation. Poor baba can’t get any sleep. Just have to ride it out I think.

I wouldn’t be dashing to out of hours this weekend unless he got significantly worse. It sounds like the start of a viral bug, they can lead to bacterial infections so keep an eye, but I’d give him a day of rest today and see how he is.

When you wake up, OP, ice lollies are great for dc like this.
They release a little water at a time, and feel great on sore throats. The sucking is soothing as well really helps with coughs, sore throats and fevers.

We keep ice poles/pops in especially.