Baby's temp is 40! Help!!

[Firsttimemummy19]

He had his 8 week immunisations today and has been very grouchy since. I've given him 3 doses of calpol as directed, the last dose was at 8pm. I've just checked his temperature and it's 40.5!!!

I'm panicking so much. This is really high isn't it? What do I do??

Please call 111, NHS direct, they’ll quickly give you the most appropriate advice.

Do you have a reliable thermometer?
I know with DS1 we used a cheap one from Argos and got all sorts of readings and couldn't be sure of anything so went out and brought a Braun inear one that doctors use. So much better.

If you genuinely think that temp is legit, ring 111.
Even after an immunisation, where you expect them to get a raised temp, 40.5 seems very high.

Call 111! Straight away.

Firsty... don't panic, it won't solve anything but I understand your worries.

40 is a little high yes, what type of thermometer is it? Some are notoriously inaccurate.

Just dress him down into his nappy, no cold flannels or baths and don't open windows etc.

Call 111 you need to speak to a medical professional really who will ask you triage questions.

Is he alert? Responding? Does he have wet nappies? He eating and drinking?

Also, strip down to vest or nappy while you are waiting to speak to someone.

And don't hold him

Normally I would say 'Neurofen for Children' but it is for babies of 3 - 6 months (and babies who weigh at least 5kg's. So it seems as if he is too young. Call NHS 111 for some urgent advice. In future, you can give Neurofen for Children every 6 hours and dose the Calpol according to its instructions on the Calpol box.

Definitely call 111, they are amazing and will help a lot. Good luck, it is very worrying when they have a fever! Hope all will be ok xxx

Don’t panic!

The Men B vaccine is notorious for increasing temp, it’ll settle down soon.

Is baby feeding?

Yea to ringing 111

We've tried a different thermometer and it's 38.4. I'm less panicky but still worried but I guess that's a temp to be expected after the jabs? The nurse said it cud be high for up to 2 days.

Sorry - baby is feeding and has plenty of wet & dirty nappies still. He's still very alert

Please don’t mess about with babies. If calpol hasn’t brought the temperature down then you need to phone 111.

38.4 is what ours often got up to after vaccines, I would take a reading now with both thermometers so you know how far our the original potentially is, but more importantly for a reference point for ringing 111.

It sounds like it was just a crap thermometer reading and the usual temp after the immunisation, but that's for 111 to decide, not a bunch of well meaning peeps online

And I would never ever use a cheap thermometer, or under arm one ever again.
Definitely invest it a good one, saves so much worry beable to reliably get an accurate reading, and when they're on offer they don't have to cost a fortune.

Do his temp again with both thermometers - compared to your own temp. Are they in ear ones?

Take some clothing off if you can.....

Hope evetythings ok this morning.

His temp dropped to 37.5 by midnight and stayed the same through the night and he's back to his smiley self this morning thank god! Not looking forward to his next jabs :(

Glad to hear all is well. This happened to ds2 after his 8 week jabs although temp was only 38.5, still alert and feeding but he had meningitis

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that something so crucial as a thermometer is allowed to be up for sale when they just don't function properly! We went through three before I splashed out on an expensive one that actually works. It's so dangerous! If cheap ones can't be made to work properly then they shouldn't be for sale.

So glad to read all is well. Please don’t let it put you off the next dose, it’s absolutely vital.
Have a good day.

The thermometer that gave false readings was expensive! It cost me £50! It's useless though and me and DH tries it several times, each time giving different readings :(