How many times have you taken your DC to A&E?

[SurlejTiger]

DH think it's ridiculous the number of times we've been. I think it's pretty normal, we have active outdoorsy DC and have often thought we've been quite luck so far.
5 times with DS, now 12 and 3 times with DD (10).

DD something like 5 or 6 times - mostly under the age of 2. She was a really active, accident prone toddler and pretty gung ho and fell over a lot. Several times we were sent to A&E by 111 or GP. I think it really depends on the child - from looking at the below you’d think we were terribly neglectful but we actually hovered a lot just because she was such a liability as a toddler!

fell in a pond and 111 insisted we take her to have her oxygen levels checked over

tripped over and put teeth all the way through her lip - checked over at A&E to see if needed stitches/maxillofacial

fell over in a playground on holiday and bashed forehead badly, the local minor injuries sent us up to A&E to have it x-rayed

v high temp not coming down at 18 months/floppy and pale - 111 sent ambulance in case of meningitis. Turned out to be severe tonsillitis thank goodness

Again sent up to A&E by GP with a non-blanching rash - turned out to be probably post-viral / they couldn’t work out why

fell running on a tiled floor and bashed back of head badly, 111 sent us to be checked for concussion.

No minor injuries in our area and now there is a good OOH service but it was in transition to a new provider when DD was under two so 111 were often keener on referring a toddler directly to A&E rather than OOH.

Eldest - twice, with bilateral ear infections he was screaming in pain.

Second - twice, in babyhood. Now an adult.

Third - about five times? Had blood condition and pericarditis, bit the end off a mercury thermometer

Youngest - about 7 or 8 times. Chronic illness.

Been 3 times with my 2 year old, each time on the advice of 111 (which can often be overkill, but appreciate they don't want to take a risk with little ones)

2 dds who are now adults and luckily never needed A&E

Once with DD1 (3.5). We called 111 and they sent an ambulance.

Twice with DD2 (5 months) but it was the same illness. We called 111 and they said to go to A&E. They did some tests and sent us home but called a couple of days later when the test results came back and told me to bring her straight back to A&E.

Dd1 4 or 5 times.
DD2 8 maybe? Or 10?

both with broken limbs and then with their rate condition. Oh and suspected meningitis with the youngest at least four time (admitted and IV's every time)

Never with either of mine (13 and 4). But I have taken each to a minor injuries/out of hours once.

Loads. DD is now 19 and we went twice in 24 hours once

DS11 and DS12 have both been several times - one suffered from reflux seizures as a baby, elder one has adhd so was a reckless toddler and they both have played club rugby since age 6 so been there for dislocations and concussions! Only once have I felt a fraud. Probably about 12-15 times between them.

depends on the child.

I have 3 teens.

1 - never (well never as a patient)
2 - about 3 times
3 - once or twice a year

I couldn’t even tell you.

DD1 twice in 3 days, once by ambulance when she starting having seizures earlier this year. She also had a previous overnight in A&E for suspected appendicitis (it wasn’t), and 2 trips to minor injuries with broken finger and for a cut on her hip to be glued back together.

DD2 trip by ambulance for pneumonia at 13 months, plus assorted late night visits prior to asthma diagnosis

DS one trip to minor injuries for cleaning up infected grazes after falling off his bike

I know there are more

Dd1 never (and she's an adult now)

Dd2 5 times (uti, bump on head, stomach pains x2 sent by gp to check appendix, 1x took a ball to the eye and was fuzzy vision) also now an adult

Ds (mid teens) Around 10 times with non fading rash (he gets them with any virus and when he was younger the gp sent him every time to get bloods done)
1x sickness bug with dehydration. Gp wanted to blue light him he was that bad in the surgery
2x with broken wrists
1x with potential broken finger
2x (same thing but not healing a week later so sent back) with potential broken ankle
1x with appendicitis
I think that's all.

3 or 4 times and he's only just turned 4. He's very adventurous though so accidents are par for the course unfortunately. Only 1 of those times has it been something serious - broken arm. The other times is was easy to fix or turned out to be nothing.

3 times with DS (13) once when he was 2 and couldn’t breathe/had turned blue. I took him to the GP who called an ambulance. Twice with rugby injuries (concussion & broken finger).

DD (10) never.

Oh, and DS saw paediatrician in Spain for Bronchitis as did DD2 about 6 years later, and that was after DD2 had been seen in emergency room with 40 degree temp that wouldn’t go down.

DS in Spain for burn on his leg from steam function on a shower

Dd 9 - 4 times. Once because we found a red jelly like substance in her nappy (it turned out to be undigested watermelon. Awkward), 2nd time for a toddler fracture after she fell over trying to run in new shoes, 3rd time for a petichae rash/vomiting/temp, which luckily turns out to be just a virus, once because she had a febrile seizure after her MMR.

Dd4 also 4 times. Well technically 5 because the last time I had to take her to 2 different a&e's before anyone would take us seriously 😡 3 times with nursemaids elbow (we were out in 10 minutes each time. The hospital just pop the elbow back in and send us on our way), the last 2 times (had to go to two different a&E's after having no luck with the GP or OOO) because she had had a high temp for a couple of days and was quite herself. After refusing to be fobbed off with 'its just a virus' and insisting on blood tests she was treated for sepsis then later diagnosed with Kawasaki's (the sepsis was a misdiagnosis).

I have the same bullshit from my partner about going to A&E 'too much'. But honestly, looking at the list above I honestly can't identify a single occasion where this was the wrong decision?

We do use the OOO a lot because the kids have a habit of getting ill/worse in the middle of he night or weekend. I accept that there may have been occasions where we could have waited until the GP was open but it's very difficult to judge in the middle of the night with a screaming child who may be screaming with ear pain or wheezing 🤔 Maybe I'm a little too trigger happy then?

Oh, actually, the jelly nappy was obviously stupid.

DC1 (11) 5 times
bronchiolitis when a few months old and wouldn’t feed
dehydrated from vomiting bug aged 1 (probably could have managed that at home)
fell over and put her teeth through her lip aged 3
burnt her finger on a lamp (definitely didn’t need A&E but DH insisted)
hurt her ankle and couldn’t walk aged 10, there was nothing wrong with it apparently

DC2 (7) 3 times
GP referral at about 6 weeks old with blood in her poo, diagnosed with CMPA
chest infection requiring oxygen and nebulisers the day before her third birthday, admitted overnight, she still talks about how great it was having her birthday in hospital
broke her arm a few weeks ago

DC 1 now adult, only once with a head injury. Numerous times to minor injuries unit when it was open. That place was great and she was very accident prone
DC2 now adult, only once that I can remember
DC3 is 4 and has been twice

Many!

Both DDs are sporty and accident prone 🙄 2 broken bones each, a couple of head injuries, car accident, appendicitis, various wounds.

We triggered and automatic SS referral at one point for 4 visits with dd1 in a year:

• Appendicitis
• recurrence of the nasty infection that followed Appendicitis
• broken finger (playing netball)
• fall running for the bus (wound needed cleaning/stitches)

Three times for my eldest (12) - one virus we were worried about but turned out to be ok, plus two broken arms
first time recently for my younger child - we hadn’t taken him but school insisted we did, x-rayed and all clear.

DD is 23 - been 3 times, twice as a baby with bronchiolitis and once after a horse riding accident when a teen.

DS is almost 18 - been once after a cycling accident when 14.

Luckily my kids were never really I'll (but my son has had Covid three times now!)

Ds 22 and 21. Neither of them have ever been to A&E.

3 with DS1. (12) Once because we discovered the hard way he has an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts.
Once because he ahd an asthma attack.
Once because he had another anaphylactic allergy to something as yet unknown.

1 with DS2 (10) because he had a bad concussion falling off the moneky bars.

Eldest, 4 times? Dislocated and broken elbow which meant an overnight stay and surgery, ambulance with dislocated kneecap, sliced knee which needed stitching and original kneecap dislocation.

Youngest , 3 times? Cuts to face, squished thumb