When would you take your toddler to the doctor?

[Itstheimplication]

I have health anxiety so I’m pretty hot on these things, but DS had his flu vaccination end of last week (he’s nearly three so had the spray).
they said he might get side effects within 48 hours.
he got sniffly the next day, lots of congestion which triggered a congested cough (he has cough variant asthma they think and inhalers so everything like this triggers a cough) then he got a temp the day after.

he’s been tired but then seemed better yesterday and today although still got a fever around nap time and bed time when he was most tired.

he hasn’t been eating loads but has been grazing here and there, ate more today but mainly cereal, snacky things, plain pasta. He’s still drinking plenty.

he also got an upset stomach Saturday which has continued on and off throughout the weekend, been worse today.

weve been giving calpol when needed (if he seems in discomfort or distressed by the fever) and tag teaming it with nurofen when he’s been worse over night but trying to let his body do it’s thing as it fights it off.

did a Covid test today just incase but it was negative. I’m wondering whether to take him to the doctors tomorrow or leave it til it’s been five days of fever. Calpol does bring it down and during the day he’s mainly quite bright, playing, running about and jumping around etc so I haven’t been overly worried but I think I expected him to start properly seeming better now and tonight he seemed to be worse again when he was tired.

i know nobody can diagnose him here and wouldn’t expect them to but just wondered whether you’d leave an extra day continuing with ice lollies/snacks/ smoothies etc and calpol as needed, or whether you’d take him in tomorrow.

Antivax rubbish is everywhere these days. I was reading about how man more conspiracy theorists there are since COVID. It unleashed some really irrational thinking.

I am accepting that people should be free to refuse vaccines but it is nonsense, scientifically speaking. Vaccines prevent far more harm than they cause, by a considerable order of magnitude.

Fair enough, and I do hope it helps you long term. The best advice my mother gave me was not to fixate on one individual symptom but to look at the whole thing. You are fixating on the temperature and not seeing your child playing, running around etc. Its normal to feel tired when fighting a virus, its normal for temperature to be slightly raised. Its normal to feel better, then crash and rest, then feel better again.

The basics when to be worried are:
A very high temperature that does not respond to paracetamol.
A cough that makes breathing hard.
A quick spreading rash.

Thank you @Pixiedust1234 really
helpful and you’re right. He’s generally fine today he’s been playing, crafting, building, watching tv. He’s just crashed because before he dropped his nap this is his Naptime so he’s saying he feels poorly now and is warmer than he was. I’ll try to bear this in mind.

I think I’m more worried as we go away on Saturday so that’s in the back of my mind!

I was in this situation a few weeks ago and did take him to the GP on day 6. (He also has asthma.) I took him because his fever went back up high - over 39 again - on day 5, having been coming down gradually before that, and because his cough was much worse. Basically I had a feeling he had a chest infection triggered by the cold virus. I was right, he had a crackly chest and needed antibiotics to shift it.

You know your child - if you feel he's worse I would go. If it's just taking a while to get better, I probably wouldn't just yet.

Thanks @Numbat2022 his cough has got a bit worse and the fever is really persisting unless we give him meds but he seems okay in himself at the moment
sorry to hear your little one had a chest infection hope they are okay now

So we know with COVID (a flu) that children were mostly symptomatic and it didn’t affect them so it seems a bit unnecessary if they don’t even have symptoms, no?

It’s not antivax rubbish.. my DS3 is up to date with all his vaccinations, but the flu one is unnecessary

@adiosamigoo we don’t know that. There hasn’t been long enough since children got Covid to understand or realise the full implications.

my son’s asthma was triggered by a nasty bout of Covid and he’s now on twice daily inhalers and meds. I wouldn’t call that a mild virus to be honest.

I also don’t know anyone with a toddler who didn’t have some kind of symptom from the second variant.

if you’ve got scientific evidence that the flu vaccine is completely unnecessary I’m very willing to read and listen but just your opinion, not so much.

It’s also nothing to do with the virus the OP’s family currently have, so your ‘it’s your fault’ comment was pointless (and cruel).
Also, covid isn’t a flu virus. It’s a coronavirus. They’re different things. Children can suffer quite badly with the flu. I was hospitalised with it when I was 7.

his fever has shot back up to 39.5 and his cough is now really nasty, coming in long fits and almost making him sick. Because of his asthma and the cough getting worse I’m going to call tomorrow for a video appointment rather than going in as we are all unwell (unless they specifically say they want to see him and I’ll explain we are unwell too)

They'll probably want to listen to his chest OP.
Don't be afraid to call out of hours GP tonight if you are worried.

Thanks, I’m not too worried yet but I’m keeping a close eye on him and am going to call first thing tomorrow. I think they’ll want to listen to his chest as well it sounds okay to me but I’m no expert! Just seems to be getting nastier instead of better

Now is the time to call the NHS helpline (111??) and get their advice.

Asthma and a chest cold aren't to be messed with.

Thanks :) he has cough variant asthma rather than full on asthma attack asthma so they’ve advised me when his cough changes to call the GP and to call 111 or a&e if he ever struggles for breath/retractions etc any blueness. I would go to a&e I wouldn’t mess around for that. He’s still running and jumping around it’s just that it now makes him cough after - we’ve had this before and he needed antibiotics even though his chest was clear as he had a nasty ear infection at the time but they’ve said they always want to see him when he gets this kind of cough just to check his chest.

obviously if he gets any worse I’ll call 111 immediately tonight

Well DS slept through last night and barely coughed (still has a cough but it’s much less regular) and has woken up a lot brighter without fever so far.

DH and I on the other hand are feeling god awful and the cough is terrible - DS has been so brave with it!

That's great, I'm so glad he's better OP. Mine has the same type of asthma so I understand your worry around coughs. We haven't had to go to A&E since he started on a brown inhaler twice a day, thankfully.

Thanks @Numbat2022 i ended up calling the doctor yesterday as his cough worsened and fever popped back up very mildly. They said to take him in tomorrow morning if I’m still worried as they’ll listen to his chest ti make sure it’s clear so I think im
going to do that. His fever is gone however which is good. I know it’s likely a virus but I don’t want to mess around with his chesty cough/asthma so I think it’s worthwhile!
he isn’t lethargic which is reassuring and can still run about but then coughs up half a lung

I wouldn't take a toddler to the doctor's for what you've described. Stay at home and continue to treat as you have been.

Thanks @Stompythedinosaur im just concerned about his chest due to his asthma
hes still got an upset stomach as well but I know this can last for a while unfortunately