Shit, croup. Should I get DD seen?

[SaunteringDownwards]

DD came home from school yesterday feeling unwell. An hour ago she woke me up saying it hurts to breathe and has the typical barking croup cough. She's otherwise alright now, but I'm wondering whether I need to take her to the walk in at a&e. Her temp is 38.5 and I'm worried about not being able to get her seen over Christmas if it gets worse.

Not sure what to do. Opinions please!

No blue inhaler but DH is back with nurofen so will give that to her when she wakes next. Her temp seems to be staying at 38.5 more or less right now but she's so tired.

My son has had croup many times over the years to the point where we had stashes of the steroid to keep at home. The main concern is how fast they are breathing. If she is breathing normal and calm then the noise shouldn't be too much of a concern. You can find on google the average breaths per minute by age and then count her breaths over a few minutes it's to get an average. It's so scary, hope you're ok! But again any concerns take her straight back in

The first night of it with my son we almost called an ambulance but he slept well and was a bit better the next day. Hope she has a settled night. One thing we got after croup was an oxygen monitor that you can put on a finger - got it from Amazon which can be helpful with these kind of illnesses.

I always worry about temperatures with my DD due to a heart issue she was born with. When it's really high or she seems really rough with it, I alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen to keep on top of it (obviously within the daily limits/ timescales for both.)

As others have said, the shaking is likely due to the high temperature. Despite being really hot, she'll be feeling shivery as though she's cold. If you can control her temperature a bit the shaking should calm down.

I hope she's feeling better very soon.

Going through the very same thing at the moment. Very surprised that the doctor didn't advise the nurofen when they diagnosed the croup, not only will it bring down temperature but also reduce inflammation in the airways. We had 2 days of high temperature.
We gave the steroids as directed. Alternated between calpol & nurofen consistently to control temperature as much as possible (wrote down a schedule to avoid confusion).
Removed heavy clothing.
It's awful when your poor child is sick but you should definitely see an improvement over next couple of days.

She has suddenly woken and demanded an ice lolly. Still boiling but chatting and cracking jokes all of a sudden.

That's great, the steroids have always worked very quickly for us. Just keep on top of them.
For those talking about nurofen, we always give it but it is not advised with a cough as children with asthma shouldn't have it. However we know my son does not have asthma so do give it

My 6 year is suffering from this too. We went to A &E on Wednesday night because he was struggling to breathe and gasping. Nurse gave him Calpol (high temperature) and 'dex' which is a liquid steroid. We were back home from the hospital within 4 hours because his breathing (strider) wasn't noisy anymore. He's still not quite right now. We were told to give nurofen and Calpol and keep a close eye. If his breathing is noisy and struggling for breath again then we need to take him back to A&E.
It just happens so quickly. If you're worried then get her seen. The doctor said the cough isn't the issue but the breathing is. I hope she's over the worst.