Toddler temp 40 - would you go to A & E?

[coffeeforone]

2YO is currently asleep in his cot with a high temp. Sent home early from nursery this afternoon with a temp of 40.3 that reduced to 38.5 with calpol.

He is generally unwell and has a cough. Temp shot back to 39.8 at 6.30pm, gave nurofen (couldn’t get full dose in but he took about 70% of syringe). Then temp dropped slightly then back 40.2 at 7.30pm so gave calpol (hidden in a bottle of milk which he drank). Temp dropped slightly but is now 39.8. He is asleep and breathing normally except the cough. WWYD???

I wouldn’t if the meds were bringing it down, he was taking fluids & having wet nappies, his breathing was ok and I could rouse him. He’s got a cough etc a temp is normal. I think that sleeping is the best thing for poorly people and I wouldn’t see any reason to disturb his sleep.

...but I would put him in my bed with me and check on him through the night & if he still wasn’t good in the morning I’d make an appointment for him.

However you were worried so you did the right thing for you and called 111. I no longer trust them, so if I was worried I’d go to OOH/A&E. Which is what I suggest you do if you’re still worried after you speak to them or if you don’t hear back soon.

I hope he’s feeling much better in the morning 🚗

@anxious2017 our A&E has a separate area for children with separate staff, so taking a child in is not stopping adults with heart attacks and strokes from being seen.

For this though I would call NHS Direct or OOH GP, but DS often has a temp of 40 and over when ill and I've found the best way to get it to go down is to take him to see a doctor!

Glad you called 111, a temperature that is still high like that despite calpol and ibuprofen needs monitoring, hope hes ok OP!

Princessofthesea. Ringing 111 doesn't always send you to a&e. They arrange for an out of hours doctor to call you and so the doctor will advise you whether to go and see them at a local surgery or go to a&e. They have always been quick and very helpful anytime I've needed them. Saves you going to a&e and waiting for hours on end if you don't need to.

Hope he is ok and the dr calls soon

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

To assess how ill a child is you need to build an overall picture based on things like temp, heart rate, resp rate, level of responsiveness etc. High temp in an otherwise ok child wouldn't alarm me. In hospital they use an early warning score which gives an idea of how critical the situation is and how soon the child needs to be seen. At home, without medical equipment or knowledge, I'd trust your own intuition. How does their behaviour compare to normal & Look for anything unusual like a rash

Have you counted his breathing? DD had something similar a while ago. Her temp dropped a bit with calpol, but she was panting in her sleep. I checked online and it said at that age they should breathe around 30-40 times a minute - DD was 78! I rang 111 and they told me to take her to a&e. All was well after some steroids and a wait to bring down her temp, thank goodness.

Hopefully your DS' other signs are all fine and he cools down shortly 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

I find 111 amazing. Every time I've called they've given advice and acted brilliantly.

I called them on Thursday because DS (2 years) had a temp of 40 and was breathing fast, lethargic... the 111 operator could hear him panting down the phone and sent an ambulance straight away.

Call 111.. I hope he feels better soon.

My 3yr olds was 41.3 last week. We were sent by GP to children's ward and we were left in the Ward's Triage room for 4 hours in a 'queue' and nobody seemed even remotely concerned! By the time they got to her she was fine! Nurofen has kicked in and brought her temp down

You’ve done the right thing .

I find 111 useless. Don't they always tell you to go to a&e anyway?

Not in my experience. I was a bit of a worrier with my son, and he used to get quite high temperatures. I called 111 on quite a few occasions, and was never told to go to A&E. We were normally sent to an out of hours doctor, but once I was told it was nothing to worry about and we could cope at home.

Last time I called when DD was lower than that, they told me to go to A&E at 40. They'd already assessed over the phone that she wasn't confused, rashy and so on.

Sorry A&E/OOH.

Mirime - that's fair enough if you have the service. Here, we don't, but we do have OOS services that should be used first in many cases but aren't.

A close friend works in my local A&E and I'm sick of hearing about the ear infections, very minor burns, coughs, colds and twisted ankles all day, every day. Not just children, but adults too, it's ridiculous.

We now have a minor injuries instead at one of the two hospitals but have lost A&E there.

Just to update - 111 doctor directed us straight to A&E.

We spent 6 hours there and got home at 4am. I’m not convinced whether it was the right thing to do or not.

On one hand the docs did check him over thoroughly several times and reassured us it probably wasn’t anything serious. His throat looks quite sore but ears and chest are fine.

They gave him calpol and nurofen at normal intervals and monitored his temp - which we could have done at home.

They did want to admit him as his heart rate was on the high side, especially when he was crying. I’ve a feeling his natural resting heart rate is quite high anyway and maybe a genetic thing (DH’s resting heart rate is 105 even though he is fit and healthy - but haven’t mentioned it as DH has had soooo many appointments that lead to nothing). We had to persuade the docs that we’d prefer not to be admitted, especially as it appeared to be viral and his temp had came down by that point.

I’m not sure whether this was a waste of time or not...on the other hand it could have been serious and better safe than sorry etc...

If you did as you were advised, you were NOT wasting time, so don't worry about that, OP. Hope he feels better soon, poor little thing

Tbh I feel it was strange to go to a&e but then not follow their advice to be admitted. Therefore I do think you wasted their time personally, sorry!!

Same as missduke to be honest.

If a dr said they wanted to admit my unwell dc for monitoring id go along with that as dr knows best.

I have a toddler btw- and a temp like that would have had me seeing gp next day unless obviously distressed, uncomfortable or unusually lethargic.

I'd of definitely gone along with drs advice and had him admitted!

Whether or not leaving A&E was the right thing to do is a moot point. The key thing is that if your DS starts to show any signs of getting significantly worse - take him straight back.

When DS1 was around 7 months I couldn't get his temperature to stay down for long. I went to A&E and eventually got sent home. I took him back several hours later because his temp had spiked right up and calpol was doing nothing. They did a blood test and it was clear he was fighting off something significant so they admitted him and put him on IV antibiotics.
They were very happy I had brought him back - it is really hard even for professionals to be sure which way a fever will go in younger children. They would prefer you bring a young child in if you are not sure than not bring in a sick child who really should have had treatment.

Goodness

You are totally and utterly reckless brave. Not following a doctors advice for your son to be admitted and actually having to persuade them to leave.

I wouldn't take mine to A&E for that alone.

^This.

Yes that what the doc said. She discussed with another doc and agreed they were actually happy for us to go home if we just keep an eye on him. He slept through from 4am until 10am his temp hovering around 37.8 breathing normal when we checked on him, a mild cough though. He does seem a bit better this morning. Has had calpol when he woke up though and temp is now 36.4

It wasn’t a huge persuasion. They said, we’d like to admit him and monitor him, how do you feel about that? I said I’d prefer to go home as his temp had reduced to 36 and they thought it was a sore throat. Breathing was normal, Heart rate was the only thing that was slightly high. But he has a high resting HR anyway.