To ask how to treat a 10mo with a temp of 40.2

[Whoevenknowswhattodo]

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Ds2 is 10months. He hasn't been unwell, not even snotty . Yesterday afternoon at lunchtime he wouldn't eat which is unlike him. Cried and crashed out and slept most of the day and night. He had a temp of 38-39.5 all day despite regular Calpol and ibuprofen.
Today he's been the same, eating and drinking okay but sleeping longer than normal and high temps.
Still doesn't appear poorly. Isn't upset just raging hot.
He had Calpol at 6pm. Ibu at 8pm. Just been to check on him at 10.30pm before i went to bed and temp is highest yet at 40.2.
He had gone to bed happy and in a babygrow with no vest or sleeping bag.

Is a temp alone worth doing anything about
If they're not seeming poorly / rashy/ upset?

I've given him more Calpol at 10.30 but he's maxed out on his doses now for both meds in a 24hr period so I'm at a loss

My plan is currently stay awake till 11.30 Then go and check temp again to see if it's coming down. Does this sound the right thing to do?

Please do not call 999 unless he requires emergency medical attention. Do you have another A&E in your area? His temp is high but heart rate is ok for a baby, did they check anything else?

If youre not happy with the doctors response then go back to hospital. Please don't waste an ambulance unless it is required OP.
Because of your DCs age, an ambulance will be sent when in actual fact it could be saving someone's life and you could just walk back into a&e again.
I'm sorry you're going through this and hope your DC makes a speedy recovery.

How is he now?

What you need to do is print off this thread and show them at A&E. That way they will get a proper dr to check him out!

I used to work in A&E and can confirm that the most experienced and qualified doctor is indeed kept out the back until a Mumsnet thread is produced 🙄

Any wonder the OP is panicking with some of the responses on this thread

What you need to do is print off this thread and show them at A&E. That way they will get a proper dr to check him out!

Jesus fucking wept 🤦🏼‍♀️

I wonder if you can go back in and ask if possible that you want to see the on call paediatrician

My daughter has very high temperatures quite often and I have been to a&e several times with her. Perhaps because it's a children's hospital, they always took it very seriously, so much so that they gave her a lumbar puncture when she was a newborn! They've always kept her in for a few hours to get the temperature down and to check for dehydration. The advice given to me was:
It's important to control the temperature. My daughter needed more paracetamol and ibuprofen than was recommended on the bottle. Please ask your Dr whether you should do this. Alternate the two types.

Make sure he's not dehydrated. A Calpol syringe with squash (maybe water with a baby) in is a good way of getting fluid (and sugars I presume) in. I was advised to give 5 MLS every 10 mins for a while but your son is younger so maybe less. But little and often.

You can check for dehydration by looking at their skin. If it's mottled press down and then release. Count how long it takes to return to normal colour. A dehydrated child will take longer than 5 counts to return to normal.

Keep checking for signs of sepsis and meningitis. They can creep up and look like other things.

I hope he feels better soon and don't worry about being a pain. I'm happy that my taxes contribute to reassuring parents even when their babies are fine. Trust your instincts. Good luck.

What you need to do is print off this thread and show them at A&E. That way they will get a proper dr to check him out!

DS2 is a staff nurse in A&E, he'd howl with laughter if someone produced a printed off MN thread.

I hope your baby is soon on the mend op. Trust your instincts. If you feel he needs seeing then take him back.

Above has made a very good point actually. My two year old would never respond to Calpol and neurofen based on the bottle dose and then his consultant worked it out based on his size (91st centile) and now he responds properly

When my dc of 18 months had a temp of 38 the dr at the walk in told me that with that figure to go straight to er. She had pneumonia.
If in doubt go to another hospital.

I had this with dc when they were 2 years old.
Not really any other symptoms except I knew something wasn't right, and I couldn't get their temp below 39-42°C for longer than 2- 3 hours (still high though), and I was regularly giving Calpol and Nurofen.

This went on for about 3 weeks altogether, with me getting increasingly worried, but being fobbed off.

Originally, after the first 2 days I went to my GP and because they'd had a cough (although it was mostly gone by then) about a week before this temp started, we were given a week's worth of antibiotics, "just in case".

They didn't work, their temp wouldn't stay down, but GP thought I was an over-anxious, paranoid mum and kept saying kids get colds, stop worrying!

I kept ringing every few days asking for advice &/or appointments, which just confirmed to them that I was paranoid, and in the end they agreed to give me a letter to go to A&E so "they could tell me he was fine and I was paranoid".

Turned out they were wrong, and dc had pneumonia. Spent about 8 days in hospital on iv antibiotics, etc.

Now I trust my instincts, but at the time it was my 1st dc, and it was drilled into me not to bother A&E for trivial things, and the GP kept saying a high temp didn't mean anything bad on its own.

Hope your lo is ok, OP.

@Goposie you got told by a Dr to go to A&E for a temp of 38?

Nursery wouldn’t even send home for that temp. 38 is a low grade fever. And my DS would be running about like an idiot as normal.

I wouldn’t even give pain relief for that temp assuming there were no other symptoms.

Btw, the 3 weeks includes the week where they had a bit of a cough, so about 2 weeks with high temp then ~1 week in hospital.

My DS was like this, he was older (8) had a temperature, was off colour, nothing you could exactly say was wrong with him, I gave him Calpol, Nurofen & fluids, next morning he woke up screaming, I couldn't touch him anywhere, took him straight to the doctors who sent us straight to the children's hospital who admitted him, after seeing several doctors he was diagnosed with chronic constipation, he was impacted. He had to have an enema, it cleared out all his bowel, he was very sick, but within an hour his temperature had dropped to normal & we were able to go home. I'd never seen him as poorly as that & it frightened me to death that something so simple could make a child so poorly.

To random, yes. I was surprised too. But she was really sick.

@Wombatsears - i was being sarcastic!

OP i do hope your ds is feeling better. Its very difficult when they are young. A lovely dr said to me once "if mum's worried im worried". So if you still have concerns the drs will see you again. Howrver it is a toss up between getting your ds the rest he needs rather than being at the hospital versus the worry of if there is something seriously wrong.

It is ok to use and trust your own judgement.

I took my child to the gp twice in one day because of a very high temp but struggled to get a urine sample. When I eventually got one i dipped it myself (have some sticks at home) and it was immediately obvious there was an infection so got an out of hours go appointment and antibiotics. Really surprised they haven't checked his urine. I'd try and get a sample to take to your gp.

On one occasion the only way we could get a sample was to put cotton wool in her nappy and wring it out.

I'm starting to eithet not believe this thread or worry about the state of healthcare because that child would have had sepsis 6 treatment based on those parameters (at my hospital).

If true, i'm so sorry youre going through this OP you must be super stressed. I hope the little dude is going to be okay

How is baby now?

@prequelle I work for the NHS myself and I'm currently in a formal complaint with my local hospital after them failing to notice my 5 month son at the time had sepsis. SIX yes six healthcare professionals throughout the day failed to see he had sepsis and it was only down to me having slight medical training to know something wasnt right. I got told by several nurses if I hadn't had taken him back that night he would have died. So yes it does happen. If you actually look at recent news feeds there are quite a few stories about A&E failing to diagnose sepsis and unfortunately lots of people dying because of this. My son was a lucky one and it has shaken our world. In fact this thread triggered some awful nightmares for me last night but I do hope the OPs son is ok.

Pixie

OP how was your DS overnight and how is he this morning?
Did you ask the A&E doctor for a urine sample pot and one of those pads you can put in the nappy?
If not I suggest you go the GP surgery and ask the receptionist for one asap.

He was okay overnight, just slept from the minute we got back.
This morning he's just woken up happy, temperature is 39.2.
Dh is now of the opinion just listen to their judgement. He's clearly not distressed or lethargic, maybe he does just have a virus so give him time to get over it.
This started Monday lunchtime.

OP, get off mumsnet, listen to the advice of 3 professionals and just cuddle your baby. If it gets worse, back to the doctors. Stop listening to everyone here!