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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not get my baby tested for covid?

169 replies

cactusdog · 17/01/2021 20:07

I feel maybe I am being unreasonable?

Circs are; baby is 10 months old. He's had a fever for two days, gone today. He has also been teething. He was up in the night, sad, clingy etc and I think he maybe had a sore throat, off his food.

Today his temp is gone and he seems to be getting back to himself.

DD is in nursery and due to go tomorrow. I didn't even think until earlier. Should we get baby tested?

No one else has any symptoms so I assumed it was just one of those fevers babies get.
However DH and I have had a massive argument as he wanted to get him tested ASAP and I didn't think it was necessary. He says it's the right thing to do and Dd shouldn't go to nursery until it's done. I am exhausted form being up with baby and got emotional at the idea of him going through the test, crying in the car (I know, I know he'd be fine) when he's just feeling better.
Would you have got the test? We have now had a massive row and I feel like a shot person and mother like everything I do is always wrong

OP posts:
ScrumptiousBears · 17/01/2021 20:40

As a side issue my sister tested positive today. She had the shits and a runny nose. I persuaded her to go for a test as people at work who tested positive also only had the shits. She absolutely would have got this from her 4 year old who isn't showing any symptoms at all. You just cannot be too careful.

ghostyslovesheets · 17/01/2021 20:41

might be off his food due to having no sense of taste/smell? you don;t really know - glad you are going to have the test - Covid is NOT 'the flu'

Zippy1510 · 17/01/2021 20:41

Teething doesn’t cause a fever it’s an old wives tale. It states this on the NHS website. If they have a fever they have an infection. It could be something very mild, a minor viral ailment such as a cold for example that is common and harmless in infants or it could be COVID. You have no way of knowing unless you test- and you can’t risk passing something like that into a nursery full of children who can then pass it to their families.

Lastbonestanding · 17/01/2021 20:41

I wouldn't want to get him tested either but we would self isolate for the required time be if we didn't.

lunar1 · 17/01/2021 20:41

I don't know how this was even a question! If you'd tested at the first temperature you'd probably have had it back by now. Hopefully your household will only be isolating for a couple of days.

Babyboomtastic · 17/01/2021 20:45

Of course you get a test for goodness sake. Lots of us (me included) have had to get their baby tested. It's unpleasant but it's not the end of the world and soon forgotten.

The silly thing is that if you'd been responsible and sensible, you'd have got your baby tested 2 days ago, and your result may have come through already, so your daughter could go to nursery tomorrow. Now the whole family is stuck at home.

I have no idea why you seem to think the rules don't apply to babies.

Wannabangbang · 17/01/2021 20:46

For the sake of the nursery children & staff yes you must have him tested. Not very pleasant for a baby but you need to do what's best for society at large. This is how this pandemic spreads.

cactusdog · 17/01/2021 20:46

Well thanks @Babyboomtastic, really helpful

OP posts:
Thekinkymouse · 17/01/2021 20:50

@cactusdog

Well honestly, we are 9 months into this, you baby had one of the symptoms, and you weren't going to get her tested...

No wonder the case rate is sky high.

StacySoloman · 17/01/2021 20:54

@cactusdog

Ok ok I get it! I've booked for a test tomorrow.

I feel like the whole world has lost its mind!
No one else has any symptoms, the baby no longer has a temp and the baby is not the one going to nursery.

Thank you to the supportive comments.

Have you not read that a third or more of people with covid don't have symptoms?
HeyDuggeesCakeBadge · 17/01/2021 20:54

There is absolutely no way I would be testing a 10 month old who is quite obviously teething. The replies on here are insane.

peboh · 17/01/2021 20:55

@HeyDuggeesCakeBadge

There is absolutely no way I would be testing a 10 month old who is quite obviously teething. The replies on here are insane.
Again. Teething does NOT cause a fever.
StacySoloman · 17/01/2021 20:56

@caffeinebuzz

The gov website covers this, saying that fever is not an official NHS recognized symptom of teething even though every mother on earth knows different.

I was dreading testing DS at 8 months but they only made me do the nasal swab and I brought a snack which quickly distracted him afterwards.

My children have never had a fever when teething Confused

Whenever parents have told me their child has a fever due to teething (as a childcare provider) it's always just been an excuse to send in a poorly child.

Lazypuppy · 17/01/2021 20:57

My daughter had fevers qhen her teeth were comig through, teeth break the skin and fever goes, so yes some children do have fevers with teething

peboh · 17/01/2021 20:57

Also are those saying it's teething ignoring the sore throat that op believes he had? Teething also, funnily enough, doesn't cause a sore throat.

StacySoloman · 17/01/2021 20:57

@HeyDuggeesCakeBadge

There is absolutely no way I would be testing a 10 month old who is quite obviously teething. The replies on here are insane.
You don't have to test, you can choose to isolate instead.
Jellington · 17/01/2021 20:57

Either test or isolate. Ideally test.

ZooKeeper19 · 17/01/2021 20:57

@cactusdog please test him. Please. I tested my son (14m) because he had sniffles and although I measured no fever he felt a bit hot (also teething). His test came back positive.

Babies have NO symptoms but spread the virus. If he has it, so does everyone else at your home, asymptomatic or not. Symptoms take 5-10 days to show, and I tested my son so he does not make his nanny or anyone else ill.

It was not pleasant, we did home-test and he was super uncooperative but it was the right thing to do.

mumwon · 17/01/2021 20:57

my gc nursery has twice had to shut -the second time because a expletive deleted parent or their spouse tested positive but still took sent dc in - staff caught it
They have now sent out email stating if any parent sends a child in when the family should be isolating will immediately be given notice
Staff & their families are at risk, other dc & their families can be at risk & some might be vulnerable -staff can't use ppp - I am glad you are testing db -thank you for that -better safe than sorry

peboh · 17/01/2021 20:58

@Lazypuppy

My daughter had fevers qhen her teeth were comig through, teeth break the skin and fever goes, so yes some children do have fevers with teething
Given my daughters paediatric consultant told me that while teething can raise a temperature slightly, it cannot cause a fever I shall believe her over somebody who go their medical degree from Google
Scottishskifun · 17/01/2021 20:59

@cactusdog

Ok ok I get it! I've booked for a test tomorrow.

I feel like the whole world has lost its mind!
No one else has any symptoms, the baby no longer has a temp and the baby is not the one going to nursery.

Thank you to the supportive comments.

Glad you have booked a test. Unfortunately the nature of the pandemic and virus doesn't make it straight forward, your DD or you guys can be asystomatic, it's on average 3-5 days from exposure to symptoms etc.

I get the concern about a test on a baby but the way I look at it is what if and then later family develops symptoms. By that time your DD has exposed x number within her class all of which then need to self isolate.

From being on the receiving end of a toddler going mental for 14 days (before it was reduced) because a family delayed being tested thinking it was just a toddler temp and sent to nursery I would never risk putting other families through the worry and uncertainty followed by the toddler climbing the walls! It's just not worth the risk.

Hope you get some rest tonight Flowers

HeyDuggeesCakeBadge · 17/01/2021 20:59

Well my children have had a low grade fever each and everytime when teething which suddenly disappears as soon as the teeth have erupted, so anecdotally yeah it does.

Maryann1975 · 17/01/2021 20:59

I am so sad that you think so little of the early years staff Who care for your children and Of the other dc in the setting that you would be willing to pass COVID on to them. You have no idea of their medical conditions or home situations and to take a risk at the moment would be so selfish.
Of course your Dh is right and I’m so cross that this message has been repeated so loudly for 10 months but hasn’t got through to some people.

It’s likely that it’s not COVID and that it is just another childhood infection, but what if it’s not. I’m also really confused when you say that your dc hasn’t been anywhere to catch COVID when you have a child in nursery who could potentially have brought it home with them. Is it 1 in 3 who have the virus with no symptoms and they reckon that number is higher in children.

Terminallysleepdeprived · 17/01/2021 21:01

@cactusdog get the baby tested please. Children present u like anything the media gave portrayed. My best friends 16 yo ds is currently in icu dying from the Post covid kawasaki type infection, he has never had any symptoms of covid at all and when it was suspected he had been in contact with someone he tested negative.

Do not mess about, kids are more likely to be asymptomatic and babies are more likely to be dismissed due to frequent fevers associated with teething.

In my honest opinion it is better baby suffers a few seconds of discomfort from the test than risk ventilation and death from the virus.

liverpoolgal82 · 17/01/2021 21:01

@cherrypie111

Of course you should get them tested. Jesus Christ are you seriously planning to take your possibly covid infected baby into a nursery setting? Risking everyone else there.
Her baby doesn't go to nursery. But I agree you need to get baby tested before you send your daughter back. Or don't and then all isolate instead. Or we'll keep going round and round with this.
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