AIBU to ask for advice with 18 month old fever!

[sinistericecreamvan]

He’s my PFB and always runs warm but last night had a fever of 39.2 when he woke in the night. Calpol brought it down slightly but he was distressed so gave him nurofen which brought it down for a couple of hours.
Since then it’s fluctuated between 37.6 and 38.5 and I’ve only give him medicine when he’s been distressed.
He was fine in himself this morning, ate breakfast and a snack although not as much as usual, was chatting and playing and alert. He didn’t sleep much last night so he crashed around nap time and was really grizzly. Gave him calpol but this didn’t bring temp down stayed at 38.5
Woke from nap really crying and frantically chewing and dribbling so wondered if it could be teething, didn’t give him any medicine as he calmed down and went back to sleep.
He’s just in a nappy at the moment.

He doesn’t have a rash, isn’t limp or unresponsive, has been drinking and had really wet nappies.

His feet and hands were slightly cooler at times when he was feverish but not ice cold, and he’s not bothered by light and didn’t appear to be in pain until he woke up crying. We gave him something cool to bite on and he took it for a bit then had his dummy again and eventually went back to sleep. He’s definitely exhausted as he normally sleeps 12 hours and he slept about 6 last night.

My question is do we need to ring 111 if he carries on with a fever or are we okay to manage this at home? Nurofen seems to work but calpol not so much at bringing the fever down, is that normal?

He’s definitely not himself now although he was this morning. We’ve had a few more dirty nappies than usual but nothing that looks alarming.

I’m a very anxious person and am paranoid about not doing something when I should, so just wondered what everyone else would do?

I can only give one more dose of nurofen today until later on at night due to the 3 in 24 hours so I was only going to do that if he really spikes again or seems very very distressed.

Im not particularly well and neither is DH, we’ve got colds, so I wonder if he’s picked this up from us (we’ve done Covid tests so know it’s not that).

Im not sure what we do if we give nurofen this afternoon if the fever spikes and then it goes back up again before we can give it again?

Thank you!

Sorry I didn’t realise that was so long!

I'd ring 111 they will tell you what to do

Thank you, I ran through the nhs checklist to see if it seemed like we should but it didn’t seem like he did and DH thinks because his fever is now low grade we don’t need to phone but should if he gets high again

I think my main concern is because of anxiety I don’t feel like I can trust my instincts.

I’d trust your judgment. If he goes downhill, or spikes again, call them.

Just be prepared that they’ll probably send you to a&e as a precaution.

I had to call re something different for my baby today and I thought I was overreacting but they were lovely. Had to wait a while for the call to go through, then answer loads of ridiculous questions. As it wasn’t an emergency I got a call back in two hours and felt reassured that I’d done the right thing and had some options for what to do next.

@LividBlabber yes that was my plan. I’ve got some bits together incase we do have to go in.
I thought I would see how he is after he wakes from his sleep and if he’s spiking, not eating and not himself then I’ll give them a call.

I’m also concerned that because I sound very poorly they won’t let me go with him if he does have to go anywhere

Do you have a temp yourself? A cough? If it’s not obvious Covid symptoms you have (or you have a negative test that’s recent) then sure it’s fine?

No temp and no cough.
I did a lateral flow last week and am going to do another today just to check incase we do have to phone up

I just have the fear about making the wrong call! And because it’s only the second time he has been poorly and last time was different, I don’t have any point of reference really. I suppose if we hadn’t been in lockdown most of his life he would have had all kinds of bugs and sniffles by now

Personally wouldn't call 111.

It just sounds like normal teething.

My best advice would just be to keep on top of the medicine for 48 hours. Don't wait until they have a temp

Also forgot to note, alternate calpol and ibuprofen so you're not going more than a few hours between doses

Hi OP, sounds like you’re managing it very sensibly and being vigilant - I’m in a similar situation with my 2.5 year old, fairly sure she has croup but we did a covid test this morning just to be sure. She’s had a fever for around 24 hours now that only goes down with medicine and the goes back up again, along with a horrible barking cough.

111 were lovely and referred us for a call back from a local out of hours centre in case she needs some medicine before tomorrow.

Your DSsounds like he’s teething to me (esp the nappies) but could be a million other things unfortunately!

Id call 111 for reassurance if I were you - the lady I spoke to said they’d always rather someone called with a little one just in case. Hope he’s feeling better soon.

Yes I've called for some ridiculous things in hindsight with my baby but I had severe PND. Each time they were so patient with me and went through all their checklists. They said it was fine to call, as PP said, they would rather you called if unsure with a little one. They ended up asking a doctor to call me back but that was just to check how I was doing and ask me to make an appointment for myself.

Hope LO is on the mend soon.

Thank you he’s woken up upset and hot and ramming his hands and dummy in his mouth and I think I just spotted a bottom canine has broken through so I’m going to check properly once he’s calmed down and I’ve done his temp again

Sorry to hear you suffered with PND @BlueDucky I sometimes wonder if I’ve had something like it as I’m so incredibly anxious but not depressed ITSWIM

He has a fever of 39 again :( had calpol at 12.30 which did nothing so we have given him nurofen. Going to see if that brings it down if it doesn’t we will call 111

He’s refused his snack apart from two raspberries but had a few swigs of squash and is now watching cocomelon on the sofa.

If he has symptoms (like a temp) it needs to be a PCR test and not a lateral flow as they're not accurate enough and you all need to isolate until results come back.

@NerrSnerr thanks I didn’t realise that I will find our local testing centre

@sinistericecreamvan

No temp and no cough. I did a lateral flow last week and am going to do another today just to check incase we do have to phone up

I just have the fear about making the wrong call! And because it’s only the second time he has been poorly and last time was different, I don’t have any point of reference really. I suppose if we hadn’t been in lockdown most of his life he would have had all kinds of bugs and sniffles by now

You can’t rule out covid - lateral flow tests only work if you are asymptomatic. If you have any covid symptoms you need a proper PCR test.

My poor DS had fevers and bugs constantly when starting nursery (just shy of 18 month)

Firstly, I'd follow your instinct.

But canines are brutal and for my DS, worse then first molars and did cause a temp.

For me, if there's no rash or other significant symptoms, I manage with calpol and nurofen alternated if distressed. If them temp doesn't come down, then call 111 as you plan too.

If my DS has a fever that lasts more than 3 days, even if managing with calpol etc, I'd go so the doctor to check there's nothing else going on.

Sounds like you're completely in top of it all

Oh crap I didn’t realise that about lateral flow tests.
I don’t actually have a cough or a temp, I just have a runny noise and kind of gross mucous throat which aren’t actual Covid symptoms but I guess lateral flow won’t work still if those actually are Covid

I’ll check his temp at 4 when it’s been 45 minutes and hopefully it will come down again but god knows what we are going to do if it spikes again before he can have another dose of nurofen. Ring 111 I guess

I've just checked the LTF booklet again and it says 'many people with Covid-19 will have mild or even no symptoms but we can still stop the spread of the virus with regular self testing' - which seems like it does work if you have mild symptoms?
God, what a weekend. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that we don't end up in hospital (DH doesn't think we should call 111 yet as he thinks they will say A&E as a matter of course and last time DS ended up there he was utterly hysterical because he was so frightened and it sent everything skyrocketing). I feel so crap and DH hasn't had much sleep so it would be a toss up as to who would go - I would want to but DS wants his dad at the moment!

@kidneynewname thank you. When bringing the temp down, should it always bring it down to normal temp? It's definitely come down over the last 12 hours but has hovered around 37.7-38 for the most part apart from this spike we've just had

This is what it says on the NHS testing website. I wouldn’t take a negative LFT as gospel given you have some symptoms.

I've just read the same thing, you're right. I feel like an idiot! I think it's because technically I don't have covid symptoms if that makes sense so that's why I did lateral flow.
I'll have to lie to book a PCR by the looks of things as I went through it and it wouldn't let me book because I don't have the classic symptoms.
I can book one for DS though, looking forward to administering that ...not.

Okay so nurofen has brought fever down to 38.3 and he's currently finishing a mountain of cheerios, an organix bar and some fruit while bopping to Cocomelon in his high chair so I'm not going to call 111 for now

I'm a bit concerned what to do if it spikes again before he can have another dose but fingers crossed that doesn't happen!

I’ve also booked us both a PCR test so thank you for all your help and apologies for the millions of posts!