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!

Hi OP, my son has had similar several times. Alternate Calpol and nurofen to make sure you don’t have any temperature spikes especially during the night

Yes to cellular blanket - don’t let him get too cold as shivering spikes the temp

Check regularly during the night including looking for any rash / very fast breathing

And sorry I haven’t rtft so someone might’ve said this but lateral flow tests are only 57% effective (apparently dogs can detect Covid better!!) so def get a PCR when you can.

Hope you have an ok night.

PS make sure he stays hydrated and if necessary, syringe water / milk into his mouth a little bit at a time (was tonsillitis for my son too as a PP said)

Thank you, I wasn’t sure as last night I put the blanket on him and his fever spiked not long after

Ill go pop it on him as one thin layer in a minute

He’s been drinking fine thankfully so that’s one good thing, the main thing that seems to be bothering him is his teeth one that has broken through and one that’s about to

He always breathes quite fast but seems to be breathing as normal at the moment, quite deeply and slowly while he’s asleep

Okay I’ve put one layer cellular blanket on him up to his armpits hopefully that won’t make him too hot but also won’t make him get cold. The room temp is 22 so pretty warm and usually he would be in a t shirt and bag in this temp I’m just so nervous of doing anything to make him hot again

Annnd he’s already wiggled up out of it so it’s just covering his bottom half. Hopefully that will be enough

Really hope you had a better night and are able to see a Doctor this morning.

My DS was up a bit last night which is unusual-and he's super grumpy this morning which usually means the beginning of something lurgie like!

Hoping yours is feeling brighter today

@kidneynewname thank you! We had a good night but I couldn’t get a call back from
The doctor today as they had no appointments left so I’ll have to phone up first thing tomorrow

I have since discovered that he has five teeth coming through at once 😱 so that’s probably not helping

Hope your DS is okay, children are such a worry!

Just a quick question how quickly should nurofen bring temp down? It’s starting to come down slowly it’s been about half an hour.

Also one ear is a lot hotter than the other! So he’s 38.3 on one side and 38.6 on the other I guess I go by the hottest measurement?

5 teeth......I’d bet money that that’s what’s causing it.
Poor bugger.

@BingBongToTheMoon I know! It must be horrible for him! He’s currently refusing to nap and rolling around all over the place but I’m hoping the nurofen will be doing his work and the teething gel too and he will drop off in a bit bless him.

I think the most he has had come through before at once was two!

5 teeth?! . Ice lollies?

@sinistericecreamvan I think it often takes about an hour for nurofen etc to bring temp down. DS has a “hotter ear” too, we always assume that’s the right reading to be on the safe side

@DownWhichOfLate got a freezer drawer full and will be offering when he gets up from his nap. If he ever goes down for it…

@MiniMaxi thanks I’ve been going off the hottest reading just to be safe

Ice lollies seem to have helped! I spoke to the GP this afternoon and when they heard he has five teeth breaking through they said they think it’s likely that causing it but to keep an eye on him and if it persists over the next 24 hours to phone back and they will check him over

There is a LOT of dribble going on todayAnd oh god the nappies! I’m hoping this means we will get a break for a while once this five are done!

[quote sinistericecreamvan]@kidneynewname thank you! We had a good night but I couldn’t get a call back from
The doctor today as they had no appointments left so I’ll have to phone up first thing tomorrow

I have since discovered that he has five teeth coming through at once 😱 so that’s probably not helping

Hope your DS is okay, children are such a worry![/quote]
5 teeth at once

@BlueDucky I know! I now think he’s been very good considering!!!! He’s only really got upset a few times and has generally been himself which is why I didn’t click how bad the teething was at first! It was only when I felt them all poking through earlier that I realised what was going on

How is he doing op

@Moonshine11 thank you for asking! He’s doing a lot better. He’s back to sleeping and eating normally and he’s only had to have calpol once in the last twelve hours, hasn’t had nurofen since yesterday morning
He’s still getting a bit warm (37.8 - 38) but it’s not going any higher than that even without medication so I think that’s promising. We’ve also got four out of the five teeth poking through now so I’m hoping once that fifth one is through we will be properly on the mend but I’m keeping a close eye on him

Bloody hell the poor boy has another two that have popped through no wonder he's been feeling under the weather just a bit! Fingers crossed his temp goes back to normal now!

No way god he’s had a really bad time with his teeth!!

@moonshine11 I know, we couldn't believe it. It's weird because he had a low grade fever on and off for weeks prior to this and in the end the doctor gave him antibiotics as his ear was a bit gunky and they couldn't see in it properly so thought he might have an infection but they weren't convinced. When I spoke to them yesterday they think because it's so many teeth that might have been the build up and the spiking this weekend when they popped through is the peak.
I hope that's the case, but I don't want to miss an infection so I will keep an eye on him. If it goes right down and stays down once they're through I'll relax but if he keeps hoving around 38 once they're through I'll call them again incase it's something not obvious like a UTI.
He seems absolutely fine in himself now aside from having his fingers or something in his mouth permanently and the dribble is still pouring out of him

Just a little update incase anyone finds this thread in the future, his temp hasn't risen about 37.8 today and that was only briefly, he's fussy with food but still eating, drinking lots. No sign of being unwell but we have all six teeth poking through and he also has two new bumps on his gums so suspect even more are coming.
I didn't realise so many teeth could come through at once, I wasn't expecting it at all!

@Sinistericecreamvan glad he’s on the mend, poor kid!