To ask you what could be going on with my 3 year old

[DietCokeChipsAndMayo]

DD is 3 and started nursery school (as part of a primary school) part time in September, it’s the first childcare setting she’s been to so I was expecting a few bugs and colds

However, she’s been poorly for pretty much a month now, she has a temperature on and off, a very snotty nose and has bouts of being lethargic and falling asleep but her symptoms are quite inconsistent and sporadic, sometimes she doesn’t want to eat, sometimes she does, sometimes she’s up and down all night sometimes she sleeps like a log and can’t keep her eyes open during the day, sometimes she’s white as a sheet sometimes she looks fine, but whatever it is she just can not shift it

After another night of high temperatures I’ve been trying to ring a doctor all morning and they’re just rejecting calls I think 🤨 although I’m not even sure what I would say to them, hi my daughter has a runny nose and a temp, it just doesn’t sound like anything, my concern is how long it’s been going on

Anyone got any thoughts, or is it just a cold and I need to let it be?

Hard to say for certain as some viruses can really linger. I'd make sure she's having vitamins, in case she's not eating, and if it continues past six weeks then see the GP. Trust your instincts though.

Thankyou, I have been giving her extra vitamins to no avail, and tbh I’m not sure exactly how long she’s been unwell because it started off so low level, just a runny nose so it wasn’t a big deal, I’ve also had a lot of things going on and have been running on autopilot for a while, it’s only really since weekend that I’ve thought wow this has been going on for a long time now I wonder if it’s something else
It would possibly take me 6 weeks to get through to a gp!

She's probably finding the stimulation of being with so many other people exhausting and taking a while to get used to it.
Maybe simulation is also making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep - I know it does me.

My 2yo has just come out the other side of being ill for 6 weeks. Very sleepy initially, completely lost her spark, then coughing, snot, headache, having melt downs about everything. It completely wore me down, we all got it eventually off her but it really lingered for ages

Did you test her for Covid?

Yes @NuffSaidSam she’s had one PCR and I’ve done 3 lateral flows, all negative

Unfortunately when children start in a childcare setting it’s not unusual for them to be sick for pretty much the first year! Their immune systems have to cope with a barrage of germs that they’ve never been in contact with before. It’s really tiring and you feel so sorry for them with the constant colds!
Just keep an eye on her, lots of healthy food and fluids, rest when she needs it. Is she having her vitamins?
Anything really untoward or concerning and I’d go back to your GP but unfortunately the ongoing sniffles is pretty standard right now. (I write this as a mum of a nearly 2 year old who’s been sick pretty much constantly since starting nursery in March).
DD (4) who’s been in nursery since age 1, hardly ever sick now!

Could it be a run of a crappy little viruses rather than one illness that she's not shifting? It's common for children to get a couple of viruses a month when they start nursery. Hope you get to the bottom of it. I'd definitely take her to get checked out

I remember DD being like this for months when she started nursery, and it's happened again now she's started preschool. Just one thing after another, all so close that it felt like it was one big long virus. It's exhausting. I'd say don't worry unduly, but ultimately you're her mum and if you're concerned, get her to the GP and they can check her iron levels etc to make sure there's nothing underlying.

From a factsheet about viral illness in children: "It is common for children to have up to 12 viral infections a year in the first few years of life, and it can seem like they are sick all the time."

When your immune system has been knocked by being unwell, and you're run down, you're then more likely to pick up other infections immediately afterwards. There isn't any treatment/cure for viruses. If your child isn't significantly unwell, it's unlikely that a doctor can do very much for a situation where a child has been run down and had symptoms on and off for several weeks, and currently just seems to have a mild respiratory virus.

It's probably worth making clear notes about times/dates/impacts so you have something to go on if the situation continues. It's difficult for doctors to assess a general "she's been ill on and off for weeks" situation versus a clear note of she had three separate periods of fever over two weeks, this high, she vomited with one, and so on.