When to worry about dd?

[reginaphallange]

Dd 10 months old has been off colour for nearly a week. Not sure if she's unwell (no temperature, bit snotty) or more likely teething. But she's been off her food all week. At meal times she'll have a few mouthfuls if I'm lucky. and that's it. She's having bottles but maybe only half of what she usually has so 3oz instead of 6oz. Her nappies are still wet but not as wet as normal and she's still pooping. But I'm worried about how little she is eating. She is incredibly irritable but still full of energy which is quite amazing given how little she's consuming. She is refusing calpol from a syringe so I'm trying to sneak it into her food but because she's barely eating I'm not convinced she's getting much.

Putting her to bed tonight she was so tired and looked a bit grey to me. She has had a new tooth but it's pretty much through the gum now so I would have thought the worst was over. When should I be concerned about her lack of appetite? Don't think a GP would do much at this stage but it doesn't feel right that she's not having much.

Why are you giving her calpol if she's not unwell?

I wouldn't worry if she's drinking, eating some, weeing and pooing. They go through phases. Assuming she hasn't had drastic weight loss or anything.

I wouldn't worry too much if she's eating and drinking. She's maybe just having an appetite dip due to her new tooth.

What does she do if you give her absolute favourite food/snack? That's the test I generally use. Only worry if they don't want treat foods.

I've been trying to give her calpol for the pain that I presume her tooth is causing her. She does seem to be in pain with something hence the irritability. She's usually pretty happy and settled.

Well she usually loves yogurts and she's not even eating them at the moment. A few mouthfuls and then waving them away. She's never had the biggest appetite but this is not like her. Also only having half of her usual oz in bottles.

It doesn't sound massively concerning to me, but you can always take her to see your HV if you're concerned (but not concerned enough for a GP). Does your HV run a drop-in clinic? Or just take her to a GP. You know her best.

Maybe take her to the GP? She may have a sore throat or ear infection, she doesn’t necessarily have to have a fever to be unwell. Really you only need to worry if her input and output is 50% less than usual. But as it’s gone on for a week I’d take her to get looked at anyway. Also sometimes with a the calpol you just have to shove it in their mouths! In the side where her cheek is, if she does need something like antibiotics she’ll more than likely refuse them but you’ll still need to give them

I don't think I ever gave calpol for teething and I'm a bit surprised that you are doing this.

There are gels and powders you can use for that which apply straight to the sore area of the mouth/gum - they were very effective at numbing pain.

My son had an episode like this at about the same age and kept making a ‘weird face’ too.

I felt like a complete twit calling the doctor and saying he was a bit off and making a face but they listened, saw him and he had white spots all over his throat that I couldn’t see.

Antibiotics and he was all better in a few days.

You KNOW your baby. It’s almost certainly nothing serious but don’t ignore your instinct if you think your baby isn’t quite right.

If you think her gums are causing her pain then localised pain relief like gels or teething powders are good, alternatively get a clean muslin or face cloth get it a little damp but we'll wrung out and freeze it, then let her chew on that to numb and soothe any pain, frozen peas and sweetcorn or frubes went down well with my DD when she was teething too. She'd have a frozen snack first to soothe and would then be able to eat more real food when her gums were less painful.

CALPOL® Infant Sugar Free Colour Free 120 mg/5 ml Oral Suspension is a strawberry flavoured oral suspension and is used for the relief of:
• Fever (raised temperature)
• Post-immunisation fever
• Cold & flu symptoms
• Teething
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Earache
• Other aches & pains

Why wouldn't you give calpol to a baby clearly in pain?

Is sometimes helpful to keep a diary for a few days. It doesn't matter if they eat a bit less for a few days as long as they are not getting more ill and are not dehydrated. Keep a record of food in & nappies & temp.

If you have concerns go to the doctor, they won't mind checking.

As I said above, "There are gels and powders you can use for that which apply straight to the sore area of the mouth/gum - they were very effective at numbing pain." So with the pain removed (with very targetted medication), there was no need for calpol.

If they have the teething gels/powders first and then they are still in pain I would be considering other causes for the pain and applying calpol later (and maybe visiting a doctor). But would definitely recommend teething powders/gels to start with.

Also - the teething gels/powders visibly work in seconds. Far quicker than calpol - and also easier to apply

There's no harm with giving calpol for teething, or anything else. It's a small dose of paracetamol.

Best case - they feel better
Worst case - they don't feel better and they've had a small dose of paracetamol

There's no prizes for how few bottles of calpol you get through.

My point is - teething gels/powders can be really good - try them before calpol for teething. I was lucky that someone recommended them to me early on when my children started teething. They really work quickly as they are targetted to the gums.

If the child doesn't look happier after that then it's easier to work out that there is something else bothering them that is not teething related.

Of course calpol has it's uses, but in this case I just think calpol might actually mask something else that the GP can help with (as another poster said earlier). Also need to remember that calpol can only be used for 3 days before seeing a doctor/pharmacist (not sure how long the OP has been trying to give it to their baby in this case)

Fuck sake - op didn't ask for advice on Calpol use! If a baby is irritable and out of sorts or seems in pain and Is teething as op said, Calpol is more than fine!

You know her best op, if you're concerned see the GP to ease your mind. X

calpol was a godsend through teething for my two,

Op ime, gps however busy, never mind checking out babies just to verify everything is ok. I hope your dd feels better soon.

Side note, but many teething gels are not allowed to be sold in the US & Canada, and the advice for us for teething is always acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5435608

I agree with PPs who suggest that 1) a loss of appetite by itself is not that unusual in babies for a couple of weeks, but also 2) most GPs won’t begrudge a visit for a baby that age

No, she didn't ask for advice on calpol use, but IME my two eat less when they've had calpol.
That might be because they only have it when they're ill, though.

Thank you all. After another very difficult night I will be ringing the GP today. I'm starting to think it could be something like her throat or ears that I can't see. She has woken up and had 6oz of milk so that's something.

She is clearly in pain. She kept waking up at 2 hourly intervals (not something she's done since newborn!) crying and getting herself really worked up. Hence the calpol. If you suspect your baby is in pain you give pain relief surely? We have tried the teething gels as well but they don't seem to have done a lot. To be honest I've never held much favour with them though. Never worked for my elder dc either. Not sure how this has turned into a debate on calpol usage but oh well. At the moment she's refusing to take it anyway so it's irrelevant.

Hopefully you get some answers at the doctors today. I hope she feels better and you both manage to get some rest.

We've all just had a nasty cold/virus that started with DS (so presume he brought it home from pre school) which caused an incredibly painful sore throat.

His only visible symptom was a snotty nose, but he was off his food and generally out of sorts for over a week, by which point me and DH also had it and realised he'd probably had the sore throat too, which explained the lack of appetite.

Nothing wrong with giving pain medication if you believe your child is in pain. However, have you tried baby nurofen? We always found it so much more effective than Calpol when DS was little, and for some reason he also preferred the taste.