Would a temp of 40.4 freak you out for toddler ?

[hookline]

Some people would go to hospital for this kind of temperature.

My boy is 18 months and has had a temperature all day ( no other obvious symptoms).

Temperature was around 38-38.5 all day. I've been giving him paracetamol and ibuprofen. He's been lethargic when his fever was high but when the medicine kicked in, he'd be pretty happy.

Since this evening it's risen quite dramatically to 40.4 just now ( he did sleep on me so it made him hotter ).

He was wrenching a bit earlier, but no vomiting.

I have him medicine an hour ago, but temp has just risen ( but was also sleeping on me ). Anyway it went up to 40.4. I've now taken off his very thin top. His temperature is now 40.

Is a high temperature like this a reason to take them to a and e?

I think if it responds to medication it's probably ok.

Or am I being too relaxed about it ?

It's now down to 39.5. I've tried cooling him down slowly as I know that big changes in temp can cause convulsions. But just moving him off me and then removing one layer ( plus the medication from earlier ), seems to have helped.

At 40 an hour after paracetamol or ibuprofen I would be worried as after an hour I would have expected it to have come down. What was the temp when you gave the medicine?

I think if it’s over 40 it’s worth calling 111. Especially when you gave him medicine an hour ago and it only brought it down a tiny bit.

when DD was about 5 years old she was in a similar situation we saw the GP who told us to give paracetamol and ibuprofen (alternating them) as her temp wasn’t responding to Calpol. If it hadn’t responded and come right down after the combination then we were to go to hospital but luckily it did come down!

I’d call 111 and get some advice and possibly an out of hours gp appointment especially as he’s been lethargic. He could have some kind of infection.

Call 111.

If a temperature isn’t accompanied by other symptoms like a rash and is coming down with paracetamol then there’s no need for A&E.

It's a very high temp, but if it responds to medication I would be slightly less worried about it I think. Some kids do run hotter.

Keep an eye out for rashes etc and check him during the night too, if you get to the safe daily limit of medication and it's still high I'd probably ring the Dr personally.

Call 111.

My DD has had temperatures over 40 before, however usually calpol will bring this down quite quickly. If the calpol isn’t working then I would go to A&E. Once I took her to hospital after an afternoon of waiting for a doctor from 111 to call me back and it turned out she had a water infection that needed antibiotics.

Sometimes it’s better to get things checked - my worry would be the paracetamol not having much of an effect on the temperature

If it's coming down with paracetamol/ibuprofen and no other symptoms then I wouldn't but DS1 has had high fevers from 10 months old.

I would say make sure your doing fever management - so make sure there is at least an hour overlap between ibuprofen and paracetamol this should reduce the spikes. So paracetamol is 4 hours give ibuprofen 3 hours, ibuprofen is 7-8 hours so give paracetamol 6 hours after ibuprofen.

I'd be concerned enough to take action if it stays around 40 after taking medication. Call 111, they might be able to make you an appointment with an out of hours doctor.

I wouldn’t rush to A&E but I would phone NHS 111 immediately for medical advice.

It was around 39.7 and then he fell asleep on me. That's what heated him up to 40.4.

Now he's rolled off me and I've taken off a layer, it's 39.5 or so. I gave him ibuprofen an hour ago.

I missed that he’s only 18 months. Don’t try to cool him down too much, he can wear thin clothes / pyjamas. Definitely phone NHS 111 so they can do a proper assessment. He’s still really little - better safe than sorry.

Last time doc told me that a high temp alone is reason to worry (I wouldn’t have known that) & take action (DS had a cold / breathing difficulty that escalated). We were sent to hospital.

I would go to emergency, that's quite a high temp.

At that age I would err on the side of caution and call 111.
I hope he’s feeling better soon

No other symptoms other than a fever ? That’s strange I’d take him to hospital now it’s better to be safe , it should have come down with ibruprofen an hour ago?

No, when my toddler gets a temp it goes over 40 as standard. When I checked it out, guidance was only if its babies does the number matter so much. For toddlers the symptoms are more indicative.

But of course always err on the side of caution.

I’d definitely be calling 111 at over 40. Little kids can have seizures with temps that high.

Not responding to medication, yes I would call 111 and expect to go to A&E (because that's what they always advise for little ones). Mine had strep throat last year and we were advised to go straight to A&E if his temp went above 40 after medication.

I would want the temp down to low 38s really.

111 sent us to after hour GP when our 6 months old had 40 temp after 4 days! It wasn't deemed urgent enough for A&E.
Pretty sure that's the guidance from the NHS, so no for a toddler I wouldn't worried based on that alone.

My son had a febrile convulsion when he was 2 because of a high temperature and he ended up in hospital over night because of it. Please be careful and reach out to 111 and ask for medical advice.

DD2 once had a temp with nothing else and it turned out she had a raging ear infection but she's so tough she showed no signs of being in pain! The doctor physically recoiled from her ear it was so bad.

The problem is if his temp doesn't respond to the medicine you'll get to the point where it makes him vomit. Then you won't be able to get medicine to stay down. So personally I would go to A&E (at his age, 111 will almost certainly tell you to do that, so I'd skip the phone call!)

Ah ok. My doc friends said that it's only a concern if it doesn't come down. And also only to expect a small drop in temp. So if its at 40, you can only expect it to drop to 39 max once medication has kicked in.

Apparently the problem is more if the temp rises or really fast, which is why it's not recommended to take off layers too quickly to cool them down.

However that's just my doc friends, I'm also all ears do your doc who said this is a big deal.

I will call 111.