Anyone awake - anxious about my son

[Anxiousmother23]

He came down with a temperature and very off colour yesterday morning, we kept him off school. His fever was at 38.9 last night, gave calpol and about 30 mins later ibuprofen to help, which brought it down to 37.5 (this is forehead temp)

Now he’s woken up in the early hours with a horrific cough and can’t stop coughing, his fever is back at 38.5 I’ve given him more calpol. But his cough sounds horrific. He was totally fine on Thursday, the whole thing started yesterday morning.

I’m mega anxious when it comes to illness, especially his. As I always think the worst, especially at night like this.
He’s also very rarely unwell with a fever etc.
He can’t seem to get back to sleep with this cough - obviously he needs to sleep to help get himself better.
Is it worth taking him to out of hours in the morning just to get him checked over? In case it’s an infection and he needs antibiotics?

In fact the first sentence says 'Most babies and children aged 3 months and over who weigh at least 5kg (11lb) can have ibuprofen for children.'

Totally agree.

I don't understand people who call the doctors for every illness.

The important part is 'ibuprofen for children' - not the capsules that adults take.

It's not clear if OP is using a type for children.

I think he sounds poorly but I wouldn’t take him to the doctor yet. My DS had a fever on and off for 5 days when he was 6 months old and he had tonsillitis but it was obvious that he wasn’t getting better when I took him to the gp after that time. Your son does sound like he’s perking up. I would take him after the weekend if no improvement or if he suddenly gets much worse.

True, perhaps worth highlighting but it's probably unlikely that her 6yo is swallowing adult capsules rather than the liquid child version.

Do you have hydrolyte? They are like an icypole you keep in the freezer. Great for cooling and hydration and electrloytes. Maybe buy some tomorow.

He’s been on and off today - he’s eaten some (mostly junk) and drank water, but he has been laying on the sofa a lot watching tv and also on his tablet.
He seems to have come on with it again this evening as his temp has gone back up to 38.7. He’s due another ibuprofen (liquid kids form) so I’ll be giving that to him shortly.
I know it tends to come on worse at night - he’s been coughing and snotty all day.
Its a shame as he’s meant to be going to a friend’s birthday party tomorrow 😔 I’m hoping he’ll be ok for school on Monday, but I guess we’ll have to see.
Preparing myself for another rubbish night!

I suppose a big issue for me is that he very rarely gets fevers.

I don’t think the fever in itself is an issue as long as it’s not out of control. The fever is a sign his body is fighting infection. It’s my understanding that you should take your child to a doctor if their fever persists over several days as that can be a sign the infection isn’t going away.

His fever seems to go down with paracetamol/ibuprofen so I guess that’s good. He’s drinking plenty and has been weeing today.
Just not himself and when the meds wear off, you can tell he’s due another dose.

At what point would you worry about it being prolonged? Tomorrow morning it’ll be 48 hours since it started. I guess I could call our local GP surgery on Monday as it’ll be 72 hours by then, if no improvement.

You don't need to seek medical attention. He is drinking, eating and resting.

I'd say 5 days. He's eating, drinking and the temp going down with medicine. They aren't going to do anything I don't think.

I would say 5 days too as he is eating and drinking as normal. Unless he suddenly gets much worse.

He's eating, drinking and has a temp. You don't need medical attention.

Give him paracetamol. It will bring his temperature down .

Think about the last time you had proper flu. Were you feeling better within 72 hours? No. Flu takes a long while to improve. He won’t be well enough for school on Monday but he doesn’t need to see a doctor unless he is not drinking enough or weeing enough, is struggling to breathe well, has a fever that paracetamol and ibuprofen aren’t touching, develops white spots on his tonsils, has a rattle chest and coughs up orange mucus or develops any of the signs of sepsis. Just like it you had flu you would have to stay at home and wait it out - you wouldn’t see a doctor for flu unless you were convinced that you’d got a secondary infection. And it is very likely to be flu because the rates of it are sky high at the moment. Did he have his flu vaccine at school? That can lessen the symptoms and the chances of catching it but unfortunately it hasn’t been very effective this year for some reason. It usually is.

it sounds as if he’s managing well, and giving age appropriate meds are reducing his temperature as expected.

if he continues to eat,drink and wee as described today I’d only see a gp if he’d had a temp over 38 continuously for 5 days or more as per nhs guidelines.

its scary when our children are unwell and you’ve both been very lucky he’s not experienced fevers before but he’s doing well.

please don’t send him back to school until he’s had a Normal temperature for 24 hrs clear, he will be very easily tired for a few days after this

Thanks.
He’s in bed with DH (I’m in the spare room) as I’m too anxious to sleep in with him and will be checking him every 5 mins.
The only problem is when I popped in to check on him, he’s pulled the covers right up , I keep pulling them back down, and told DH to do the same, but obviously he’ll be asleep tonight. He’s only wearing his boxers and a light pj top.

He loves a blanket on himself - he always has done to sleep

Now I’m mega worried as he’s just been sick on the carpet after crying that his tummy really hurt.
He seemed better when he woke up this morning and his temp was a bit lower without Calpol/Nurofen.
He’s not coughing as much, but he is still a little bit and he’s still very snotty and laying on the sofa. But he seemed in a lot of pain before he threw up. Surely he can’t have a sickness bug as well as this other thing? Or is it part of the same?
I’m wondering if it’s the medication we’ve been giving him - maybe it’s upset his tummy?

You can get sickness with these kind of viruses. It's all the yukky stuff from his cough /nose going into his tummy. It's better out than in

@Growsomeballswoman Would it also give him a tummy pain beforehand?

Yes absolutely it would. It can curdle and then he will be sick. It's horrible but normal with some children x

He might feel brighter now it's out

I’m on the sofa watching traitors, feeling queasy and gripey, not sure if I need the loo or a bucket.

i’m belchy and windy and generally miserable. So yes, I expect he feels like me!

Do you have any cola? I find it helps- a little caffeine, and encourages the release of gas in your stomach!