Would you give antibiotics at this point to nearly 3 year old ?

[slamon]

My nearly 3 year old boy has had tonsillitis quite a lot. He also gets ear infections frequently.

This year has been a lot better than last year, thankfully as he's growing it's coming on less and less.

Anyway, on Sunday all of a sudden he took a turn out of nowhere, high fever/ lethargic and even seemed a bit floppy in my arms when we were out at lunch.

I dosed him up with calpol and he seemed ok. Then it wore off and I gave more. He needed a top up during the night as well.

Monday morning came and I didn't really like how he was, just very sad- crying. But okish when dosed up on medicine. I wouldn't usually see the doctor at this point yet but it looked really painful for him to swallow. So the doc called us in and said it's hard to tell how it's going to go, so she'll prescribe antibiotics and if things haven't settled in a couple of days, to give them.

Last night he was pretty unhappy and needed to be dosed up again during the night and then today he's been happy sometimes but fever is returning as well on and off.

I looked in his throat, tonsils are huge ( which they were since Sunday ) but now they also have white spots.

I've given him his first dose of antibiotics this evening as I don't like his general demeanour and the fact there are white spots.

At the same time I hate that he has antibiotics so much. It's such a hard call to make ! Even doctors don't always know if it's vira or bacterial !

Yes I would any day, especially if having ongoing temperatures and rigors. The risk of developing a chest infection or sepsis is higher if tonsillitis isn’t trrated
adequately. I obviously don’t want to use antibiotics if I can avoid them but sometimes that’s all that is needed. I’m aware of the risks of antibiotic resistance but you need to balance the risks versus the benefits short term and longer term.

My 4 year old is having an adenotonsillectomy at the end of the month for recurrent tonsillitis, mouth breathing and poor weight gain.
im hoping after this he won’t need antibiotics as regularly as the long term benefit it to prevent antibiotic resistance. Maybe your son is someone who is prone to tonsillitis and a tonsillectomy down the line. I believe the criteria is 6 episodes per year to be eligible for NHS but we are going private.