13mo refuses food and having scream episodes all of a sudden

[ponchikon]

Help please!

13 month old, a former perfect eater (actually was thinking I should take up another job just to feed him!), calm and playful baby has recently become completely unbearable.
He had one day of very high fever 2 weeks ago (doc said - virus, give him ibuprofen) - but since then the temp goes down to 36.8 and then up to 38.3, he's got frequent diarrhoea, he refuses food - he can just go to bed without dinner, or skip breakfast.
And he has become absolutely annoying! He can start crying for no reason and become inconsolable. Yesterday I picked him up at the nursery while he was screaming (no - SCREAMING), he screamed all the way home, at home, refused supper - and calmed down only in the bath after calpol.
Today he is at home, mild fever, refused breakfast, can play calmly for some time - and then starts crying again for no reason.
Doc is closed today, and I suspect they would again say it's a "virus, give him paracetamol".
It's been almost 2 weeks now. Could it be his teeth? Or anything else? Will it pass??? What's happening with my baby?
He sleeps well, btw, but we are giving him calpol at night, otherwise he whines in the middle of the night.

Please advise, we can't take this anymore and it's quite worrying...

Poor thing, he is clearly feeling rough. It will pass (if in doubt, go back to the doctor), but there are loads of tummy bugs and cold viruses around at the moment.

I wouldn't worry too much about the food. Just lots of liquids, offer food, lots of cuddles. I have a ds snuggled up in a blanket at the moment.

Oh, just check his mouth, make sure it isn't hand foot and mouth

Thanks a lot for your response, sunnydayinmay ! It calms me down.
Your poor baby! It's great he's got his mummy to cuddle him...

Thanks for the idea - it doesn't seem like hand foot and mouth, as his moth is smooth and clean
I really hope it's just a virus that makes him feel unwell from time to time and it will pass soon :(

I had the exact same thing with my 18month old last winter. It went on for four months. Took him to the docs lots of times as his temp kept souring to over 39 and I was told it was viral, and it would pass. It was frustrating as he was often ok-ish in the day when I went to the docs and bad at night / morning when he would refuse food and cry / whinge a lot. I should mention that he seemed to get better for short bursts but then would deteriorate.
Eventually whilst we were away skiing he got a pretty bad cough - was keeping him awake most of the night... We took him to a French GP who couldn't see any signs it was an infection but when he asked how long he hadn't been himself and I said about 4 months he raised his eyebrows and immediately prescribed antibiotics. I am not advocating excessive prescription of antibiotics, I understand the risks, but within 48hours cough had cleared up, he started eating properly again and hasn't looked back since.

Not sure if this is helpful but I think sometimes docs are a bit quick to assume we're being paranoid parents. Meanwhile they merrily prescribed my husband some antibiotics when he had a sore throat even though the doc said "it doesn't look like an infection but just in case" 😡

In the meantime give him anything he wants to eat (custard, yoghurt etc) just to get the calories in and try not to worry. It'll come good in the end.

Thanks, Youngta . I agree, docs are sometimes too busy telling us not to worry rather than conducting a thorough checks. And I am not saying give antibiotics to everybody (they gave them to me with the same words as to your husband - it's just I was pregnant at the time, and appalled by the light-headedness of it!) But a blood test, for example, would be useful.
And of course it will go in the end, but I would love to know what this could be and for how much longer we all are expected to suffer! Good job it cleared out in the end with you, but how frustrating that the little one had to suffer for so long!...