Temperature high enough to panic?

[ElusiveMoose]

DS (aged 3) had temperature of 38.6 and felt generally rubbish before bed this eve. Gave max dose of Calpol at 7pm and put him to bed. Now 9.20pm, just taken temp again and now 39.8. This seems very high to me especially with Calpol. Should I do anything now or leave until morning?

Have you tried other things to cool him down? Give him kid's ibuprofen too.

Does he have just the fever or any other symptoms?

You can give children's ibuprofen too.

Is he stripped down? Under no blankets/duvet? Just a sheet if he wants to snuggle under something. Plenty to drink, air circulating etc.

How is he? Any other symptoms? Reasons for temp? Responding normally? Eating/drinking?

Def give burden, it's more effective at reducing temperature than calpol. Does he have any other symptoms?

Bloody predictive text - brufen not burden

Certainly high, but don't panic!

Do the things that showaddywaddy said and then take his temperature after another 1/2 an hour.

If no improvement I'd call your OOH Drs.

Hope he's ok

xx

39.8 is very high. You should probably phone nhs direct and talk to a nurse for some real advice.

I was once told by a dr that what the temperature was didn't really matter it was the things showaddywaddy says and whether you can bring it down with medicines.
I agree backing up the calpol with kids Ibuprofen as well the 2 together are usually pretty effective.

DS had a temp of 40.6 last week, was only going down to 39 with calpol, ibuprofen got temp down much quicker.
Depends on other symptoms whether you need to panic.
You can give ibuprofen now, can alternate with the paracetamol.

Thanks. I unfortunately don't have any ibuprofen, though I could probably go out and get some somewhere. TBH he is a bit snuggled up in bed , so I'll try stripping him down a bit. WRT how he feels, he's been suffering from a cold for a couple of weeks, but seemed to be pretty much over it. He was fine all day until about 4pm when he started to get a bit crotchety.

If you can go out and get some I really would. Maybe open his window slightly for a while. Poor little man

yes 39.8 is very high - is it a spike or is it a constant temp? I always find temps that spike in the morning and evening are viral whereas a constant high temp like that is bacterial infection and needs AB.

Keep him cool but away from draughts, lots of fluid and I find tepid sponging is comforting.

Has he been checked over?

Oh, and didn't really want any tea this evening, though did drink a fair bit of water. Responding normally but grumpily. Now a bit fitful in bed, but don't really know - didn't wake up properly when I took his temp.

If he's all wrapped up in bed, that will make his temp higher. I always look at the child not the temp (and with things like febrile convulsions it's not the temp but the speed of spike that is the problem). If he's responding, albeit grumpily and reacting to being prodded and poked then that's counted as responsive.

You need to strip him down a bit, cool him down and reassess.

Don't sponge him. Try and bring his temp down gently and consistently.

And always, always, always call for proper medical advice if you're worried. Your instincts and knowledge of your child are what's important.

You can alternate paracetamol based medicine with brufen based medicine, every 3 hours, means that your DC gets a safe "double dose" IYSWIM.

Good luck, make sure he has plenty of fluids.

Thanks for all the advice. In the end, I went to buy ibuprofen, but by the time I got back his temp had gone down to 39 and he was finally fast asleep, so I decided to leave him. Temp has been hovering between 37.5 and 38.5 today, so no longer scary. Though when I tried to get the ibuprofen down him tonight, he flatly refused to take it (he's extremely fussy with new anything).

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Calprofen looks/tastes like normal Calpol? I bought the Nurofen Kids, because it was all that my late night Tesco had, but if the Calpol stuff is pink and tastes like normal Calpol, then I'll buy some of that too, because then he'll take it.

My Ds used to throw up the nurofen (think its so thick) but would tolerate calprofen, doesn't taste or look like calpol but isn't as gloopy as the nurofen.

Hope he feels better soon.

Some of the own brand Ibuprofen are not pink but a bit more like Calpol taste wise.
Mind you my fussy eating DS1 who is also fussy about meds will take the Calprofen.