How we feel about temps in our children - I hate them

[mandmsmummy]

So how do you feel...
My DD 2.8 yrs has had one since yesterday, spiked at 39.5 overnight so saw gp today. Can't find anything obvious, looks like a virus. Her temp is up and own all the time, nurofen and calpol are working but I hate the uneasy feeling I get with them. Always worried it will go really high.
Thoughts please...x

Well obviously I don't like them having a temperature!

I have a rule of no Calpol until 38, if it doesn't come down try Nurofen, if it gets to 40 I start to panic.

I tend to keep my anxiety under control though, as long as the meds are working. If they stop working I call NHS Direct (always in the middle of the night, of course!)

Thanks for the reply. It's got close to 40 but seems to come down. X

And another thing, how can they be different in each ear sometimes? X

Hope she's ok tonight - it's horrible when they're little.

DS used to get really frequent high temps when he got tonsillitis and I was told by GP to not really worry too much as it was the body's way of fighting the virus or bacteria that was causing the illness. Obviously if it reached 40 degrees I would get him seen, but for a temp of 39-ish I was told to give calpol and ice pops or ice cubes to cool from the inside.

Hope your DD feels better soon.

It is a normal response to infection, although I hated it when they were babies if it went 39C or above - generally ear infections.
Now they're older (6+3) they very rarely get them and am not really bothered as I know they are pretty hardy & healthy.

I hate them too, in DD1 they cause massive febrile seizures which always mean a 999 call and usually admitted.

Hope your LO feels better soon, different temps in different ears suggest (IMHO) could be an ear infection?

Thanks both, she's in bed now and hot one minute and not the next. Been ok in herself if a bit irritable. Her normal temp is around 36.7 so it seems so hot when she's at 38.5 like now x

I totally know what you mean. It makes me really panic, especially if there doesn't seem to be anything else obviously wrong. But I get v high temps sometimes if I am overtired / run down. I always think it is my body's way of shutting down so I get some rest. But I can't rationalise it when it comes to the kids. I have no idea why one ear is hotter than the other sometimes, but it is often the case.

Thanks all, really nice to hear your thoughts.
My eldest 7yrs doesn't get temps unless he's really poorly (very rare) so it's new territory for me and its unsettling. X

I don't worry about it unless it is over 38.5 ish, and even then it depends on how it effects them. Dts have had a high temp before and been a bit flushed but otherwise fine, then strangely had a lower temp and been more uncomfortable.
I am pretty sure with older children (not babies) that its not necessarily the scale of the temperature but if it rises or falls drastically. so I keep my eye on that rather than worry about a high one. This is within reason obviously and we have been lucky not to have a temperature higher than low 39.
I hope I haven't jinxed myself now, dts haven't been ill for nearly a year so we are due something.

I was verry poorly a year ago in hospital, and they wouldn't let me go home because they couldn't control my temperature. I was really down about it. But I was on a ward with patients with leaukaemia, and one of the nurses explained how these patients didn't always get temperatures even if very poorly, because their immune systems weren't working. Made me feel a whole lot better about my fever! Your DD and DS have immune systems that are doing their jobs. This is good!
But I do feel for you, as I go into almost a depression when my kids are poorly!
I wish her well.

We don't own a thermometer . I was told not to medicate for temperatures as it is a natural way to fight infection. I use calpol or neurofen if they are in pain. If their temperatures get high they tend to sleep.

But it is horrid when your kids are ill, I can understand the worry I really freaked out when dd had croup, it sounded awful I thought she was going to stop breathing. I was much calmer when ds got it about a week later!

Actually, having read more about this, I think the nurse was talking bollocks but anyway it made me feel better at the time!

Thanks all. I really appreciate you taking time to reply. Feel better already! x

I hate it too. And know myself how that temperature can make you feel so miserable and achey. Really wish my dcs never had to be ill!! Hope yours better soon

I think everyone freaks out a bit with fevers simply because its always the uncertainty of what is causing it. If you know whats going on, eg chickenpox its not scary but those unknown spiked temps are not nice at all.

temperatures can be different in the ears also if one ear is brewing an infection, so never take it there if the child complains of earache. Though they dont always specify if they are very young!

I haven't bothered getting the thermometer out the cupboard since before DD2 was born.

Child feels hot it gets Calpol that's it I don't worry about it any further than that.

The in ear thermometer froze me mad, it's results are about as repeatable as a first year medics practical readings and believe me medical students may be very clever, but some of them should not be let loose in a laboratory.

Don't have a thermometer, if my children seem uncomfortable, in pain or are upset/bothered by a temp then they get calpol. Generally tho I just make sure they keep fluid intake up and they tend to sleep. Temp is the bodies way of fighting infection.

I hate it when my kids have temperatures especially with no other obvious symptoms.

Dd runs a normal temperature of 375ish which is much higher than ds who is below 368 usually . Strangely though it is usually ds (6) who gets the 39.9 temperatures - usually with ear infections. Dd has been 39.4 a couple of times recently and I'm hoping she isn't goin to start running high fevers too as ds never did until he had swine flu at 3/4.

I don't medicate for below 38.5 unless in pain or its nighttime.

Hmm I must be a harsh parent. 40 doesn't bother me too much. I have only been worried by a temp of 42. I only medicate when child is uncomfortable or once we get above 39. Temperatures are a good thing and medicating too much can prolong an illness.

Ds1 doesn't really do temperatures and if he does he can handle them with little bother.

Ds2 on the other hand....... We had a lovely ride in an ambulance because of an unknown cause of temperature of 40 with assorted meningitis symptoms. Poor boy's only 2 and this is the second time it's happened, first time had a small fit, but not in this occasion, but the medical team seemed to think he was peaking and would have one soon, in his little life (the symptoms/ambulance part) and we've been given higher dose calpol and Brufen for him because he can't seem to shake temperatures at all when he gets them. It spiked last night at 39.6, so medicine and sleep and same today and he seems better. He's had high temps of just over 39 before and can't seem to get them down, but they are usually with illness, which is known and I feel better able to cope with. It's the unknown sudden onset of illness that scares the crap out of me.

Bloody kids are a worry!