21 month old DD has a temp of 39.8. Advice please!

[mumofone25]

Hello,

My 21 month old DD has been ill since saturday with an on off temperature, cold and cough. Saw the gp today who has given her antibiotics for her throat. DD woke me up at 2am and has a temp of 39.8 ( used an underarm thermometer ) I've given her calpol, stripped her off to her nappy and have a warm damp muslin. Her temp is still at 39.4 45 minutes later, any advice on how to deal with it and bring it down? Going to call ooh gp if it doesn't drop further.

Thankyou!

Call ooh doc but you can alternate paracetemol with ibuprofen so the overlap as they start to wear off...

Yes agree to alternate ibuprofen and paracetamol. Keep her stripped off. Do you have a fan you can put on to circulate round the room? My ds temperature always goes up to 40.2 when he's ill and after a couple of hospital trips decided he's just prone to very high temperatures. Sometimes the painkillers don't bring the temperature down much for long but after 12 hours they usually help.
How's she doing this morning?

Thankyou both very much for the replies. DD's temp came down after a couple of hours and is 37 this morning. This is her first illness with a temperature so I'm not very clued up! No fan here pudseypie but I've kept the heating off and DD's room is a cool 18. DD is doing ok this morning thankyou, sounds a bit chesty today and is having another day off nursery. So with regards to the calpol and ibuprofen I can give her a dose of calpol then 4 hours later a dose of ibuprofen? Has your DS had a convulsion with a temp as high as that? My gp warned that it could happen.

You can interlink the calpol and ibuprofen, so 2-3 hrs after calpol give ibo, then 2-3 hrs later give calpol etc. I have been advised by the GP several times to do this as my DD is also prone to high temps.

Usually febrile convulsions are triggered by a fever that goes up very quickly, rather than just high.

It's important to remember too that, even thought they at horrible and scary, they are almost invariably harmless and cause no after effects at all.

seeline thankyou for that. Will do that from now on. Really appreciate the info curlew it's terrifying me every time her temp shoots up.

I hesitate to post this, because it might encourage mumsnetters to call their next baby Gertie but here goes

Glad things are better today!

I was told by a doctor not to bathe my daughter in a warm cloth/cool bath as it closes the pores up and prevents heat from escaping.

My daughter flatly refused Calpol/Nurofen until she was about eight (the times we did get it down her, she sicked it back up), so had to manage temperatures by stripping clothes off, turning heating down, encouraging sips off water and opening window.

Thanks for the link curlew it's really helped me! Thankyou lottie4 she does seem a lot better today. Oh really? Cheers for that will avoid using the damp cloth. Appreciate all the advice :)

My ds has never had a febrile convulsion despite him usually getting a 40.1 or 40.2 temperature when he's ill. I know it can happen but we've been lucky. He's been known to run around the paediatric ward in just his nappy before with that kind of temperature, waving at the nurses!
We also alternate the ibuprofen and paracetamol 2-3 hours apart.
Glad her temperature has come down a bit.