Do I really need to take him to A&E?

[ottilieorange]

Hi,
DS (18 months) has a temperature of 40 as of this morning.
He's had high temperatures in the past and two of these led to febrile convulsion, both determined to be throat infections.
He's very grizzly and sleepy, but is eating and drinking well.
The query is, do I call 111, take him to a&e, or just wait it out?
Both times we've taken him to a&e, they've had us wait five hours to be seen in Addenbrookes appalling paediatric a&e, only to be told to go home and keep giving him calpol.
Those times have been so stressful for DS, in a baking hot ward with nothing to do and no home comforts.
Am I being selfish by not wanting to put him or us through that again?
Is 40 really a 'call the doctor' temperature every time?
Do toddlers need antibiotics every time they have a temperature/infection?
Thanks!

I don’t seek medical attention of my kids temperature hits 40. I just monitor them more closely, am aware of signs of spesis and am ready to ring 111 or go to A&E if anything changes.

This NHS page has good advice on when you should be seeking help

www.nhs.uk/conditions/fever-in-children/

Thanks for this.

Yes you certainly do need to take your DS to A&E... you will be waiting a while but you don't want to be regretting your decision tomorrow in not taking him - there are all kinds of viruses circulating at the moment which it most likely is but as you know young children of this age can go down hill very quickly (in the case of a bacterial infection which requires antibiotics) so you need to go... all the best

Who says you have to call when the temp hits 40? I’d not heard that before and I do think some kids are more prone to very high temps than others.
(disclaimer not a medical professional!)

I would go by his general alertness, eating drinking and passing urine, and if the temp can be controlled with paracetamol and ibuprofen. Then id only seek medical advice if I suspected infection that needed ABs or if the fever persisted.
but that’s just me

A & E wouldn’t enter my mind in the current scenario you’ve described

My daughter would always get high temps when she was ill as a toddler and young child, 40 or even higher, and after the first time I took her to the doctor in a panic I realised its not the number that matters, its how they are acting i.e. very lethargic or not, eating/drinking or not, so if I'm not worried otherwise, then I just kept her home and carried on with paracetemol/ibuprofen.

2 of mine often spike around 40 and I wouldn't be rushing straight to a+e at that (though we don't have any history of convulsions). If the temp is coming down with Calpol/ibuprofen then I would just keep up the regular doses to keep the temp down. However if it wasn't coming down enough, with the history or convulsions, I would be on higher alert and tempted to at least bring him to OOH.

Have you thought about the out of hours gp? Or 111 for advice?
If your concerned and paracetamol/ibuprofen are not bringing the temperature down you should seek medical attention.
Most temperatures don't need antibiotics but sometimes medical intervention is needed.

I took my daughter to the GP as her temp was over 40 and she'd started "twitching" like a fit/convulsion type thing. The GP checked her temp and sent us home with advice to give her calpol. That was after she cross questioned me about a birthmark on her side

Mine has had temps of 40 before - I’ve been to out of hours and they said as long as she doesn’t ‘seem’ very ill she is unlikely to be. Another good way of determining is if it goes down with Nurofen (Calpol never touched temp for mine). But, no I don’t think you need A&E unless they meet the criteria NHS set

It's the rapid rise in temperature not the actual temperature that causes the fits, and he's unlikely to rise quickly from here.
However if he's had cerebral convulsions before then he is clearly prone to them so watch if his temperature goes back to normal if it starts rising again.

I never took a high temperature as a sign for A&E (one of mine would go above 40 quite frequently and even 41 at times). My GP told me that you need to look more at the behaviour-some serious illnesses don't cause major temperature rises.

I wouldn't take any of mine if they were eating and drinking well unless they were throwing it all back up again. If they start being too drowsy to eat or drink or are showing signs of being dehydrated then I'd be looking for an out of hours/A&E appointment.

But if you're worried it's always worth seeking advice from someone who can look at your child and decide on seeing them.

A temperature is a healthy response to a virus, in your case I wouldn't take him.

There's a traffic light chart for when a child needa to be seen (and by who). I tend to follow that. I wouldn't automatically go to a&e for a very high fever, but t would depend on things like heart rate, how fast they are breathing, lethargy levels etc.