Strawberry tongue and tonsillitis

[Olivia199]

Hello,

Another rambly post from me after very little sleep.

My DD who is now 15 months has been having a mare of a time sleeping for about 5 days now. She's been waking after 5-10 minutes and just really struggling. She's been shoving her hands into her mouth but I assumed that was thanks to the appearance of a couple of new teeth. She's had a cough at night for months but it got worse a few days back. It co-incided with the temp drop so I just sort of assumed it was that. Then the grump etc I put down to exhaustion. She didn't seem "unwell".

Today she woke with a fever above 40, shaking head to toe and breathing fast.
I took her to urgent care who checked her over and said she had tonsillitis/strep throat and a textbook strawberry tongue.
Prescribed antibitoics and told to keep a very close eye on her as she's not eating and drinking only sips and her temp seems reluctant to stay much below 40.

She's been really unsettled but is finally snoozing and I'm laying next to her feeling bloody awful. When we were at the doctors I assumed the strawberry tongue is linked to the strep throat and nothing more but when looking on the NHS website for some advice about what would help her, it says strawberry tongue is caused by scarlet fever from untreated strep throat.

So basically I'm now feeling horrific that maybe I missed this and she's now got scarlet fever from the strep throat I didn't treat (because she didn't really show any signs. She was grumpy but eating and drinking. She wasn't sleeping but was also teething. No temps).

Does anyone know what I can expect going forward? Obviously I'll give her the antibitoics as prescribed and try to keep on top of calpol and brufen (which she loves to leave in a fine spray across my kitchen..!)

Is she likely to get a rash? Is this scarlet fever with the tongue or could it just be strep throat?

Any tips on things I can do to help her. She's so so sad.

Thank you!

Just keep going with plenty of fluids and ibuprofen etc, the antibiotics will work quickly, within 24hrs I would say she will start to improve.

She's on antibiotic now, so now wait and see. Make sure she's getting hydrated. She was seen by a doctor. Trust them. I know it's scary, but children gets ill and recover fine.
My dc was hospitalised multiple times as a baby/toddler. Most of the things they did was monitor them. Keep the temp under control. Make sure he was taking liquid in. You can do all that at home.

Thank you both, I think the mum guilt of not recognising her earlier symptoms as anything other than teething/constant stream of nursery bugs is harsh tonight!

Ds1 had strep A and scarlet fever last week. He's had a cough for weeks, but not unwell, just tired from it disturbing his sleep. Monday evening he had a temp. Went to drs, Tuesday night scarlet fever rash and still struggling with the temp. Back to Drs, started antibiotics weds mid morning. He'd not eaten all week. He was noticeably better by Thursday afternoon and ate quite a lot. Rash gone by Friday. He was on rhe sofa most of Tues and weds which is most unusual.

That sounds very similar to my little girl. It quite suddenly went from being irritated from lack of sleep to realising she's definitely poorly. Thank you for this, so glad to hear your DS is feeling better and hopefully mine will be soon too. Seemed to come on so quickly!

It us very sudden, ds went to school ok , picked him up with a raging temperature. That saud,he was definitely "under the weather " for a couple of weeks prior. Hope your daughter feels better soon, it's hard when they're so little. Ds is 7 now and was ok just relaxing in front of the TV.

Scarlet Fever and Strep Throat are the same thing.

Theyre caused by the sane bacteria, but you can have strep throat without scarlet fever.

I think scarlet fever in the very young is often quite mild as they are born with some immunity to it. My 3 year old has had a cough mainly at night for 3 weeks. Two weeks ago he get very picky with eating and developed throat pain. Last week we noticed the rash with was skin coloured but felt like sandpaper. He then developed a red rash around his mouth, swollen tongue and started dribbling a lot. The whole time however he was happy and active other than not eating. He never had a temperature.

He is now 7 days into a 10 day course of antibiotics and is now eating again, swollen tongue gone and rash on face fading. Skin still feels a bit sandpapery and still gas a cough but I think he may also have a cold now. Still happy and active. I hope you LO feels better soon.

My son had the tell take rash and temp on Friday. He's improved massively since his first lot of antibiotics on Friday. They kick in quickly. Hope your little feels better soon x

Thank you all so much, she has indeed got the rash now but does seem to have perked up with the antibiotics so hoping she's on the mend! It's so rubbish when they're feeling rotten.