How many times has your child had a fever this winter?

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

mrsed1987 · 28/01/2023 22:35

So far just a cold in October and one beginning of Jan. 4 years old at nursery 3 days a week. I won't speak to soon though

Theunamedcat · 28/01/2023 22:43

Yes the vilest of vile colds is back again and teen ds is Barking like a seal

wobblymum1 · 28/01/2023 23:00

Norovirus in November, strep A in December, 2 x colds and tummy bugs in January, and they’ve all floored her ☹️

Original poster

NCForDCThread · 28/01/2023 23:14

Mine is 5 and in second year of school, as far as I can remember this is so unusual of her have so many fevers within such a short space of time.

How old is yours @wobblymum1?

OP posts:

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 28/01/2023 23:16

0 fevers, 1 mild cough, and she seems to have avoided the horrible cold i had, and whatever 10 kids in her class had, no idea how

EzzieM · 28/01/2023 23:30

Yep not ‘serious’ fevers but for a little hot / feels sick we’re on about our 6th illness that’s meant time off school 🙈😭

Littleroundsponge · 28/01/2023 23:37

1 very high fever with Strep A in December.

MintJulia · 28/01/2023 23:42

None, although ds, having avoided Covid, has finally caught a sniffly cold.

SkankingWombat · 28/01/2023 23:55

No temperatures for either DC, although one has had a couple of coughs and the other currently has the snots. We've dodged school outbreaks of D&V x 2 and another of Scarlet Fever though, so we're doing pretty well! Not an illness, but just had an email to say there is a headlice problem in school currently, so that is now our focus to avoid...

YerAWizardHarry · 28/01/2023 23:56

I have a 10 year old and have literally never checked his temperature. Surely it doesn’t actually show you anything? It’s pretty obvious to see if you child is sick in other countries ways

Original poster

NCForDCThread · 29/01/2023 00:48

YerAWizardHarry · 28/01/2023 23:56

I have a 10 year old and have literally never checked his temperature. Surely it doesn’t actually show you anything? It’s pretty obvious to see if you child is sick in other countries ways

Well, it shows you they have an infection their body is trying to fight and with high fevers potentially whether it's more serious and that medical help might be needed.

Back story is she's been saying she feels ill for a long time now and we've had no option but to brush over it as no one can find a cause, so it's carry on as normal unless we can see she's ill.

However, my child doesn't present as sick initially. Often with tonsillitis she's just a bit sensitive and you could take it as tiredness. First real sign of infection - viral or bacterial - for her is always her temperature. She will start muttering in her sleep or stop making much sense but otherwise even when she is ill will have multiple bursts of energy between the crashes so it's very hard to tell level of sickness unless she's sleeping all day and hard to wake (at which point I'd be very worried because that's not her at all). Tonight she's been shivering with a fever of 39.1 and wanted to chat my ear off but won't eat anything.

The reason for my question is we're starting to think that 4 infections with fevers are too much in that period of time and whether there's something else going on behind it. She eats healthily at home so we're not sure why she keeps getting sick like this. That being said, we are trying to weigh it up against it being a hard year for winter sicknesses.

OP posts:

wobblymum1 · 29/01/2023 00:50

NCForDCThread · 28/01/2023 23:14

Mine is 5 and in second year of school, as far as I can remember this is so unusual of her have so many fevers within such a short space of time.

How old is yours @wobblymum1?

She’s 6 and while she has always picked up stuff easily this winter has been by far the worst 😢

wobblymum1 · 29/01/2023 00:55

NCForDCThread · 29/01/2023 00:48

Well, it shows you they have an infection their body is trying to fight and with high fevers potentially whether it's more serious and that medical help might be needed.

Back story is she's been saying she feels ill for a long time now and we've had no option but to brush over it as no one can find a cause, so it's carry on as normal unless we can see she's ill.

However, my child doesn't present as sick initially. Often with tonsillitis she's just a bit sensitive and you could take it as tiredness. First real sign of infection - viral or bacterial - for her is always her temperature. She will start muttering in her sleep or stop making much sense but otherwise even when she is ill will have multiple bursts of energy between the crashes so it's very hard to tell level of sickness unless she's sleeping all day and hard to wake (at which point I'd be very worried because that's not her at all). Tonight she's been shivering with a fever of 39.1 and wanted to chat my ear off but won't eat anything.

The reason for my question is we're starting to think that 4 infections with fevers are too much in that period of time and whether there's something else going on behind it. She eats healthily at home so we're not sure why she keeps getting sick like this. That being said, we are trying to weigh it up against it being a hard year for winter sicknesses.

Show quote history

This is so so similar to us.
my daughter will spoke a high temp and mutter in sleep/ fatigue etc but other than that you wouldn’t “know” she was ill. With tonsillitis she managed the whole day at school and her childminder with a temp of 40 with no one noticing as she just says “fine” when asked if she’s ok 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️
i asked our Gp at latest appointment if she thought it wasn’t a bit excessive with the number of illnesses and she said no, they’re seeing it lots with lower immune systems post lockdown. It’s just so hard when other kids seem to breeze through catching nothing and my dd is like sticky paper to a fly with viruses ☹️

*temperature note to someone who asked why it matters- very high temp (upper 39-40’s) tend to indicate a bacterial infection like tonsillitis or a uti which require antibiotics so while a thermometer isn’t a must it is helpful for me to get a guess At whether it’s viral and can be handled at home with rest and fluids or if she’ll likely need antibiotics

Original poster

NCForDCThread · 29/01/2023 00:56

Sadly for your DC, that's given me a little bit of reassurance. I hope you're DC doesn't get anything else though. I'm looking forward to spring giving DD a break from illness.

(I should have said that she usually gets the normal colds without fevers and cracks on through sneezing and coughing just fine. The fevers are first sign that she's going to struggle with whatever she's picked up.)

OP posts:

wobblymum1 · 29/01/2023 01:09

NCForDCThread · 29/01/2023 00:56

Sadly for your DC, that's given me a little bit of reassurance. I hope you're DC doesn't get anything else though. I'm looking forward to spring giving DD a break from illness.

(I should have said that she usually gets the normal colds without fevers and cracks on through sneezing and coughing just fine. The fevers are first sign that she's going to struggle with whatever she's picked up.)

My understanding from Gp is that if they can get through colds/ coughs ok and recover it’s definitely not immune related or underlying issues so hopefully that is reassuring.

really hope your little one starts to recover as weather warms up 💕

Sunnyside1902 · 29/01/2023 04:03

My son is 3, currently unwell with another temperature! Think thjnn Is the 4th or 5th tunes he's been poorly since the end of November! Had 2 lots of different antibiotics before Christmas.

Inbetween illnesses he is his usual self, he was in good spirt yesterday day time , although he didn't eat much but drank well. but the temp Is a lot worse at nighttime . Currently awake keeping an eye as I'm paranoid !

It's his 1st year at nursery so his immune system has had a bit of a shock I think @NCForDCThread

indywindy · 29/01/2023 08:54

Ugh I hate winter for this reason.

DD1 (2y) has managed to get through with just a cold and a tummy bug. Didn't have a fever through either.

DD2 (4 months) has had a suspected infection twice due to fever within her first 6 weeks. Both times we were in hospital and she had to be cannulated for the antibiotics, it was awful. She now has a horrible cold. She's coughing so much at night, during the day she seems ok.

Hope everyone's children make it through these nasty illnesses with ease (and avoiding hospital!).

MontyK · 29/01/2023 09:34

Mine has had various cold viruses over the winter but not bad enough to stay off school.

Then had a pretty severe fever 40+ beginning of January which floored them for about 5 days.

Has now come down with another cold (sneezing/blocked nose) but doesn't seem too bad at the moment.

It does seem relentless at this time of year

blueskylie · 29/01/2023 10:40

I was looking at my my children's absences yesterday, coincidentally, because I couldn't believe how low their attendance was on the report that came from school last week. They usually have very high attendance.

One of my children has 3 periods of illness in Nov and Dec. The worst lasted 5 days. They'd recover enough to go back to school, have a week or so at school, then get poorly again. He started a new school in sept so possibly related to a bigger germ pool.

The other has never been poorly, never had covid, must have a great immune system because he's never ill. Until winter 2022 when he had 2 periods of fever and missed 6 days of school, pretty much one following straight after the other.

I work in primary and, anecdotally, this winter has been really bad for illness.

lljkk · 29/01/2023 11:38

When DC were preschoolers, 4 hot episodes in a month would have been ordinary.
DC are actually mid-teen-adult now, so few fevers.
Think last one was about 5 weeks ago adult DD came over feverish, I gave her ibuprofen & a covid test & we went for a cycle ride (she enjoyed).
Oh, and 5-6 years ago when biggest DS had poinsy.

Original poster

NCForDCThread · 29/01/2023 12:00

My DC has had about 14 days off already. I don't want her to miss much more.

The fevers are lasting around 5 days, up all during the night with until they've settled a bit and it always seems to start over a weekend, almost always Sunday/Monday overnight. I can't work out why that is so far except her wrap around care for the morning is extended to the afternoon at the end of the week so maybe she's exposed to more children there.

OP posts:

Aklein38 · 19/03/2024 13:13

@NCForDCThread did this settle? My DS is 22 months and constantly has temperatures. 10 in 2023 and 4 already this year. Like you I'm starting to worry if it is something more serious like leukaemia. Just this week he only had 4 days between fevers. Did your DC get better in the end?

@lljkk you say that your DC could have up to 4 fevers a month? Is that true? If so maybe I can relax a bit as my son keeps getting them, we are averaging 2 a month the last few months!

cansuuucan · 05/01/2026 14:16

NCForDCThread · 28/01/2023 22:32

We're on fever number 4 in a month and a half. The last fever ended last week, new one started 8 days later. Before that my daughter was ill for a week to a week and a half without fever but seems to have just had back to back illnesses like she's not recovering at all. In December she had 2 illnesses with fevers too.

Is this happening with anyone else's children this winter?

Hey I would like to ask how is your little one doing? As I am in the same boat with my little one.