Lower than normal temperature

[aprilmarcellax]

I would like some reassurance if this is normal or if anyone has experienced this with their little ones...

Whenever I've checked my 2 year olds temperature it always sits between 36.6 and 36.9 (unless she has a fever) but recently she's been a bit poorly we went to see one doctor who said she had an ear infection and gave us antibiotics but then she started to get some new symptoms and a lump came up behind her ear which worried me so we went back and they said it was viral and to stop the antibiotics - I wasn't really happy with this as she had blisters on her tongue and spots at the back of her throat so another doctor recommended we stay on the antibiotics and she's back to her normal self and has been since Sunday. However, her temperature is just sitting at 36 or 35.9 (same as me), I know this is still in normal range but it's just really odd to me that this is the first time it's happening and I'm wondering what might cause this? I do suffer from health anxiety so I've probably convinced myself of all the worst things linked to those symptoms and I'm tired of feeling like this now for 4 days straight just constant googling and scaring myself. She is just bouncing around as normal but the swollen gland I'm assuming in her neck behind her ear is still there and her temperature is still on the lower side...

Is it the same if you test everyone?

We had a thermometer that broke and gave readings that were low. We showed up at 35 but my daughter with a 40 Deg fever (measured at the GP) was only 37 so it wasn't linear issue. We bought a new thermometer and we were 36.5 and she was 40.

I have done some reading since it can be due to the thermometer getting dirty on the detector under the cap so I try to periodically clean ours. The baseline temperature of all 3 of us is 36.4-36.6 and I know if it's below that it might need a clean

I used my underarm one too and that was reading the same, I did stop the antibiotics on day 4 out of 5 as I was doing some research and a few people had the same problem with their children when on amoxicillin and it's coincidentally returned to normal now 🤔. I was told mixed messages about her being on them anyway and that it was just viral so I figured I'd just test it out so may ring the doctor again to see if shes all clear as she's well in herself and back to normal and if she might need a different antibiotic

Never stop antibiotics early without medical advice. If it is bacterial it doesn't fully get rid of the bacteria and they have the opportunity to become resistant to the antibiotics. Incorrect use of antibiotics drives a lot of bacterial resistance and is going to be a longer term problem with increased antibiotic resistance for common illnesses.

Under arm thermometer often read lower than other thermometers potentially 0.5+oC . So if she's 36oC with the under arm that could be the equivalent of 36.5 oC in ear and normal

What's your temperature with the under arm thermometer? After the issue with our old thermometer I always measure my temperature at the same time.

Both ear and underarm reading 35.9/36, since stopping antibiotics it's returned to normal the doctor told me it was viral and then another prescribed me them as a precaution so I'm not entirely sure it was even bacterial

Just wanted to mention along with the lower temperature she was feeling cold to touch constantly on her chest back and tummy. She is now nice and warm in those places with her temperature back up to 36.6 as normal, I remember this starting the same day as starting the antibiotics as I took her temperature before starting them for a different reason and it was normal and then i took it later on that night after a couple of doses and it was low so I panicked. It seems like a scary side effect to make body temperature drop so I'm not sure I was comfortable to carry on the course and have it go even lower... I understand the risks of antibiotic resistance but I think I'll speak to the doctor tomorrow if I can just to see what they can suggest and maybe actually check to see if there's an infection rather than just guessing and giving me them anyway. I've had 3 doctors now in the space of a month give me antibiotics "just in case". One was for hand foot and mouth but I thought it was strep throat and they couldn't tell me for sure so gave me them "just in case"... another one was for a chesty cough, temperature and sore throat so was worried about chest infection and they again, prescribed me just in case! I didn't start her on either of them as she got better and didn't think it was right. Now this time was because she wasn't improving and temperature was still there after 2 weeks on and off he said he will prescribe me them because the previous doctor did and wouldn't have for no reason.. and her ears and throat looked red inside (was also noted on the system that she had an ear infection which I found very strange as he never mentioned this and his reasoning for giving me the antibiotics was because the other doctor thought it was necessary)... you feel like you need to trust what they're saying with them being professional but as you can imagine Ive been very confused when they can't tell me for sure if she has a bacterial infection because they wouldn't test but they give me antibiotics anyway :/ it feels silly maybe I should change doctors... for now I'm just worried about a swollen gland in her neck below her ear at the back as it's not going down, wondered if this was normal and does it necessarily mean that she had a bacterial infection? Or could it be because she hadn't had a break from being poorly she just gets virus after virus?

The thing is, even if it's a viral illness causing the symptoms and you start a course of antibiotics you still need to finish them as they are specific to the bacteria causing the symptoms but potentially all of the bacteria in your body. As the antibiotics don't target just one bacteria.

It might be worth a chat with your local pharmacist they are the best people to discuss medication side effects and things like this.

It's hard, it's quite varied when drs will give antibiotics. My friends seem to get them all the time "just in case" but we have only had them 3 times in 4 years both for tonsillitis. The second time it was for a 5 day fever which was nearly 40.6oC and it was only after he took her temperature he switched from the "probably viral you need to be wait it out". It's hard to know what to do as if bacterial a young child could get very poorly whilst waiting for the results of swabs to work out if it is bacterial or viral and if it's viral are probably mostly better. We were given 2h to get my daughters fever down on this occasion if it had still been 40+ we would have been sent to hospital to be seen by the paediatricians.

I don't know if there's evidence of this but I heard someone say that toddlers in winter pick up a new bug every 5 days so they seem to be always ill! I can definitely relate to this even if it's not true!

Yeah just thinking about it I feel like she might have caught hand foot and mouth again as she had a couple of blisters on her tongue but no where else but she had it in September so may not have been as bad