Advice for 14 month old with throat infection

[Whyyougottobeanonymous]

Hi ladies

DD had a high temp a few days ago. Took her to Dr as thought might be ear infection as kept tugging, they looked and said tonsillitis and gave antibiotics. The following evening DD was burning up, I couldn’t get on top of the temp and it was going past 40.
she was all drowsy and lethargic and sounded like she was struggling to breathe.
called 111 as Dr was closed, they listened to her breathing and called ambulance who checked her over and took her to a&e.
they gave steroids as airways were severely swollen and explained that it’s a throat infection. Issued stronger antibiotics, deflam spray, and told me to stagger doses of ibuprofen and calpol.

DD isn’t eating much if anything. Is drinking milk though and has probably already had about 6 or 7oz since waking up at 7am.

Dr suggested squash to get her to drink water - have been putting in a bottle rather than cup as she seems to drink it better this way, but she’s definitely not taking in as much water as she would have done before.

is there any tips from a mums perspective for helping DD eat food. Any suggestions on which foods to offer and how others got liquids down?

also any advice on how to give antibiotics. Dr told me to be create and if necessary put something sugary on the spoon and then give the antibiotics the next time you offer the spoon. Worked once and now DD has caught on so clamps her mouth shut if it’s not calpol or ibuprofen.

im always extremely unwell and running off a few hours sleep over the last few days, so I feel my mum brain is barely working. Any advice would honestly be appreciated. FTM and this is the first time we’ve ever had something so bad!

thanks xx

Solidarity - ftm to a 14 month old with a chest infection here!

OK so re the medicine, have you tried putting it in a bottle teat? Apparently by the time they realise it's not milk it's already gone.

Food wise when our baba had bronchiolitis, our hospital told us to stick to easy to digest junk food - ice lollies, quavers, anything soft and very tasty as their taste buds can be impacted by infection and the pain can make it unpleasant to eat.

Ours is a cracking eater but she literally didn't wat more than a few bites a day for over a week. Docs advised liquids are most important, so prioritise as much fluid as possible and really frequent nappy changes so you can make sure she's not getting dehydrated. It's horrible but will pass xx

I wouldn't worry too much about food - especially if they are taking milk.
Ice cream might work as the cold would numb their throat.
Jelly is good because it helps with fluid intake.
Ice pops for fluids as again, cold.
Stick with weak squash or dilute fruit juice - if it's too strong it can irritate a sore throat.
Antibiotics are difficult. Bribery with smarties/chocolate buttons etc.
Use a Calpol syringe.
Sit in lap, wrap one arm around them to firmly hold their arms down, and give little bits at a time.

That sounds horrendous your poor DD. I would focus on fluids more than food - ice lollies, smoothies (even better if it's in a carton from their perspective!), juice cartons, milkshake, fruit, juice, ice cream.

On the abx, we just have to force them down unfortunately. Saw a tip on here to wrap LO in a towel first which really helped us. Then aim for back of the mouth on one side with the syringe.