Fever lasting weeks - first winter at nursery

[WorriedSick99]

Hi everyone,

my son started nursery in May this year and had a constant cold for months but this winter is something else. First he caught HFM which we thought was bad enough, but then had RSV for three weeks (2 weeks of fever every day) and now, a week later, he caught another bug and has had a fever for 10 days now. We’ve seen doctors (including my brother in law who is a consultant) and GPs and no one seems to worry about him (well hydrated, responsive) but honestly I never thought children can have a fever for so long! When I ask friends with kids they always say 3-4 days max of fever. We have had a half-dead 19mo toddler for weeks now, he just sits on our lap crying all day. Went through so many bottles calpol. Our jobs aside, I find it incredibly stressful that he is not getting better but the doctors just shrug their shoulders and say it’s normal.

Has anyone else gone through spells of fever that long? Should I expect this to last all winter? I’m 8 months pregnant and exhausted, so is my husband. Any reassurance would be much appreciated…

I really wouldn’t be happy with that. We usually advise a medical review if a fever hasn’t resolved by day 5. Have they said they think it’s viral? I assume they’ve checked his chest, ears, throat etc? Does the fever come down with medication? I would be taking him back again to be honest, 10 days is too long.

Has the GP checked his ears? Every time we’ve had a fever that has lasted longer than 5 days it has been an ear infection. A GP should be investigating an infection of some kind for a fever going on for that long.

Hope little one recovers soon!

They have checked him - no ear infection, throat inflamed but nothing too serious. Chest fine - he has a cough but he sounds ok when they check him out. Just really really ill. No suspected bacterial infection, they all think it’s viral. I guess if it is then of course there is no cure other than waiting but it’s taking such a long time and it’s driving me insane not seeing any improvement.

This year's flu seems to be giving a longer duration of illness, and/or he may be getting more than one thing in the bounce. 5 days in a row remains a good rule of thumb to have him checked over in care there are emerging signs at that point of something nasty going on.