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Children's health

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Original poster

HELP would you get dd 7.5 mths out of bed to take her to walk in centre as just been adviced by NHS direct for infected bite ?

28 replies

Lilyloo · 02/09/2008 19:14

Not sure what to do. She has been bitten we think whilst camping last week. It showed as a spot yesterday which became increasingly inflamed and yellowish as the day progressed.
This am it looked like she had taken the head off in the night and was scabbing over.
We showed the pharmacist today who said the scab looked clear and may heal itself but if it started weeping to check it out as infected.
This evening it is really swollen red and angry about size of 2p around the scab and is oozing yellow.
NHS advise to take her to walk in centre but she is now in bed asleep.
Should i wake her or do you think it will be ok left to first thing tom ?

OP posts:

FAQ · 02/09/2008 19:17

I'd take her now if it's come up that much.

milfAKAmonkeymonkeymoomoo · 02/09/2008 19:17

Was she well within herself today i.e. no temperature etc? Were you camping abroad, in which case it could be potentially nastier than a bog standard midge bite from the UK?

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 02/09/2008 19:18

Being so young I would take her.

Original poster

Lilyloo · 02/09/2008 19:24

No it was in UK she has a cough and cold anyway but no worse than she has been.
I am thinking it has worsened due to her releasing some last night as it looked much better this am and then it's built up again.
She was so tired and out of sorts so put her to bed and don't want to take her out in cold if not really necessary but likwise don't want her to suffer.
It's a good 30 min drive to centre.

OP posts:

meglet · 02/09/2008 19:27

I'd take her. The sooner she is looked at the better. The last thing you need is for her to be really poorly in a day or so, they might nip it in the bud today.

GreenMonkies · 02/09/2008 19:28

Does she hava a temp? Is the red area hot/warm? Will she go back to sleep if she's woken? Where on her body is it?

Original poster

Lilyloo · 02/09/2008 19:30

She has no temp it's on her cheek and the inflamation round it about size of 2p.
She not great sleeper but she is shattered poor little thing
Think i should go shouldn't i....

OP posts:

jelliebelly · 02/09/2008 19:30

I'd take her if it is bad enough to prompt you to ring NHS Direct then it is bad enough to get seen imo.

Original poster

Lilyloo · 02/09/2008 19:31

I rang them as i had some hydrocortisone cream for her eczema that i wondered if i could use but said to leave it for doc.

OP posts:

madmouse · 02/09/2008 19:32

tis also on postnatal thread: Lily you say she is sleeping so I think take her tomorrow but you also say she is so out of sorts.

I would see how the evening progresses. If she gets worse ring the out of hours gp. I would not go to the walkin centre now.

Then see your gp in the morning.

If she seemed drowsy/unusually sleepy call out of hours now.

ratbunny · 02/09/2008 20:03

imo nhs direct does tell you to go the doctors for everything. every time I have rung them they have told me to go to the doctors!
can you ring the out of ours doctors instead? they would be able to advis if it can be left til morning.

macdoodle · 02/09/2008 20:10

Lily just seen this - do NOT panic - you know your baby better than anyone...NHS dire will always err on the side of caution...
IMO if she is asleep don't wake her all they can do is give you antibiotics....which will not work instantaneously anyway...
Keep an eye on her if she gets distressed, very hot, nauseaus, redness spreading rapidly or anything else that worries you then ring the out of hours GP, otherwise take her to your GP in the morning...

Paddlechick666 · 02/09/2008 20:31

hi lily, hope dd is okay.

AvenaLife · 02/09/2008 20:37

I would take her. She will need antibiotics if it is this infected. ds's teacher had an infected bite, I told him to go to his GP, he coldn't get an appointment so I told him to go to A&E, which he did. It was a good job he did because if he would have left it 24 hours he would have needed to be admitted and given IV antibiotics. This is what the consultant told him. As it's on her face, I wold definetly take her. Sorry if you think I'm mean. Bites can get really nasty if you leave them though, especially if it's infected.

DontNeedAnything · 02/09/2008 20:40

Skin infections can progress v v v quickly.

If it was a pimple sized earlier and now the size of a 2p I think I would be worried enough to take her.

AvenaLife · 02/09/2008 20:42

It has changed very quickly, I wouldn't leave this until tomorrow.

ginnny · 02/09/2008 20:47

Hi Lily - Its a shame to wake her if she's sleeping peacefully and doesn't have a temperature or anything.
If you are really worried though I'd call your out of hours GP.
Why do these things always happen at night?
x

AvenaLife · 02/09/2008 21:04

You don't have to have a temperature with an infected bite. This only shows that the infection may not be in the blood stream. It doesn't show that the infection might be severe enough to cause scaring!

It is a shame to wake her but I'm sure she'll manage this once if she's taken to get medical help. If you leave this until morning then the chances are it may have spread and she'll need more agressive treatment.

googgly · 02/09/2008 21:12

I'd just go - she'll go back to sleep anyway, waking her up is no big deal. Much worse to realise at 3am that you need to go.

DontNeedAnything · 02/09/2008 21:14

I am with Avena all the way.

I hope the silence from Lily is a good sign (that they are at Walk in).

GreenMonkies · 02/09/2008 21:30

As it's on her cheek you can check it without waking her perhaps you could leave it a couple of hours and see if it has got worse.

I think if it were me I'd take her, but I'd always rather be safe than sorry!

Does this describe it?

A red spot around the location of the bite. The spot will gradually grow bigger, often with a pale area in the middle. This symptom is called erythema migrans.

Erythema migrans can also appear at other places on the body where the patient has not been bitten. Some people get many red spots.

Usually one to four weeks will pass between the bite and when erythema migrans appears.

Some patients feel like they have caught influenza - the symptoms may be:

drowsiness

headaches

mild fever

joint and muscle pains

swollen lymph glands.

(read the rest here)

If it does then perhaps you should take her and get it checked, it is probably just a localised infection, but with small babies it's generally better to be cautious.

hellymelly · 02/09/2008 21:31

I would take her,infections can get worse very quickly and on the face they can spread to the eye-hope she is better soon.

macdoodle · 02/09/2008 22:14

Off to bed now - thinking of you hope LO is ok - assume you went to walkin centre - let us know how you got on and how babe is doing

MrsMcJnr · 02/09/2008 23:06

Poor you no advice really but personally, I would take DS if I was as concerned as you seem hon x

LackaDAISYcal · 02/09/2008 23:14

I hope you have taken her in lilyloo. If it has gotten infected with something like staphylococcus (sp?) then it can get pretty bad pretty quickly. My sisters DS had an infected chicken pox which grew very rapidly overnight and he ended up being hospitalised.

I hope she is OK

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