Antibiotics - how long does it take for them to work

[Concepta]

DD has had high temperature since Friday. When I rang out of hours Dr they said it was probably a virus and to keep an eye on her. Her temp got worse today and was 40.1. The Out of Hours GP seen her today and said her glands were swollen and she had signs of throat infection. He gave her antibiotics. How long does it take for them to work. Her temp is at 39.6 now and she isn't due any more medicine until about 9pm.

They should kick in relatively fast, in my experience, after a couple of doses. Good luck.

Thank you thats reassuring. She has had two doses and is now in bed. Hope by the morning I will see a change in her.

You need to get that temperature down. Are you giving her paracetamol alternated with ibuprofen?

Yes I have been alternating between Neurofen and Calpol. She isn't due anything now until 9pm when I will wake her up. The doctor said that he didn't like me giving the Neurofen because its bad on the tummy, but what can I do, I need to keep the temperature down.

You are right, the priority is to get her temperature down.

Is her temperature hovering around 39 C despite the ibuprofen/paracetamol, though? If so, what intervals are you giving them at?

I have been giving her Neurofen at 8 hour intervals - due now at 9.00pm and she had last Calpol at 4.00pm.

Sorry should have said 7.5 mls at 8 hour intervals for Neurofen and Calpol at 6 hour intervals. Neurofen 3 doses in 24 hours and Calpol 4 doses in 24 hours.

We have always given paracetamol and ibuprofen at 6 hour intervals, on the advice of DD's paediatrician. Alternating every three hours, in other words.

Thanks for your help. I have given her the Neurofen at 9.00pm. I will make sure the doses tomorrow are a bit better spaced out. I think even though I was alternating them there was too big a gap between them - sometimes 5 hours. I am always scared of giving her too much. She had a bit of a temperature at the start of last week and then she was back in top form by Wednesday and returned to school on Thursday. By Friday she had developed the temperature again. It's so hard to know what to do to do the right thing. She really wanted to go back on Wednesday but I kept her off the extra day just to make sure. My two DDs have not been sick all winter - except for one other virus type thing (temperature for a day) about a month ago. I feel as if I am getting everything rolled into one at the moment. I can cope with most things but when they have a temperature I just get so..... stressed out. Thanks for being there and for your advice.

Give meds every 3 hours (so 6hrs between each dose for same med). You are only allowed to give 3 doses of Nurofen in 24hrs so you have to sacrifice the middle of the night dose - but that is fine. Start with Nurofen. Incidently The dosing regime for different brands of ibuprofen differ - based on the Nurofen brand an example would be:

8am Nufen
11am Calpol
2pm Nurofen
5pm Calpol
8pm Nurofen
11pm (if awake) Calpol

Calpol through the night (after 3am as min 4hr interval) if necessary. Nurofen is more powerful - and stomach problems are not really a problem for short term use and can be alleviated if she has something to eat with/before dose.

Obviously if she gets up at 7am start an hour early....

You are very welcome

I would actually save the Neurofen dose for the night, as that is when temperature peaks. and ibuprofen is much better with persistent fever than paracetamol.

To be fair - as long as temp is holding I do tend to stretch the afternoon doses closer to 4hrs so that they are ready for a Nurofen hit just before bed (I rarely do a 11pm one - they get calpol if they wake in teh night). I guess it all depends on how long her waking day is.

I tend to start and finish on Nurofen, and work the others in between.

Thanks for all the information ladies. Had a terrible night. Didn't get much sleep - brought her into the spare room, temperature seemed ok but she moaned all night. Temperature in the morning was high - 39.5. She then vomited just after I gave her the medicine. I phoned Doctor and they seen her immediately. Said not to take the antibiotics as her throat wasn't bad enough and he didn't feel she needed them. Said to sponge her down - even though I was told by out of hours GP not to do that. I did all this and this evening her temp is down to 36.7 (the lowest since Friday). She is drawing at the moment, which is a good sign - she hasn't done much of that for the last few days. Hopefully this virus is coming to an end. Hopefully my other DD won't get it now. Roll on the warmer weather. Thanks again.