when to seek more help with fever

[Wheelybug]

DD1 has a temperature - without medication is over 39. With medication it went down to 37.5 but 5 hours after ibuprofen is back up (she had calpol 3 hours ago which didn't do much). Presumably its good ibuprofen is bringing it down but she should only have this every six hours.

Not sure what I expect people to say - I'm v. fortunate in that I haven't experienced this much before (dd1 is 4.5). Shoudl i just give another dose of ibuprofen and hope she goes a bit longer next time ?

(pathetic emoticon....)

No other symptoms - other than off food a bit.

I always thought you could alternate neurofen and calpol 2 hourly (as you are doing).

Maybe more neurofen now and aim to get another dose in her before you go to bed.

Will she take water? An ice lolly?

With mine, as long as the meds are keeping the temp down, then keep doing it. Try to keep 2 hourly intervals rather than 3.

Hopefuly someone else will come along who actually knows what they are talking about!

thanks - I don't think you can do it two hourly - ibuprofen you should only have 4 doses in 24 hours so ideally every 6 hours. Just checked the calpol and thats the same so something every 3 hours although having said that the calpol didn't seem to do much anyway.

I went ahead and gave her the ibuprofen as she'd gone up to 39.5 I think its slowly coming down again but think I'll give nhs direct a call when dd2 is in bed (15 weeks and witching hour at mo).

If its responding to meds, then keep going but at the intervals recommended. I think I give something around every three/four hours. I tried to keep nurofen for the bedtime dose as it lasts longer.

Make sure she's got the bare minimum of clothing on and is sleeping in a well ventilated, cool room.

A coolish bath but NOT cold before bed.

And ring NHS direct for peace of mind!

Wheely, if you can bear to disturb DD, give her a warm bath, quite warm actually - yes, i know this goes against instinct but it is a surefire way of bringing down a temp quickly. Let her soak in the bath, then air dry - no towel, so long as she doesn't complain of being cold. The warmth of the bath brings the blood to the surface, then she will cool down quickly and stay cool. Cool baths and cool cloths counteract themselves as the body fights against the coldness iyswim.

I'm sure she will be fine. but if you can't get that temp below 39 with medication and the bath, id call NHS direct. In fact, why not call them asap, do the bath thing while you are waiting for them to call back xx

Wheely - thread might help. It's about teething but talks about combining doses of neurofen and calpol and the timings.

Hope things improve.

thanks very much everyone for the advice.

I phoned nhs direct and tbh they didn't say anything I couldn't get from MN - keep her cool (ha ha), give medication up to limits etc.

my concern was that we would be at a point where we wouldn't be able to give medication as she'd be up to the limits and thats when they said to seek further help or if it rapidly rises to 40.

It has gone down to just under 38 again but takes 2 hours to go down. She's asleep under a fan at the moment.

Gosh children are such a worry aren't they ?!

she did also say not to alternate calpol/ibuprofen but mainly because it might mask other symptoms rather than for any other reason so I think if we need to we will do it. She said you are advised to do it for pain but not temps.

Is little one having the max doses of calpol/neurofen she can have - if you got it prescribed by GP in morning (if she still unwell)she might end up being able to have slightly higher doses. As Gp will base it on her weight rather than her age.
Another handy tip is to give ice lollies /cold drinks as it cools the body from inside so helps cool down quicker.
I agree with imaynotbeperfect about cool cloths/cool baths as the bodies "core temp" increases as it feels it has to warm the cold exterior and therefore the temp will rise! Hope that helps and makes sense, and of course little one feeling better soon!!

Thanks. Potpourri - that must have been so worrying - tbh, I'm worrying about that happening here now. If she wakes I'll probably move her into my bed so I can keep an eye on her (so will be in for a good night - I have a 15 week dd too !!)

DD is 4. I think she's on he max dose she could be. Its difficult because although the range of dose is something like 1-6 years she is a very light 4 year old so err on the lower side of a dose.

Will take her to gp in the morning if we have a bad night.

Thanks everyone for your help/concern.

Thanks PP.

Well, when I went up to bed dd woke up and her temp was 39.7 - administered calpol but it wasn't shifting so rang Oout of Hours GP. when they eventually rang me back it had gone down to 38.7 but they were still worried about it, in the abscence of any other symptoms and OoH's had just closed so I had to go up to A&E. Got home at 4 am. It is a throat infection - on Antibiotics.

Temp seems to have subsided now (dropped of course again when we got to the hospital).

Thanks for all your advice everyone. Just feel sorry fo rme today- I have a feeling HSM is going to be on loop all day .