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Original poster

2 year old with temp. Straight to doctors?

29 replies

junkcollector · 16/03/2010 10:07

My DS2 (2) has a temperature of 84.6, he's been on and off feverish since yesterday. I've given him calpol and settled him on the sofa. I also have a cold so I think it's that. My dad just rang and said 'Ooh take him to the doctors, in my day children with a temperature went straight to the doctors'.

Is he being an over cautious worrier or am I being a neglectful mother?

OP posts:
MrsHappy · 16/03/2010 10:10

I wouldn't take him.
Are you sure that temp is right though? It seems v low to me.

NoahAndTheWhale · 16/03/2010 10:12

I wouldn't take children to the doctor with a temperature. There's nothing they could do that you aren't doing.

Although I do agree the temperature you have put sounds very low - I presume it is a typo.

seeker · 16/03/2010 10:14

Is the temperature a typo?

If you took your child to the doctors every time they had a temperature you'd be living in the waiting room. Go by the symptoms not the thermometer. If he seems ill and you're worried, take him to the doctor whether he has a temperature or not. If he's warm but reasonably happy and OK "in himself" as they say, then don't.

stealthsquiggle · 16/03/2010 10:18

I wouldn't dream of taking a 2yo with a high temperature to the doctors unless they seemed otherwise ill - floppy, listless, etc, or in desperation if paracetamol and ibuprofen were failing to get temperature down.

Original poster
junkcollector · 16/03/2010 10:44

Thanks everyone, I did think that too, but suddenly doubted myself.

Obviously meant 38.6 - god knows where 84.6 came from!!! Not very well myself....

OP posts:
seeker · 16/03/2010 13:53

I'm in a minority of one on this. I don't think, unless you have a hild with underlying health issues or a history of febrile convulsions that you should every take temperatures. I think thermometers in the hands of amateurs can either cause panic or lull into a sense of false security. Watch ant treat symptoms. Go by how your child is, and how they feel to the touch, kiss or cuddle. Ignore numbers!

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:00

seeker, let's be in a minority of two. A temperature is a natural reaction to illness and doing a brilliant job. I agree, in a healthy, average child you assess how they are, not the numbers on a thermometer. I medicate similarly, for pain and comfort, not to reduce a temp.

LeSingeEstDansLarbre · 16/03/2010 14:03

a temp is not only a natural reaction, or so i've read, but also it helps kill the viruses themselves. i tend only to reach for the calpol at night time to help them cool enough to sleep.

Lulumaam · 16/03/2010 14:05

i agree with seeker and SOh

my children are prone to random bouts of high temp for 12 - 24 hours, i do have a thermometer, but it is a stick on strip one and i dpn't think it is accurate.. i don't give calpol as soon as they are hot, i wait and see and see what other symptoms, if any occur.

my DSs are 10 and 4 and I think i've finished 2 bottles of calpol?

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:13

Monkey, that's sort of what I meant about the natural reaction, it's the natural way to fight bugs, just wasn't very clear.

I'm wearing a 'covered in bees' t-shirt btw. I love seeing your name on here.

lulu, dd has had calpol maybe twice. We have some basic paracetamol suspension somewhere, probably out of date.

LeSingeEstDansLarbre · 16/03/2010 14:17

it's aitch, i've namechanged to honour eddie's heroic marathon thing. i mean, really, as if i didn't fancy him enough before...

TrinityIsFuckingTrying · 16/03/2010 14:20

I dont own a thermometer
I can tell when I kiss and touch them whether it is raised

and also if its raised a little or alot

I dont think he needs a doctor
your dad is maybe misremembering

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:21

I've gone beyond fancying him and started to worship him just a little bit.

I mean the stamina of the man. And stopping for beer and icecream.

mehdismummy · 16/03/2010 14:23

hello trinity i have an awful memory at the moment how old are your dc and what do u still need/want?
soh bono sends his love!!!!

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:24

bono can shove his love up his mouthpiece.

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:25

How's mehdi btw?

mehdismummy · 16/03/2010 14:25

how are u? u ok? i actually hissed at the tele when i saw him the other day and thought of you x

mehdismummy · 16/03/2010 14:26

he has a chest infection and is all red eyed but managing, bless him x thanks for asking

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:31

Oh the poor boy. It's hit him pretty hard. Assume you're keeping him at home and showering him with tlc? He's such a handsome boy.

Oh I'm alright. Forever associated with bono hatred I think but that's fine by me. I'll meet him one day, in some bizarre and unfortunate twist of fate- maybe at a twat convention -and all of the rage and bile will spew forth unguarded and they'll lock me up. I'd be on my knees with ire. Of course he'd assume I was worshipping him.

itsmeitsmeolord · 16/03/2010 14:34

YANBU We were in a and e last night with dd..... (yet another sporting accident), there was a woman there with a child with obvious chicken pox. And another who had a temp with a cough.

Both mums were kicking off (as in complaining to staff quite loudly) that they had to wait to be seen, there had been a rta locally so the wait was fairly long last night.
One wanted to go home as she had dinner waiting and the other wanted to go as her parking was running out.
Neither was an emergency but both felt that their childs temp meant they had to see a doctor.

The nurse in the childrens room was trying to explain to both that as they had had calpol and were cooling down that they were not urgent cases and could probably go home.

Both mums were really cross when dd was taken in to be seen first. (she was in a wheelchair having had her foot crushed by a very large football player in studs on her stockinged feet, v swollen, lots of gore, query fractures)

I don't know if a lot of it is NHS direct though, they do seem to advise anyone with a temperature to go directly to a and e.

mehdismummy · 16/03/2010 14:37

soh i am sorry but your hatred of bono makes me lol everytime i feel the same about ronan keating! oh and davina, oh and many many others!! he has been at home yes and in my bed at nights and kissed etc, thanks for saying he is handsome btw, he is such a character!!

TrinityIsFuckingTrying · 16/03/2010 14:41

my girls are 9, 4 and 3

ShowOfHands · 16/03/2010 14:41

Don't thank me for stating he's handsome. I was merely repeating a fact.

Ronan Keating, I don't know which one he is. One of those effeminate Irish pretty boys that sit on stools and croon I seem to remember. They can stand up and carry on singing you know. Clever boys.

Davina, I won't have a word said against her. Of course I've never watched Big Brother which might contribute to my favourable opinion.

mehdismummy · 16/03/2010 14:48

trinity do you need anything? i have a scooter (3 wheel) peppa pig for a 3 year old x
soh it surprises me when people tell ne he is handsome because i oviously think he is but its always nice to be told he is x

NoahAndTheWhale · 16/03/2010 14:49

I can see thread has wandered off topic a bit, but wanted to agree with not checking temperatures much. I do the kissing forehead thing but if they are otherwise all right they don't need calpol. I might give some in the evening perhaps. We have a variety of calpol bottles around the house, all with a bit out of each one