Tests for toddlers

[MKmummy123]

Has anyone had a Coronavirus test for a small child?
My daughter woke up this morning with a temperature of 39.5. No other symptoms but obviously we will all need to isolate now until we can get a negative test (or longer if it’s positive). I have booked her a test for later this morning. Is it going to be horrible for her? She’s only 2!
Any advice please?

Yes, I took my 2 year old for a test and it was fine. It was a drive through test, he stayed in his car seat and I sat beside him and held his hands down. He was absolutely fine with the throat swab, and was a bit upset after the nose swab, but it was all very quick.

I work on a paeds ward and we do them all the time.
It's not nice. We have to swab as far down her throat as we can get then put the same swab far up her nostril. Basically we have to make her wretch and make her eyes water. I wouldn't give her anything to eat half an hour before the test in case it makes her vomit when they go down her throat. Take some tissues because the nose swab sometimes causes a nosebleed.
Toddlers are a nightmare to swab, the best way to help is to hold her as still as you can. Having said that, I swabbed a 4 year old last week and she barely flinched. She was an absolute star.

Thanks for this - we went for the test and she was brilliant. She opened her mouth really wide and let me do it but didn’t like the one up her nose. I kept her in her car seat and gave her my phone as a distraction. Just really hope I managed to get a good enough sample.

Glad it went ok @MKmummy123, I remember being worried about it before taking my 2 year old. Not sure I'd have wanted to do the swab myself though! A nurse reached in through the car window to do our's.

@wintertime6 oh really? I wish they had given me that option. I’m just worried that I didn’t do it right and will end up with an inconclusive result.

It won't be inconclusive, it will be positive or negative. The results are recorded as 'covid detected' or 'covid not detected'.

@fairgame84 - I hope you’re right. However there is another thread on here with quite a few people saying their result said ‘unclear’ and were told to get another test. I assumed that meant that a proper sample hadn’t been collected from the swab.

I took my 2 year old on Thursday. She wouldn’t let me do her throat so I did both nostrils. Got tested at 4pm, results at 6am the next morning.

The message said ‘you do not have Covid’. The instructions said it was possible to get an unclear result so I am happy we got a result

Ah I didn't realise that. We test in house at our hospital and we don't give inconclusive as a result. I wrongly assumed it was the same everywhere.

This is reassuring to read as DH is currently at the test centre with our 3yo! I don't think he has it but as he goes to childcare it seemed sensible to get him tested before taking him back.

I have family who work in medicine and they've said they wouldn't get anyone under four tested unless absolutely necessary and it's so unpleasant for them. Obviously someone's it's not possible to all isolate for two weeks without clear results but that's stuck with me!

We got the result back this morning and thankfully it was negative so panic over. Very pleased to have avoided a 2 week isolation period, especially as we have 2 kids in school and are both key workers.
@molifly14 - doing the test really wasn’t bad at all. Far less traumatic than trying to get her to take calpol!!

Glad to hear it! Ours was negative too, thank god. Really impressed with how quickly the whole.process went