Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

Original poster

Swabbing just the nose for children? (And another question at the end!)

23 replies

Realitea · 08/10/2020 19:11

DD kicked up such a fuss about having her tonsils swabbed, we just didn't manage to do it. I spoke to someone who's child was tested at a testing centre and they only swabbed the nose, saying it's fine to do it that way for children.
I'm wondering how likely we are to get an accurate test now. I just spoke to the nurse practitioner who said it won't be accurate at all and we'll have to retest.
Dd also has tonsillitis. Apparently you don't get a cough with tonsillitis. I'm sure you do. Anyone have any knowledge on this? We're all isolating anyway just in case and she has been prescribed antibiotics. Not a great week!

OP posts:

TiddlesUpATree · 08/10/2020 19:16

I took my 8 year old to a walk in center last week for a test. We were told to only swab the nose. I queried it and he said it was too traumatic to do the throat on under 12s. A friend went to the drive in place and they did the throat on same age child.

Doje · 08/10/2020 19:17

I can't really answer your questions, but I do have experience with the test. DS (5) took one last weekend and we were asked to just do his nose.

Mylittlepony374 · 08/10/2020 19:20

Testing Centres in Ireland only do nose. I think up to 13 years old.

GreyishDays · 08/10/2020 19:21

You can get a cough with viral tonsillitis, but not bacterial and they use it as a tool to decide whether you get antibiotics or not. (If they think it’s viral then there’s no point in giving antibiotics.)

waltzingparrot · 08/10/2020 19:21

We tested at home on tuesday and our instructions said you can just swab a child's nose if you can't get to their throat but do both nostrils.

BobGalaxy · 08/10/2020 19:22

Had a similar experience with ds 10 (autistic). Couldn't get near him to swab his throat so they said just nose was fine. Negative result came back fine.

Bellesavage · 08/10/2020 19:22

DD(5) had one just in the nostrils. They told me to push it up there until I 'felt resistance' and so I tried and felt nothing and she screamed in pain and then refused to let me do it again, I had to spend 20 mins bargaining with her and trying to pin her down. In the end she wiped it on the bottom of her other nostril for about 5 seconds. I don't think we did it properly but the men watching didn't comment. I don't think asking parents to do is a great idea as I had no idea how far to push it up! I'm assuming most people don't do it properly and keep quiet.

Original poster

Realitea · 08/10/2020 19:46

It's a relief to hear others have done just the nose too, with clear results.
I had her tilt her head back so i could see up her nose and did it quite high up in both nostrils so hopefully i've done a good job. She says I now have to buy her a treat to thank her for letting me do it!
Interesting about the viral vs bacterial tonsillitis. Can you get white patches on tonsils if it's viral? Her eyes are streaming, shes sneezing a lot, lots of heavy cold symptoms on top of the cough.

OP posts:

thisusernameismine · 08/10/2020 19:51

We swabbed our two year old's nostrils for about 2-3 seconds each (after a disastrous attempt to get to her tonsils a few weeks ago when she had a temperature - that results was negative).

Anyway we have had a positive result this time with the nostril swab - me and DH are positive too (thanks to babysitting a friend's newborn for an hour) so I'd say the nostril swab alone works fine.

Original poster

Realitea · 08/10/2020 19:56

Thanks @thisusernameismine - sorry to hear you all got a positive result :( How are you feeling?

OP posts:

OpheliasCrayon · 08/10/2020 20:02

I've tested each of my kids at different sites. DD1 was 4 and I was told I could just do her nose and I didn't have to do her tonsils, but it could be 50/50 that I would get an inconclusive. I got her tongue with it as well which you should do but she got a negative.
Did DD2 the other day and they told me I DID have to do her tonsils. I queried it and said that the other site had said not but this one said we had to and to give it my best shot. DD2 is 2 and I actually managed to do it better than I'd done with DD1. Also negative

Scottishgirl85 · 08/10/2020 20:09

Tested our 2 year old today. Nose only, both nostrils. It is only marginally less accurate than throat, and massively outweighs the spoiled test that is likely if you try to get throat and muck it up if kid not cooperating.

thisusernameismine · 08/10/2020 20:10

Thanks OP. Mainly - fucked off that we have it. We are two weeks away from finally moving into our dream home close to my mum and sister, and that needs to be pushed back or managed differently as I'm no longer taking my covid self to mum's for her to have our toddler while we move.

I was exposed to the virus on Tuesday. Tight throat on Saturday afternoon, a bit lightheaded etc but had managed a 5m run that morning. We had found out about my friend having it on Friday so cancelled all plans (work, seeing neighbours) and ordered our tests. Felt a bit crap on Sunday but no fever or cough. A weird taste on Monday. DD had a mild temp for two days. Husband feels fluey but no official temp or consistent cough.

I've been reading a couple of helpful threads on here about mild cases and full recoveries to get me through. Slept so badly last night after getting my DD's result (even though we knew it would be positive) so everything feels scary and doomy today.

Wishing you luck with results and so far, I wouldn't say this is too bad. Just scary given all the hype (!) around it if you see what I mean x

Original poster

Realitea · 08/10/2020 20:23

I think I would feel exactly the same as you, @thisusernameismine
Once you're out the other end, I expect you'll feel relief that you got through it and no longer have the worry of getting it which is something.
Then you have the house move to look forward to! Keep positive!

Since dd had her test i've also felt light headed, like my blood pressure has dropped really fast and had a few weird feelings in the chest but very briefly. I also fell asleep earlier which is unheard of for me. It might just be anxiety as I'm sure dd just has tonsillitis. It'll be interesting to see the results.

OP posts:

thisusernameismine · 08/10/2020 20:42

I forgot to say I still antibac the shopping and have been extremely boring and careful (stopped childcare etc) which makes this even more annoying!

Keep us posted @Realitea, thinking of you. it's thankfully seemed to have got us quite lightly so just hope that stays the case. 🤞🏼

Original poster

Realitea · 08/10/2020 20:50

I still wash the shopping too! I go nowhere apart from work which is quite high risk and my daughter goes to school. Dh is useless at washing his hands and will think nothing of pulling his mask down to scratch his face just after he's gone shopping or whatever. If we get it anywhere unfortunately I think it'll be from him.
I hope it stays nice and light for you. It's the outcome we all want!

OP posts:

thisusernameismine · 12/10/2020 22:37

How is your DD @Realitea ? Hope you're all well x

Original poster

Realitea · 12/10/2020 23:05

She’s ok now thanks, she just has a cough but is fine apart from that. I’m a real mess though, I ended up calling 111 tonight as I feel so unwell. Neither of us have had our results back. I had a burning feeling in my chest earlier which was really weird and unnerving. I just feel as though I have flu and haven’t got out of bed all day.
How are you getting on with your symptoms?

OP posts:

AlwaysLatte · 12/10/2020 23:10

This test is horrific! When you consider they can detect CV in heavily diluted waste water which includes washing water and all the people that don't have it, why can they not detect it in saliva?? My 12 year old had it done once but he found it so awful I know he won't do it again so if it there are symptoms again we'll all be stuck indoors for 2 weeks.

thisusernameismine · 13/10/2020 06:49

I actually feel almost back to normal now @Realitea my DD's symptoms were the most short lived - all she had was a couple of mild temperature days. One thing that's got me down is complete loss of smell - I spoke to GP yesterday as felt this whole situation was triggering my previous depression. I don't know if my DD has lost her smell too and jumped to worst-case thinking that we will never get it back. Had a good 12 hours of sobbing.

I guess my point is, mentally I'm pretty bad (better today) but physically fine. Apart from 100% loss of smell! I can still taste food though.

DH is the worst 'hit'. He still feels shivery but I think it's external stress (we are exchanging on a sale and purchase imminently and obvs not all parties are playing nicely) plus he's never very good at being ill he's got no sense of smell either.

Keep me posted on here or DM. thinking of you x

thisusernameismine · 13/10/2020 06:50

@AlwaysLatte I literally swabbed my DD's nostrils for about 2 seconds each and got our result. That's what I'll do if I have to test her again.

Still not nice but waaaaay better than trying to get the tonsils!

Dee1975 · 13/10/2020 06:59

We were told if you couldn’t managed the throat to do both nostrils. (8 yo).

Brown76 · 13/10/2020 07:04

I was given a leaflet at the drive in centre that instructed to do the throat only. However after attempting this they told me that I should do both nostrils and NOT the tonsils. It came back negative but I don’t think I took it properly, I could hardly get it up the nose at all (and am obviously completely untrained and trying to do this in the back of a car on a screaming toddler).

Flip