DS 10 months, hand hold please

[Mylittlesandwich]

DS has a temp of 38.6. No cough and obviously we don't know if he's lost his taste of smell. He's sleepy and grumpy and just not himself. He won't take any calpol because it keeps making him throw up.

The drs won't see him until his results come back and the hospital seems a little extreme. The GP on the phone said that he "didn't sound ill enough" because he was whinging in the background while I was on the phone.

I know we're luck to have been able to get a test but are results even reliable at this age? My poor boy. I feel like he would have been seen with that temp if it wasn't for this bloody virus?

@SD1978 the NHS24 GP said it had to be a prescription and that nowhere would be open at this time. He wasn't bothered about his temperature at all. They've said that because he isn't himself they want him to have an out of hours appointment but it will be in a Covid assessment centre.

It's your baby so you need to decide what's right not I personally wouldn't be wanting to go to a covid assessment center with a 10 month old baby.... Because then you could be around people with it surely ?

Temperatures are scary my 4 year old had a temp of over 38 for 6 days, vomiting with calpol, so tired, snotty, conjunctivitis the lot it was horrific. Dr did a few video calls at (this was mid March) and declared it was covid (no clue if it was) but I gave calpol and ibuprofen continuously for days and he drank water no food. We were offered an ambulance but told he was safer at home (literally the first week of lock down!) .
I would get calpol going and wait it out. Keep him cool, watch for febrile seizures but dont panic. Temp is his way of fighting infection. As long as hes drinking it's good. Diesnt really matter the cause. Just get through the next few days. Weve all been there. X

Poor baby. Such a worry for you.

Do you have the sugar free Calpol or the one with sugar in? The sugar ones tastes much better and IME is much easier to get down them.

Have you stripped him off and checked for a rash? Also is he difficult to rouse or just tired and cranky? If he has a rash or is difficult to rouse I would go to get him seem Covid assessment centre or not

Have you tried nurofen? My little boy wouldn't take calpol at all when he was poorly with the same symptoms! I tried spoon, syringe and in his milk - each method failed but nurofen is only 2.5ml and took that straight away from the syringe!

Has he ever had a temperate like this before? In my experience what you’ve described sounds pretty normal so try not to worry x

Another bite for Nurofen here - mine love that but not Calpol so much- o my the branded one. Nurofen always seems to bring their temperature down. Let us know how you get on.

Paracetamol suppositories are not prescription only. They are Pharmacy only. You can buy them in a pharmacy from a pharmacist.
They are no widely stocked so I would ring first and ask to speak to the pharmacist.
They are relatively expensive.

My LO always used to struggle with calpol but pharmacy own brand liquid paracetamol (cherry flavour, incidentally!) he was perfectly ok with!! Might be worth a go. Good luck, OP, it’s so scary when they’re poorly

Try not to think of a temperature as being a bad thing. It shows the body is fighting off an infection and is actually a good thing - that’s the response you want. He will be feeling sleepy and lethargic if he’s hot. Once you manage to get some medicine down him and his temperature comes down he will perk up. Plenty of fluids. I disagree with mixing paracetamol in a bottle of formula. It’s really not ideal to do that. BUT, if it’s the only way, only mix it in a very small amount as you won’t know how much they have taken otherwise if they don’t complete the bottle. I second trying some ibuprofen, sometimes that’s more effective at getting temperatures shifted as well. Try not to worry, a temperature can make them feel horrible and make them look really poorly. But of course you must follow your gut and get him seen if you’re worried.

Hope he feels better soon, OP.

Try Nurofen. You can actually use both at the same time. When my oldest DS was a baby we had to take him to the out of hours doctor as his temperature was so high he was starting to shake. We had given him the max dose of Calpol. The doctor told us to give him Nurofen and to keep using Nurofen and Calpol alternately - so he could have the max both of dose over a 24 hour period. We have followed this on a number of occasions since then and we’ve never had to take either of our DCs to the doctor due to a high temp.

If he likes little yoghurts you can try putting it in there too. It doesn’t matter what you mix it with as long as you get it in there ! Keep him only in a vest and nappy while his temp is up and keep house well ventilated no heating on to keep him cool that way if he won’t have the calpol. Hope he gets well soon

The pharmacy won't sell them for under 1s. I need a prescription which NHS24 won't give me now that I have an appointment at 10:30. I would go out to the 24 hour supermarket to get own brand calpol but we're all in isolation until the results are back.

He can be roused but just goes back to sleep. He's my first baby and this is his first illness other than a cold.

It must be a really worrying time for parents of babies just now.

My dd usedto throw some real temperature spikes, of course it was a worry then but by christ if covid was around i think id have lost my mind.

It IS however really very common for babies and toddlers to have temperatures which is probably why hcps seem dismissive. However a lovely ad very sensible dr once said to me - if mum's worried, we're worried . Go with your instincts, you know your ds better than anyone, dont be fobbed off xx

Try the tesco baby paracetamol cherry flavour one. My son didn't like calpol but preferred tesco one. Also keep up the liquids water or diluted juice. Check for wet nappies.

You can go out if deemed absolutely necessary. You will be picking up medicine for your child, it is allowed.

if you pop a post up on a local Facebook group someone might go for you to get some. I'm in big bad London and even here people are forever running errands for complete strangers on the local Facebook groups at the moment. It's quite heartwarming really how covid has bought out such community spirit.

Have you got a local Facebook group? I’m sure someone will lend you or get for you. Alternatively, mask up and run in to get your baby medicine. Nobody wants to see a baby poorly. You’ll sleep better tonight. Please don’t leave it.

So we went to the GP, he has a bacterial infection. We have antibiotics. She also gave me some suppositories so hopefully he should be feeling better soon.

Where is the infection, ears throat chest? Hopefully your covid results will be back tomorrow and you can be assured of what the doctors has said. It's going to be a long night of worry for you, we've all been there and know how scary it is. You'll get through this and so will your little one, I promise.

I hope that once the antibiotics kick in he feels much better very soon

She said it was a strep infection and that his ears and throat would be affected.

Poor baby and poor you! Hope he is on the mend very quickly. Well done.

Aw poor wee man, strep throat is painful. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in 24-48hrs and he should be feeling on the mend.