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Original poster

Advice for testing feisty 3 year old

23 replies

OllietheOwl · 17/01/2021 14:47

So DD’s nursery have just emailed stating a member of staff has tested positive. They have advised all families to self isolate and book a test. We are lucky enough to have a rapid testing centre very nearby so I’m going to take us all down there tomorrow. Any advice for how to test my 3 year old? She’s a bit of a firecracker so will need some sort of bribery! Will the test be both nose and throat like the adult ones?

OP posts:

lorisparkle · 17/01/2021 14:52

From my understanding you can just do the nose for children. There are some videos on YouTube that show testing children. Might be worth a look.

Serenschintte · 17/01/2021 14:56

I don’t think I would. Just self isolate. The nose test is pretty invasive and I imagine you would have to hold them down

91divoc · 17/01/2021 15:01

Bumping for you as I have no advice. We self isolated rather than go through it with my non-compliant toddler and thankfully it came back negative but we tried doing the tonsils and the nose swab as stated on the leaflet and toddler gagged and refused the nose anyway.

nex18 · 17/01/2021 15:05

Does the feisty 3 year old have symptoms? If not, don’t bother. If they’re a contact they need to self isolate regardless of a test.

Shelby30 · 17/01/2021 15:49

Honestly it's not that bad it was much harder trying to do it on my 11 month old.

For her age group it's throat and then nose. I did one on my 3yr old last week. Told her what it was for and explained she'd have to brave and let mummy do it and it would be over in a wee minute. She baulked at the throat one but I got it. Then the same stick goes up each nostril and you've to twirl it. I got the first nostril pretty gd (not for the 5seconds or whatever the instructions say though) and then she backed away and didn't want to do the other one. I tried but she kept pulling her head back. I was pretty confident that I had done enough for the test so didn't try to repeat. The staff gave her stickers and she was pleased lol.

I wouldn't test if she didn't have symptoms though. Our nursery had a teacher come down with COVID and our child had to isolate for 2wks.

I only tested her recently as she had a high temperature for couple of days and it was more to rule it out so the doctors wld give her something.

mistermagpie · 17/01/2021 15:56

It was only the nose for my (crazy) three year old. I gave him something to watch on my phone and the people at the test centre gave him a chocolate bar with the test! It was actually fine, I mean, he didn't like it but I didn't need to hold him down or anything, although he was strapped in his car seat the whole time.

His was positive, good luck for yours.

mistermagpie · 17/01/2021 15:57

Weird that we didn't have to do the throat but a pp did. I did have to do the throat of my under one year last year but they changed the rules for under 5s after that, or at least they did here.

MoirasRoses · 17/01/2021 16:26

I tried to my 3 year old for the second time during this pandemic. She’s not particularly feisty, usually pretty compliant & we’ve never had a problem with vaccines etc, she takes them like a champ.

Both times were hideous. And I’m not exaggerating. She screamed blue murder, thrashed, hit me, kicked me, bit me.. the first time I did manage to get the swab up one nostril as she didn’t know what was coming. I made her nose bleed. Today, couldn’t get near her. It was embarrassing. I was at the drive through for 40 minutes & used 5 swabs attempting to do it. She was hyperventilating in fear & anger. The lovely test centre people eventually told me to give up & just isolate her. Probably the worst two 30 minutes of my entire parenthood to date. We are just going to have to suck up isolation for any future coughs I think. Unless a doctor will agree to doing it for us maybe..

MoirasRoses · 17/01/2021 16:26

Ps. I had chocolate, her favourite film on my phone, her favourite teddies 😩

whereisthejoy · 17/01/2021 19:15

You just need to swipe the nostrils, will need to involve a headlock of some sort!

LifeIsAnArt · 17/01/2021 19:57

My daughter can be feisty at times but surprisingly she was absolutely fine! Think it helped that we did it first before her, and made it really lighthearted. We only did the nose swabs on her. So my advice is not to give any signs that you're anxious, try to relax and make it seem "fun" if at all possible!

Hartleyhare1206 · 17/01/2021 20:15

My feral and wild 3 year old was surprisingly ok. We took her favourite teddy to watch her being a big brave girl having her test and a combo of that’s the staff giving us an extra swab so she could test teddy, and just the intrigue of being somewhere new and different meant that she was actually civilised and compliant about it all. First time for everything 🤣🤣

Sweetooth92 · 17/01/2021 20:22

We managed twice, he’s just turned 3. For the one last week I just explained to him that Boris said he couldn’t go to nursery because some of his nursery staff had the germs and we needed to make sure he didn’t, that he didn’t need to worry as he would be okay, but they could make someone else very poorly & have an example of his grandpa who is very obviously elderly and disabled.
For us, honesty in a very simple format he can understand works better than bribery. He knew that he needed his test result to come back and what it was for so it made sense to him why it was needed. He helped me open the test parcel and then we found the pages to show us what to do together and I talked him through what was happening.

He’s usually really headstrong and unwilling but it was surprising

welshweasel · 17/01/2021 20:24

If no symptoms then no need to get tested. It’s against government advice and doesn’t change anything.

Cornettoninja · 17/01/2021 20:33

We had great success with ‘the bogey doctor needs to test your bogies’ which my then 4 year old thought was hilarious and was amazingly compliant with. Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t love it and was lavished with praise and bribery but it definitely set the tone as something not to be worried about. She’s had three tests now with minimal fuss.

We also didn’t do the throat for any of them.

DenisetheMenace · 17/01/2021 20:34

Most centres offer self-administered or staff tested options. Would she be more compliant for another person? (Both of ours would have been)

Iliketeaagain · 17/01/2021 20:39

Bribery - definitely bribery. Sweets in one hand just out of reach, swab in the other. Funnily enough, I found it easier to swab my daughters throat than nose at 3 yo - no issue getting her to open her mouth and swab far back, but had to pin her down to get the swab up her nose!

lambo88 · 17/01/2021 20:42

We had to take our 2yo little boy for a test and the advice sheet said to distract them with a video etc so we put on YouTube on my phone and it worked a treat xx

Original poster

OllietheOwl · 17/01/2021 20:42

Thanks all. Nursery have “recommended” that all families isolate and get tested. No mention of which room the member of staff works in (there are 4). So it could be someone DD has regular contact with, or someone she never sees. It’s frustrating. I think we will go for the tests as like I say, it’s a walking distance to the test centre and I’d rather know for my own peace of mind.

OP posts:

Original poster

OllietheOwl · 17/01/2021 20:43

And DD was surprisingly compliant when we took her for her flu nasal spray. Sat there like an angel! Wish she would do that when I’m trying to get her dressed

OP posts:

Zippy1510 · 17/01/2021 20:45

We tested our 3 year old last week after nursery mentioned he had developed a cough during the day. You do both nostrils. I’m not going to lie it was unpleasant, he cried and one of us had to hold him still so the other could swab. However he got over it within 2 minutes and was happily eating a bag of veggie straws so it had no long lasting impact!

FleasAndKeef · 17/01/2021 21:25

As a contact of a positive case, she does not need to be tested unless she develops symptoms. This is because even if she tests negative she could still go on to become positive at any point within that 10 day isolation window. If you get her tested, then she goes to develop symptoms you will need to get her tested a second time (double misery).

The guidance can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person

The nursery can contact the DfE helpline if they do not agree.

ChocOrange1 · 17/01/2021 21:47

Nursery have “recommended” that all families isolate and get tested.
They were wrong to do so. She could test positive tomorrow and then develop covid the following day. This is part of the reason why our test and trace strategy is failing, because rather than isolating for 10 days people are getting a test on day 2 and then going out as normal.
Isolate for 10 days, test if she develops symptoms

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