Testing children

[november90]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted experienced for testing children?
Ds1 has his Covid test booked for the morning. Whilst he doesn't have any learning disabilities I know for a fact that this is going to be extremely difficult and traumatic for him. I have no idea how this will work, will someone be there to help me? How can I accurately do it on my own when I'm pinning him down in a car park? I'm so worried about this :(

How bizarre you think I don’t want to subject my extremely sensitive young son to this invasive test and I’m willing to “fake” the test to avoid any debate.
How odd!

That you think “cool”

Yes, me pretending to fully swipe will not yield an accurate test.
I don’t give a fig though
It was so horrendous when I administered proper test. Never again

@Sometimesfraught82

Yes, me pretending to fully swipe will not yield an accurate test. I don’t give a fig though It was so horrendous when I administered proper test. Never again

Then do/would you isolate if symptomatic?

1yo DS is currently off nursery for a fever (likely due to his 1 year jabs) and having his 3rd PCR test in 2 weeks. It's ridiculous, and as far as I'm concerned regarding the PCR tests on toddlers, bordering on abuse. But I need to work to afford nursery fees, so the tests need to be done since we can't isolate for 10 days every time.

Don't do the throat, just a quick swirl of both nostrils. It's horrible, but currently there isn't a viable alternative.

He was so traumatised at the test center I got sent home with a home kit. Tried the home kit and he's had the biggest nose bleed all over the house. Set isolating unless absolute nesecary isn't an option for my household as my dad is self employed and can't afford to have 10 days off work and I would also have to take unpaid leave. I'm sending a kit off now. I don't know what I'll do about this in the future, he'll literally have to be sedated!

Older

Can I ask why your 2.5 year old has had so many!
That seems crazy!!

Op of course it shouldn't go so far up as to cause a nose bleed!
Gently slightly insert, gently quickly on a tonsil

Nose bleeds like this can se so incredibly dangerous! Have you spoken to someone about the nose bleed.
A lady did nearly die from a nose bleed

The way my older does it there is no way we would give our self's nose bleeds.

To be honest I don't think you could do this again because of that nose bleed.

Perhaps buy some of the saliva tests?

@Lostinacloud I think it was 4 kids in her nursery DOD test positive, and a few of the adults too, in DDs bubble. One of the kids only had a slight cough and his parents only half heartedly got him tested otherwise he could have spread it more, his big brother taking it into his school and his parents in to work.

She has the same reaction to oral medicine (I don't give it very much because of this but if she needed antibiotics or steroids I'd be forcing it) and to tooth brushing which isn't optional!

@november90 sedated... asleep, same thing for DD, if you time it for a deep bit of sleep she doesn't notice anything. The postal tests seem to have bigger swabs so harder to injure with, doesn't fit very far up.

@ICanSmellSummerComing unlucky? Right now she's coughing, 2 weeks ago she had a fever, the week before another cough, a month before that she had a cough that ended up with a trip to A&E... she's just catches EVERYTHING!

DD catching everything is why I've given up planning anything far in advance which means we can't do much with the needing to book tickets for everything but 🤷‍♀️ what else can I do. The coughs last after the negative test so I walk around muttering "she's negative, tested two days ago"

The nose bleed came because he was that's distressed I had to pin him down and he was wriggling so much the test must've gone too far up his nose.
Please don't shame me, I feel like the worst mum in the world and I'll spend all week isolating with him now and then he'll go back to his Disney, Covid denying Dad who refused to test him and have a great time.
I literally feel horrible. I was just trying to do the right thing.

Aww OP I'm sorry, it's really hard to do it on your own. You're not the worst mum, I promise, you are doing the best you can in a shit situation

Don't feel bad OP. I didn't want to test my son either but I'm not in the UK and if I didn't there was the equivalent of a £10,000 fine and jail time. I hate what this has turned the world into but it isn't your fault. Can you phone the NHS number to ask about the nosebleed?

@november90

He was so traumatised at the test center I got sent home with a home kit. Tried the home kit and he's had the biggest nose bleed all over the house. Set isolating unless absolute nesecary isn't an option for my household as my dad is self employed and can't afford to have 10 days off work and I would also have to take unpaid leave. I'm sending a kit off now. I don't know what I'll do about this in the future, he'll literally have to be sedated!

OP at this stage id just do the test for him. Likelihood is if he has it you’ll all have it anyway.

You’re not the only person I’ve known cause a nose bleed. It’s difficult to gauge depth when you’re literally pinning down a wriggling toddler. It’s barbaric.

Thanks guys I really appreciate you being kind. His nose is fine now and he hasn't coughed once today 🙈
The lady at the test center said some thing to the effect of, in the future keep him off whilst he has symptoms and test the adults on the house daily. I don't think this is official advise and I'm not saying I would do this but she must've said this on the back of a lot of people struggling testing children and not able to isolate.
I can't stop wanting to cry and the thought of how my son must've felt when I was pinning him down and then putting that up his nose. He ran and hid in a cupboard. I just can't do this to him again... what about the long term effects? He's so nervous about these things and I've come so far in getting him to go to the doctors and dentist etc and now I'm so ipset he's experienced something which was so traumatising for him. I can't stop thinking about it 😢 I know I might sound dramatic but this is a big issue for him

Not dramatic at all OP. My son has had 5 PCR tests and several LFT. He now screams when he gets to the test centre car park, covers his nose if he sees a cotton bud and doesn’t even trust us to wipe his nose anymore. I am so fed up of it. He doesn’t like having his hair cut either and I try where poss not to do things by force. It’s just awful.

I have had to test my 2 year old twice and it's been awful for her and me, and my 6 year old has seen how upset her sister has got so I'm sure she will be terrified if/when she has to have one (luckily not needed to so far). I would be willing to pay for a less invasive test if there were an option for a breath or saliva test, I don't know if they exist though.

It's also not so easy to just stay at home for 10 days regularly if you work and have other children at school. I have every sympathy for you OP, for you.

@DumplingsAndStew

No

The advice from the test centre to not test little ones and just test the adults in the house is very good. Cannot believe that the powers that be are advocating testing for children that young, it's horrendous.

@Lalliebelle is this really the case? Because nurseries are sending children home in my area and saying they can't return without a PCR result, not even a lateral flow test!
It would make sense for this to be the case! I can't do that to my son again. I comply with everything but I'm not traumatising him like that.

My daughter (4)has had a bad hayfever. School won’t take her until she has nd a negative test even though her lft was negative. We did it yesterday abs it was horrific.