Talk me down please - omicron and the under 5s

Idontbelieveit14 · 12/01/2022 14:03

I haven’t heard anything like this - my DS is positive right now he is 4, almost 5. Only symptoms seem to be a sore mouth? And also he keeps smelling a funny smell he says

ollyollyoxenfree · 12/01/2022 14:07

@itsacovidxmasone

Gone down a rabbit hole now about omicron and preschool kids and don't know what to believe. My child had (original) covid around their 2nd birthday and was largely fine. But I've been reading on threads and various Googles about young children being hospitalised and worse with omicron.

Anyone have experience with young kids and omicron and can calm me down before I lock myself and my family down? 😩

COVID really is a mild illness for the vast majority of under 5s, please don't stress. If they do get ill, just keep an eye on for any worrying symptoms like you would for any virus.

Anecdotally I know lots of toddlers who have tested positive and have been fine apart from mild symptoms.

Your DC is in a even better position to fight it off as they will have some level of immunity from their original infection :)

MrsToadflax · 12/01/2022 14:12

My DS had zero symptoms. You wouldn't have known anything was wrong!

WaystarRoycoCEO · 12/01/2022 14:27

This Twitter thread may be reassuring to you

twitter.com/apsmunro/status/1481217344856809475?s=21

OddshoesOddsocks · 12/01/2022 14:30

My dd (19mo) had it with us over new year. She was grumpy with the unusual rash but otherwise fine. She was back to normal after about a week. No bother

CUniverse · 12/01/2022 14:43

We all had it in my house. My 5 year old and ALL her class were asymptotic. We have a group chat and all the parents said that their kids showed not 1 symptom at all. Some were even considering sending their kids back early (I think as a joke) because they were tired of how 'un sick' they were. I definitely could relate, and I feel lucky that my daughter was asymptomatic.

A month later a no parents are mentioning any signs of 'long Covid' so again, we are all lucky.

My 10 month old had it too. He had a low grade fever one night, and less appetite for 48 hours. Nothing else.

All of the children I know under 5, and it is a large number, none have been unwell at all. I don't know for sure, but I suspect majority could have had Omicron because it has been within the past 6 weeks.

SummerHouse · 12/01/2022 14:58

Like driving a car or using transport, we take the tiny risk because it allows us to live our lives, travel, meet up, work, go on holiday.

I don't think you can tell someone not to worry. It's something they have to work on themselves.

When covid hit I took a major downturn. Horrible anxiety. Now my biggest worry about Omicron is that it will take a child out of school for 7- 10 days.

Original poster

itsacovidxmasone · 12/01/2022 15:08

Thank you everyone. This is reassuring!

OP posts:

Bobholll · 12/01/2022 15:55

From my experience of a small outbreak amongst under 5’s in the family - omicron has made the kids ‘more’ ill but very briefly. 6 kids got covid over Christmas. All of them felt pretty rough, fevers, vomiting, not eating, lethargic etc for 48 hours. Then they bounced right back & were right as rain!

No worse than a nasty vomiting bug really or a nasty cold or tonsillitis kinda infection.

Really is nothing to panic about. There will always be a small number of children who unfortunately need hospital but bear in mind, under 5’s are have a lower threshold for admission. Often for monitoring for 24 hours. My DD2 was admitted in summer because she would not drink anything after norovirus. We literally spent 24 hours trying to syringe in water with a calpol syringe. Nothing fancy. Her nappies were also weighed. DD1 was admitted for 24 hours as she stopped weeing with a kidney infection. We just sat waiting for her to wee.

Given the amount of cases, it’s likely we would see an increase in admission just on a percentage basis. We don’t know how much of the data are children being admitted with a broken leg who coincidentally test positive on admission.

And remember, there are approx 3.8 million under 5’s in the U.K. The scare stuff online is a TINY percentage of these kids. The other 3.77 million had covid & were fine. Kids get ill. Sometimes they need hospital. Norovirus is a horrific illness for example but we all get on with it.

Tryagainplease · 12/01/2022 16:05

My 4yo currently has it. He is a bit whingy and has a fever (brought down by calpol) and that’s it really.

wineandchocolateforthewin · 12/01/2022 16:07

My 5yr old has covid now, though no idea which variant, all she has is a snuffly nose

Treaclepie19 · 12/01/2022 18:01

I have a 6 and 1 year old.
6yo is positive (haven't tested one year old. No symptoms) and you wouldn't know. He's grumpier than usual and sneezing.

EcoCustard · 12/01/2022 18:06

All 4 dc ( 7, 6 , 4 & 2.5) had Covid and I think omicron over new year. They had a high temperature for 24-48 hours complained of feeling a little achey, sore throat and had a sniffle. Loss of appetite and odd taste in mouth for a few days. All fine. Hand foot & mouth and chicken pox was far worse.

CoffeeWithCheese · 12/01/2022 18:18

DD2, asthmatic with a history of hospital admissions for breathing problems (she doesn't have a good cough to clear shit off her lungs which I think is half the cause), including nearly ending up in HDU in the middle of a heat wave one year with pneumonia.

Omicron - bit of a cough, needed her inhaler for a couple of days and absolutely fine apart from shamelessly using "I've got covid" as leverage to get macdonalds.

PlugUgly1980 · 12/01/2022 18:26

My DS age 5 has covid now, presumably Omicron this time as he also had it back in October as well. Both times no symptoms what so ever. Only picked it up on tests, the first time because the rest of us in the house had it, and this time as school have had an outbreak so they've asked if children can be tested daily for the next week, so it was picked up on our first day of testing. If I'd opted not to test him we'd never had known.

Eliards2012 · 12/01/2022 20:24

My 4 year old DD is currently positive, and other than a couple of nights with a temperature on and off and a little bit snuffly/coldy she is fine and being her usual crazy self

ThirdTimeIucky · 12/01/2022 20:25

My daughter and nephew, both 4 have just had Omicron. Neither had any symptoms whatsoever.

Original poster

itsacovidxmasone · 12/01/2022 20:27

@CoffeeWithCheese

DD2, asthmatic with a history of hospital admissions for breathing problems (she doesn't have a good cough to clear shit off her lungs which I think is half the cause), including nearly ending up in HDU in the middle of a heat wave one year with pneumonia.

Omicron - bit of a cough, needed her inhaler for a couple of days and absolutely fine apart from shamelessly using "I've got covid" as leverage to get macdonalds.

Loved this

OP posts:

Original poster

itsacovidxmasone · 12/01/2022 20:29

But of course I'm sorry to hear about previous breathing troubles and the pneumonia - must have been so scary!

OP posts:

MrsMo21 · 12/01/2022 20:39

7 month old DD with omicron - bit off her milk and taking longer naps than usual but otherwise fine.

PippaPoppet · 12/01/2022 20:52

My 18 month old currently has Covid. She had a fever on and off for a few days and a bit of a cough at night. All symptoms have now passed after around 5 days. She’s had worse colds.

BelleandH · 24/02/2022 18:39

My daughter is 3 (4 in 4 months). She has had Covid, presumably Omicron for 6 days so far and it is absolutely awful.
My oldest daughter has been on life support (ventillated) 3 times so we are used to dealing with a sick child.
My youngest is normally very robust and a complete live wire but Covid has completely sapped the life out of her. She has laid for days sleeping for most of the day and night or starring into space uninterested in anything.
She started off with a temperature above 39, which lasted for 3 days and vomiting on and off for 5 days and couldn't even keep fluids down. We are on day 6, she has finally started taking fluids but hasn't been able to walk or sit up for days.
I am completely shocked by how this virus has affected her.
I have trawled the internet for other parents who have had similar experiences of this and would be grateful to hear about anyone else's children who were badly affected and how long it lasted for?

Bunn5 · 24/02/2022 21:47

@BelleandH sorry to hear your daughter is so incredibly unwell with Covid at the moment. That must be so upsetting to see.

Have you been touch with your GP or 111 as she does sound particularly unwell; especially the not being able to sit up or walk for several days and staring into space.

If my daughter was doing these things, I would want to seek medical attention.

BelleandH · 24/02/2022 23:12

@Bunn5 Thank you for your concern, yes I have been in touch with our GP and she has been seen by him along with several follow up calls.

This afternoon she has turned a corner a little but still very poorly. My concern is, what has this nasty virus done to her little body and will there be lasting effects from it.

Also, because I found it difficult to find anyone else who has had a similar experienc, I wondered if this is really that rare.

2boysand1princess · 27/02/2022 10:00

I was exactly the same as you op, really worried and anxious about my 1.5 year old catching covid due to so many little ones getting it bad (big fevers etc). We had it in the new year. My DD 1.5 years old had the mildest of fevers ever for about 12-24 hours. Slight runny nose after fever and that was it. My DS 8 had zero symptoms. DH and I had zero symptoms and DS 11 had a high fever for 2 days.
At the same time my nephew 4 got it and he had zero symptoms.