How high is high temp?

[Beccarollover]

DS suddenly got poorly earlier today - he had been ok today but has had no appetite then he suddenly got a temperature. This was about 5pm and he had one dose of calpol then which hasnt helped - just took his temp and it is 39+ - Im not sure when to worry

He has been really drowsy and unsettled then for a few minutes becomes a bit happier.

There is a viral infection and mumps going round the nursery.

Could also be teething

He is 9 months

Hi Becca! Don't want to worry you but on the instructions for my soother thermometer it says that you should contact a doctor if your childs temperture stays at 37.8/100 for more than 24 hrs or if it rises to 38.6/101.4.

I'd give another dose of calpol and try bathing him with tepid water. If that doesn't work I think I'd ring the GP, just to be on the safe side.

Hope he feels better soon, let us know how it goes.

LL

I would take steps to reduce his temperature now. Have you got any Nurofen? If so, give some of that. Otherwise give some more Calpol. Remove some of his clothing and tepid sponge him (don't use cold water because this will reduce blood flow to his skin and make things worse, it needs to be warmish).

39C is quite high, but some children do run very high temps without ill effects (my ds for instance sometimes goes to 41C), so don't panic but try to get it down a bit.

Agree with Lydia, Becca - though I took DS2 to doctors when his temp hit 102 tonight
I don't think todays sudden heatwave helps either

I could kick myself as I cant find my proper thermometer and had to use a forehead strip all i know is that all the colours showed up including 39 which indicates its at least that but less than 40 but dont think these things are very accurate

He seems to have picked up a bit since last dose of calpol

His head and face is particularly hot - and cheeks look a bit swollen which is concerning me re mumps at nursery but instinct is telling me its just teeth

His breath smells too - any thoughts on that?

I think 40 is a common alarm point - particularly if you can't bring it down. Try dosing with Calpol and Nurofen (asthma permitting) at the same time.

DSs always get smelly 'acetone' breath when they get a bad bug. I don't know why though!

his breath smells like true bad breath!!

Forehead strips are better than they used to be - usually within 0.5, which is only the same as taking it under the arm

Breath smells for lots of reasons - if it smells like peardrops, that can indicate diabetes and you need to act now - sorry, don't want to scare you
But if it just smells a bit iffy, just not nice, then thats quite normal with a high temperature - the mouth dries out and as its generally full of bacteria (everyones is, I'm not casting aspersions on his hygiene!) it smells unpleasant

I hope your DS is feeling better. Don't want to alarm you but me DD had persistent high temp for 4 days and it turned out to be meningitis. Phone NHS direct, and then try to see a doctor. My doctors would not listen to me to begin with, thinking i was a neurotic mother so in the end i wrote done times and temperatures and when calpol or neurofen was given.
Taking their temp is hard, we had an ear thermometer but readings were always really different, so a friend lent us a thermometer from mothercare. Can be used orally, anally or under the arm. It was really good, and consistent. Costs £8.

Beccarollover - How's DS today?

I was reading the "Taming Toddlers" book last night in bed (boredom!!). And it says that with children the severity of the fever doesn't give an indication of the severity of the illness. So just coz your DS has a very high temp doesn't necessarily mean that it's any more serious IYSWIM? Just wanted to let you know that. Apparently childrens fever's can reach their worst with the common cold!

But measures to keep the temperture down are a must and work really well. You must make sure that DS doesn't get too cold though as this will make the body react and try to warm him up. Stripping down to underwear and dabbing with lukewarm water seems to be the order of the day

I was fascinated reading this last night! Although a lot of it was common knowledge I certainly picked up a few tips.

I hope this is all irrelevant to you now and ds is okay.

FWIW - I find that Baby Nureofen is much more effective at reducing DS's temperature.... although doesn't taste as nice!