14 month old high fever plus cough given tamiflu of fuck do I give it to her?

[pofacedandproud]

She was very unhappy in the night. Fever over 40 degrees. Gave her ibuprofen and temp went down. Hacking cough and snot. She's had something like this before, last Christmas. Rang emergency doc and he said, impossible to know what it is but could give tamiflu just in case. I can't see how she could have got it without my 4 year old and me getting it [although dear coughing in child in playground was instructed to kiss her on lips by his mother] Anyone know how babies are tolerating Tamiflu? Should I give it to her? Have to give it to her now if I'm going to.

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not sure of babies my 2 are 3 and 4 and they were fine with tamiflu, it's up to you really and what you've been told, sympathise though as is hard decision and many viruses have similar symptoms to the early stages of SF.

Only thing I would say and don't want to scare you is thay my little girl started like that and had very sore throat too but difference between her and my youngest was she had a wheeze on her chest.

Later that night she had what was like an accute asthma attack and was diagnosed with flu and a 'flu induced wheeze' the cause of her breathing problems - not just a temperature which can cause very rapid breathing too. She was treated with steroids and inhaler and is fine now. So think all in all I was glad had already got tamiflu in to her when she got very poorly though can't be certain if it helped and I'm not a medic.

My youngest didn't have the breathing problems though. I've been really poorly but over the worst now.

Hope she better soon, have you been anywhere with just her and not your eldest - that could be the source?x

20 mo old I know tolerated it perfectly well, brought fever down very fast and he recovered super-quick. But I've also read posts by people whose LOs have thrown up after every dose, so I think its a very individual thing.

Poor little girl, sounds horrid whatever the cause (coughing child kissing on lips sound v likely!) and I hope she's better soon.

ps do try and get her to eat something, even if its only a few bites of breadstick or some milk, before taking it though.

thanks. i'm asthmatic so listening out for breathing problems, none at present but hard to know how it might develop. Am a bit spitting about this woman, she is actually a midwife, and when I was heavily pregnant she invited me and ds around only to tell us how ill she and the children had been and coughed all over us - I then got awful flu and it was hideous whilst pregnant. Then she gets her ill child to kiss mine. Aaargh. Baby and I go everywhere with ds so she cant have picked it up elsewhere without us getting it really.
Very tempted not to give it to her at the moment, her temp is controlled by ibuprofen and she is not happy but not unhappy, but I may well regret it if she gets worse tonight. So hard. I just find it hard to think where she had got SF from [unless this child had SF]

must have been very scary for you yummymummy, glad they're better now.

and the doc didnt want to see her of course So no idea if she does have throat infection or something...

I currently have a household of 5 - 6 people. One got swine flu last week, the rest of us haven't got it (although two of us have a cold which i suspect is suckling-piglet sniffles). So your lo could have got it without the rest of you getting it.

Tamiflu reduces the duration of swine flu and reduces the severity of symptoms. Tamiflu is not specific to swine flu and can work for any flu.

You have to choose between risk to dd of flu and risk to dd of side effects of tamiflu. Personally - and this is MY PERSONAL opinion - i would not want my lo to have flu longer and worse than necessary. But it has to be your choice.

I just read some stuff on tamiflu not previously being recommended for under ones as it crosses the blood-brain barrier, and my dd is very small for her age so not really much bigger than some ten month olds really. I know it is now recommended, but seems such a new and untested drug. But don't want her to suffer unnecessarily of course. oh bugger.

that's not good, we were 'lucky' in a way that my little girl was one of first round here to get it and so doc did a full examination, originally said tonsilitis though wich is common as tonsils can be very red and swollen - can you check tonsils yourself? You could insist they call to house but will come in a mask, piny etc and they will probably be really busy.

I went to flu clinic to be examined but that was because we were reasonably certain we had it given how poorly my eldest was and how ill I was so needed to be seen was good job I went as I needed antibiotics for a secondary infection. If I hadn't have been sure we'd got it would have not gone to flu clinic as if we'd got something different could've caught SF there as well and that would've been terrible.

If she starts wheezing and struggling for breathe (which is unlikely) or temp is raging and you can't keep it down take her to childrens A&E, might be an idea to phone first and say it may be SF as they have seperate areas sometimes.

Sorry can't be more help isn't an easy answer I'm afraid. Are you alternating calpol and nurofen, have you stripped her down to vest and opened windows etc. Bit of vicks on her chest? Boil up some hot water and put few spots kids olbas oil in it to evaporate in the room? Raised up her mattress a bit by putting a towel or something under it? Put a fan in room if you have one? Maybe steam the room a little or run a hot bath and take her in the bath room to breathe in the steam? Just tips I use and some have picked up on on mumsnet x

thanks yummymummy. At moment she is watching cbeebies with her brother [and coughing all over him oh dear] and not too bad. But I am aware that the temp could come soaring back anytime if nurofen not topped up, ,I can feel the heat under her skin. Yes I really dont want to go to flu clinic for that exact reason - we may not have SF now but we'd be sure to get it if we went! I am a bit worried about tonsilitis, may give the gp a call but I'm sure they won't want her in.

Did your children have diarrhoea by the way? DD doesn't and it thought it was one of the symptoms.

may be very mild a day before hand but nothing noticeable, it's so hard to judge as it affects different people differently that's why it's hard to tell if they've got it. If my youngest had had it first with the same symptoms she had I wouldn't have thought it was SF but because me and my eldest were so ill and had breathing probs am fairly certain that's what we all had and the docs thought so 2 having examined us both. My husband didn't get it at all!

Hope she feels beeter soon x

My DD (just 4) has swine flu and has been given Tamiflu. DH and I are absolutely fine, as is DS (11 months) and our au pair. The most common incubation time is 2-5 days, so if we were going to get it we probably would have done so already. I would say do give the Tamiflu - it really does help, and it needs to be given within 48 hours of symptoms starting to be most effective.

You have to take the powder out of the capsule, though, to give it to littlies and it tastes absolutely vile. We were advised to stir it into a petit filous-type yoghurt and that was a total disaster. It doesn't go near masking the taste and then you still have another half dozen spoonfuls to try to get down them to get the whole dose in. We failed miserably! The trick for us is to sprinkle it on a single spoonful of maple syrup. So sweet it does mask the taste, and it is all over in one go. Honey would do as well, but we didn't have any. Maybe even just a spoonful of sugar or jam.

Hope she feels better soon (FWIW, DD had a really horrible afternoon, but was much much better the following day - they do seem to spring back from these things)

Oh, and she didn't have diarrhoea, although it is one of the possible symptoms. She complained that her tummy hurt a bit, but that never developed into anything. The Tamiflu can make that worse though, so you should get her to eat as much as she can at the same time as taking the medicine. DD has loved being able to choose what she is going to eat every day

thanks, how do you know your dcs got SF and not another virus? I guess if it is going around it is as good a guess as any. i find it hard to give it to her now [and know as she is a notorious non eater I won't have much success anyway] as she is fairly well in herself and pottering around the sitting room. Very tricky I will watch for any signs of deterioration today and spoon it in if I can in the 48 hour window if so.

I know that a few other children at nursery have got it, so the likelihood is that SF is the 'virus that is going around at the moment'. Unless, of course, they have all got another virus entirely But you can never be sure, and she was certainly sufficiently unwell that I wanted her to have the treatment - I wasn't to know that the worst would pass so quickly, and indeed it may not have done if she hadn't started on Tamiflu so promptly. We'll never know that, but for us it was the right decision.

yeah having had a v poorly little lady here with SF would agree with JennyWren she bounced back after being so poorly with the tamiflu, can't be certain it was that which helped of course but seems funny that I took it but was worried I'd taken it too late and it's taken me ages to recover so I wreckon I missed the 48 hours. My eldest had hers within 12 hours of symptoms.

I saw another lady post another SF experience the other day where her family had tamiflu and recovered v quickly and she didn't and took her longer to recover.

I'm usually into homeopathy etc and don't like giving such strong drugs as steroids or anti-virals both of which my eldest had to take to combat it but this SF scared me and I gave in and we took what ever was going to try and get rid of it!

Hope it isn't SF and she just has a bug that passes quickly before the 48 hour window. Although 48 hour is not the magic cut off really as the tamiflu works by stopping the virus multiplying so best taken early if is SF. Sorry there isn't an easy answer is there it's like how long's a piece of string! x

I was very iffy about giving Tamiflu to my 2-year old who developed quite a high fever on Saturday. But, as one GP pointed out, under-5s are under higher risk of complications, so will I risk that? yes, I was aware of possible side effects (and in NHS paper, it states 10%, which is unbelievably high), but vomiting a couple of times (they say, usually it gets better after one-two doses) is better than fever few days longer.

He recovered within 2 days and now we are just sitting home just in case. Another GP said that probably it was so mild because we gave Tamiflu so soon (5 hours after he developed a fever)

I hope your little girl will feel better soon, it is terrible to see your little ones suffer!

i will probably give it to her but it is a bit late, hope she doesnt have awful side effects.Can't imagine where she picked it up, no daycare for either children, i'm so careful about alcohol wipes, etc.

that's funny isn't it maybe your other half is a carrier and got it at work or something and gave it to her, you can be a carrier and have no symptoms. Have you been to a play place or anywhere have you? Or a family party. It's hard to judge with the tamiflu isn't it sympathise as I found it hard to decide and my children are 3 and 4 x

Hi, my DH picked it up and we are extremely careful (hand gels, not near people who look will, frequent hand washing, etc.) so in spite of your best efforts she might have picked it up. As one of the posters already mentioned, Tamiflu is most effective if given asap (within 48 hours) because it limits the spread of the virus so if there is less virus in your body you will be less ill basically. My dd and I did not get it in spite of dh having swine flu (might have been due to both of us taking tamiflu prophylactically). Anyway, it is a decision you have to make yourself. My dd (half dose for 10 days) took it in M&S belgian chocolate syrup (lots of syrup about a petit filous pot full) and that kind of masked the taste. Good luck whatever you decide.

finally gave her a dose of Tamiflu last night, and she slept strangely heavily but woke up with a nosebleed. Feeling very uncomfortable about giving her more after the nosebleed.