Worried about my 5 year old

[Louismummy2013]

We came back from Majorca on 11 July and my son started to feel unwell and refuse to eat on 13 July. He’s not eaten since and has a very bad cough and feels warm to touch. I’ve seen the GP twice and was first told it was viral and then that he had swollen lymph nodes in his throat and stomach and a crackle in his chest and given antibiotics. He’s 3 days in to the antibiotics now and still not eating, in fact I haven’t seen much if any improvement. I’m really concerned he’s not eaten for 12 days, although he is drinking plenty. Anyone had similar with their children or can offer any advice I’d be really grateful. I’ve googled and seen things I didn’t want to so I’m hoping other mums & dads can help. Thank you ☺️

Not experienced anything similar personally but I am an ICU nurse and I’d be really concerned about the length of time he’s gone without eating. I’d recommend taking him to A+E to get a second opinion and have a thorough assessment and further tests. Good luck and I hope he gets better soon

Oh and stay away from google, worst thing you can do in this case

I think I would also take to a&e

Are you saying that he's not eaten a single thing in all that time, or that he's not eating properly? There's a big difference.

If he's eaten the odd scrap of toast, half a biscuit, few spoons of yoghurt, few bites of fruit etc. that's less worrying than nothing at all. Have you tried tempting him with things you might not usually encourage? Ice cream/lollies, crisps, etc.

Will he drink nutritious stuff like a yoghurt drink, smoothie, hot chocolate. How about soup in a cup?

Either way it sounds like a long time for a 5 year old to be feeling so poorly. I would probably take him back to GP.

I wouldn’t go to A&E but I would go back to the GP. Some infections do take a while to recover from. I can remember having a bout of tonsillitis that required two courses of antibiotics before I could swallow food. I literally lived on sips of iced water for two weeks.