On day 4 of 2 year old's 40 degree fever

[AlexaStop]

Hi, my poor DS has had tonsillitis and a fever of 40 degrees since Wednesday. It comes down to about 38 with calpol and ibuprofen so I've been alternating these but like clockwork once it wears off it's straight back up. GP diagnosed bacterial tonsillitis on Thursday and he's been on antibiotics since then. Took him to A&E paeds ward last night after he started having some convulsions who also confirmed nasty tonsillitis case and said convulsions are due to very high temp. They said we can come straight back to the ward if he gets worse.
Do we just ride it out? I'm concerned it's not getting much better and also worried about the constant stream of paracetamol and ibuprofen he's been having - I've stayed to the time limits but this will be the fourth day in a row of it.

Hasn't eaten since Wednesday but is managing to drink some things (water, milk), nappies wet and few cases of diarrhoea yesterday. We have a difflam spray but it makes him vomit every time. Poor thing feels so miserable and just wants cuddles but I also have a 10mo to see to. Any advice is welcome!

Thanks everyone I'm on my way to the ward now

Good luck. It’s horrid when they won’t take you seriously, but no improvement at all over that time is worrying for me. My child had tonsillitis every 6-8 weeks over an 18 month period (and now no longer has tonsils). Most often, the antibiotics would show that they were going to work in the first 24 hours. Every time we got to approaching 48 hours would be a hospital admission (not because of that, but because the infection would really have taken hold by then).

Good luck Alexa, hope they get him sorted quickly

@AlexaStop

Thanks everyone I'm on my way to the ward now

Glad to hear it. Good luck

I’m glad you are being seen. Definitely ask about spesis and if he needs to be on a spesis pathway.

Hope he's ok OP. Sweet little man. You have done everything right.

Thanks, we are just back. We went up to the ward and the registrar saw him straight away which was great. They agreed the antibiotics weren't doing much so he's been switched to a much stronger penicillin one which we've to give 4x a day for 10 days. That will be a challenge in itself as he's already brought it back up the 3 times we tried to syringe it in.

Doctor said it's not scarlet fever as the rash would be more sandpapery and his is smooth.

They took swabs of his throat to send off to make sure the antibiotic is the right one.

No need for bloods at this stage as the infection was very visible and should be tackled with this new one.

Gave us open access to the ward for the next few days and just to come right back in if anything changes or no improvement. Thanks for all the support

That sounds great - I am so glad to hear you were helped. Open access is absolutely brilliant for reassurance as you know you can get that help any time.

Hope the new meds work!

Glad he was seen quickly Alexa, hope he starts to improve soon!

Bope these antibiotics kick in for you

That’s good that they’re trying something else
Hope he can keep them down and they do the trick

Hope you get a better night. It's so worrying.

Oh poor little lad, this must be really worrying for you! I hope those antibiotics kick in soon, as a mother of a 2 year old you wish for them to sit still and calm down so much but when they are like this you would give anything for them to be doing it 🙈 ahhh parenting! I hope you can get some rest and he's back to his normal self soon

Aahhh brilliant update, I'm so relieved for you! Stronger antibiotics and they've done a swab too 👍

I have to say I was a bit worried that they'd told you to wait until Monday so I'm really glad you took him in.

Hope he can keep these antibiotics down and they do the trick 🤞

BioGaia baby probiotics can help his gut recover so might be worth giving those after he's doing better and can swallow without pain/vomiting.

Glad you took him in - I got worried about sepsis when I read that his feet were cold

The doctor reassured me that in this case his cold feet were because the high temperature was drawing the blood to his vital organs rather than his extremities.

We managed to get the antibiotics into him by sneaking it into 3oz of his baby sisters formula milk and feeding it to him in a bottle, getting him to pretend he is a baby like his sister. I know he is still really a baby himself!

His temp is on the lower side of fever at the minute but I'm predicting another spike during the night. Really hoping these stronger antibiotics work.

Well done for getting the antibiotics into him - a fantastic idea. With ds1 we once had to mix it with melted ice cream. Fingers crossed these antibiotics do the trick.

Whatever works Alexa! If all he wants is formula milk from a bottle right now then that's what I'd give him.

So glad you took him and they've given you different antibiotics - you're right, he is still a baby himself. So hope he starts to improve, poor little thing, so hard to see them like this.

Yes for his dinner tonight he managed a couple of wotsits and about 5oz of his sisters formula milk. More than he's had for a few days so I'm pleased with that.

I had a look at his throat myself tonight and I was really shocked at how bad it is. His tonsils are completely covered in pus (sorry if tmi) and so sore and red looking around them. His throat glands feel like golf balls.

It's horrible when they get ill like this but thank you to everyone who has posted, it's been great to hear people's opinions and advice because I'm the first of my friends to have children and don't have many people to bounce ideas off.

Filled with calpol and off to bed for hopefully a couple of hours rest.

My youngest DD got awful tonsillitis quite often when she was at nursery, it's horrible to see. Wishing your little dude a swift recovery now

Aww wee soul. He’s adorable.

Wishing you both a good nights sleep.

@AlexaStop

Filled with calpol and off to bed for hopefully a couple of hours rest.

Oh what a sweetie 😍 Well done for getting the antibiotics in him. Hope he sleeps well and feels better very soon.