DD temperature 39 degrees, am I being ridiculous here

[BreakinbadBreakineven]

DD 21 months has had a temp all day, got it down a bit with capol and she cheered up a bit in the afternoon. There's a chicken pox case at nursery so probably that although no other symptoms. I've just gone in to her at 11 and she was roasting hot and crying, took her in with me and she had a drink and calpol but her temp hasnt come down. Her breathing is quite noisy and irregular but she's chatting sporadically to me when she wakes. I've rung 111 and waiting a call back from the GP. Am I overreacting here? Her dad says it's just chicken pox and its stupid to ring 111 because they'll just say to bring her to A&E and she's better off getting some sleep, but I'm really quite worried about her.

A high temp isn’t in itself a dangerous thing. If she’s ok and chatty and keeping in fluids etc, then I’m sure calpol will help and she will be fine.

sometimes chicken pox doesn’t break out in a rash, they only get one or two spots and feel a bit rubbish for a couple of days. Hope all is well v soon and you get some sleep.

Thank you. Her heart was going like the clappers and she was panting but seems a bit better now.

Does sound like the start of chicken pox , just monitor the temp she will be fine x

Give her a bath. Not a cold one, just a normal tepid one. The best thing for both impending itchiness and a fever.

Just to say we recently had chicken ox and there were very few spots but temp was up and down for 3 days.

cold flannel to the forehead and light clothing?

1)Don't give her a bath, it cools them down peripherally but can send up the temperature centrally.
2)If you think it's chickenpox, don't give ibuprofen (in other circumstances it's great for lowering temperature, but not meant to give it for chicken pox)

I don't think 111 are likely to recommend A&E, more likely you'll get a reassuring conversation with a nurse at 111 or a local GP

I'd be monitoring breathing rate (normal if less than 40 breaths a min) and giving calpol and nurofen. 39 is a high temp but isn't a worry if it does come down with medicine.

I agree with PP. No bath, no nurofen. Light clothing, cool but not cold room. If she's panting try some fresh air. Plenty of drinking and snacks if she's up to it

This is why I said tepid bath - actual body temperature, rather than hot or cold. I have a child who is autistic and always refused any medication and it's consistently helped him to regulate his body temperature when Ill.

From this NHS webpage www.nhs.uk/conditions/fever-in-children/:

Call 111 if your child has a high temperature that does not come down with paracetamol

&

do not combine ibuprofen and paracetamol, unless a GP tells you to

&

do not undress your child or sponge them down to cool them, a high temperature is a natural and healthy response to infection

DDs got chicken pox at the minute (a particularly nasty case too) and that's exactly how it started.

A very high temp, randomly it seemed, for a few days, then the spots came out. She has them everywhere. In her eyes, nose, mouth and throat. They're on her eyelids, scalp, palms, soles of feet, behind knees, armpits. Poor kid has been had it tough.

Calpol, an antihistamine (if she's old enough) for itchy skin, calamine lotion, Kool 'n' Soothe patches (perfect for keeping temperature at bay if you run out of Calpol doses) and plenty of cold, smooth snacks (if she's suffering from a sore throat which is common.)
DD refuses to get in the bath at the minute as she says it feel too 'stingy' so keep an eye for that too.

Definitely no Nurofen - it can be so dangerous in children with chicken pox.

Hope she feels better soon, it really is the pits for them.

I did read no nurofen but I gave her some Monday evening before I knew it was chicken pox! Doesn't seem to have had an adverse affect but obviously will stick to calpol now. Temp has come down to 37.8. She sounds quite snotty, is that common with it? Or just another tandem nursery bug

My daughter had a temp of 40.3 once. We knew what the infection was, she was waiting for surgery but at home. We were told not to ring or go to hospital unless it hit 40.5. Obviously slightly different situation. However both my kids often have temps of 39 degrees. It's their big standard response to a viral infection.

Can you tell this is my PFB..

Ds was very clingy & grumpy before he started with Chicken pox, his temperature was up & he was very sickly throwing up what looked like snot. If your little one starts the best thing is bath's with bicarbonate of soda in it, calpol & piriton, you can but a cream on Amazon which is calamine & Witch Hazel which is very soothing, I used it when I had shingles & it really stops the itching. It was really hot when ds started & I put bicarb in his paddling pool, a big jug of hot water & dissolved a couple of tablespoonsful then put it in the paddling pool water, loads of pool toys & let him play in it as much as he wanted.

No don't do this. It will just make her hotter.

39 isn't the big scary temperature you'd be looking at if it was present in a newborn. As she's 21 months it is of course still a high temperature but not 'action stations' call to alarm number. I think sometimes we get that number ingrained in us when our children our newborns and then don't realise we need to adjust. My ex husband wanted to know why I hadn't whisked our 8 year old off to hospital when he had a temp of 39 last year for example. High temperatures are good in a way, they're the bodies way of burning out an infection.

Anyway, it's coming down a bit now which is great, keep up the schedule of calpol if she seems uncomfortable and hopefully if it is the pox the spots break out soon and she gets on with getting it over with! I found that once the spots actually appeared there was one night of very uncomfortable itching and then it was mostly just waiting for the spots to all crust over-tiresome and boring but not as bad as the initial gritty first few days. Eurax cream is absolutely miraculous for stopping itching, honestly it's magical stuff.

Good luck op!