3 year old unwell and lethargic - Husband thinks a trip to A&E is needed but I feel staying at home is best. Please help and advise

[Biosblbay]

Our 3 year old has been very unwell since Saturday late night/ early hours Sunday. He hasn’t eaten since Saturday late afternoon, refuses everything, won’t eat yogurt, toast, ice cream, no fruit, nothing, but he is drinking plenty of water. His temperature is very up and down, currently it’s 37.5. He won’t take calpol, as per my previous post it is impossible and tried every single method and way possible! He hasn’t moved in 2 days, when he tries to get up he just lays straight back down, hardly talking, sleeping lots, but still watching TV/ films and able to focus on that (not sure if this is classed as lethargic). My husband is really concerned he isn’t eating, I am not as concerned as he is drinking water still and we are only on day 2, tomorrow will be day 3. I would rather avoid A&E if it is not necessary, I don’t want to spread whatever our son has and do not want to make him feel worse.

Can I have some others input please on what is best. A little unsure what to do. Thank you

Really? My DD had the flu before christmas and this was what it was like for a week. She ate very little but stayed hydrated and was mostly in the bed/ on the couch. Temp up and down. I neither took her to the doc or the hospital as it was clearly flu.

By your measure I should have gone straight to the hospital, wasting time and resources

@Bloodycrossstitch it was 2 days, always been told as long as they drink water they are ok and can go without food for days

@Emilyinspace thank you! I agree, I still think going A&E was a bit extreme and he did not need to go. They made it worse by 8 failed attempts of putting in a cannula to just tell me “just give him water” 🤦‍♀️ they didn’t do anything different to what I was doing at home

Exactly.

Get some paracetamol suppositories for the future. They're invaluable.
If his pain had been controlled, he might have eaten something.
Anyway, no harm done, and I agree that he didn't need A and E.

They ended up doing nothing for him!

@Biosblbay I mean I kind of get what you’re saying looking through the perspective of someone who doesn’t have a clinical background (potentially).

but tonsillitis can very easily become an emergency by the airways occluding due to swelling and pus buildup (quincy). The fact he’s needed antibiotics means he could’ve easily become septic as it was bacterial tonsillitis and not viral, and as other posters have said children can and do deteriorate very quickly.

I know you read the online guidance about fevers but you need to look at the whole picture and consider energy levels, nutrition and fluid intake, urine output and if they’re actually improving or not in addition to the fever. I’m surprised you didn’t get a whiff of the tell tale tonsillitis breath as well.

I’m glad he’s on the mend and use this as a learning curve

Quite. Also, who is everyone's go to suggestion A&E, when the first part of call should be the GP?

Usually if someone isn’t eating they don’t just advise plain water, but something to ensure they’re getting salts and sugars. I’m Irish and flat 7up is the classic remedy when you’re sick.

The reason I asked on Mumsnet was just to see what others would have done because you get told all sorts and I knew it wasn’t an emergency

I'd have booked a GP appointment on Monday or Tuesday. It is hard with young kids I've been told off for going too soon and told off for not going sooner - and they can go downhill fast. If couldn't get that would have like you did tried 111.

May well be worth checking out dyhydration urine charts and how frequent unrine passings in in future- as a lot of water comes from food so even drinking normally can lead to dyhyrdation and urine usually easiest indicator. You'll know fo rnext time - and he sorted now.

I am pleased that he is on the mend now OP.

Please do not feel that you have to explain yourself to anybody.

Can I just tell you that my dd walked around for 3 days with a broken arm before I took her to have it checked. You go by your child's reaction, and she was very blasé about it being sore (we found out then she has an exceptionally high pain threshold), and she moaned a bit after the fall and not much really after that. On day three she said it was quite sore, and it had gone a strange colour too, so off we went. Not my finest parenting moment, but here we are.

We do learn as parents by a bit of trial and error in these things. So the next time he is ill, you will most probably pick up on the lethargy or similar, but for e.g your sister's dc might just cry as a sign of being unwell.

@TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOnethey have given us pain killer suppositories thank god but the antibiotics is orally unfortunately, but at this point it will have to be done with great force! There is no way he is going to get out of taking his antibiotics. Luckily with the suppository, that is much easier and he has a little moan at first but then he gets over it quickly!

Really? If he had no underlying health conditions I’d assume he had the flu, pass him some paracetamol and make sure he was drinking fluids.

@Highlighta 100% thank you for this. 100% GP next time, no questions asked, even if it’s not the 5th day as guidance says or even if I feel it might not be necessary I will still go no matter what

I'm glad your dc is feeling better. I was told (after an A&E visit with tonsillitis) to treat lethargy very seriously in young children, as it was a sign of dehydration and they can go downhill quickly. It's easy to think they are just tired and need to sleep from being unwell.

Put the antibiotic into a syringe, squirt it in. Not straight in towards the throat but towards the side, like into the cheek.

And then a spoon of yoghurt or something nice to take the taste away.

Or if by spoon, spoon of yoghurt, spoon of medicine, spoon of yoghurt. Change it up a few times in the next 5 days..

I agree, especially if I didn’t know what it was.

When my DC had Covid she was like this but I know it was Covid and I’d had it just before. So it was a case of keeping an eye on it and riding it out before deciding whether to escalate it if necessary.

I would at the very least call 111 in this situation.

When dehydrated normal water wont be enough to rehydrate. I use celtic sea salt but kids electrolytes for them when ill

I can recommend a little flat raspberry lemonade to hide the calpol..!

"I just knew" and "my instincts". Why bother training doctors and nurses when we could just have the OP take a look at them?

Why? That’s what I, and thousands of others, was like a couple of weeks ago when I had the flu. I needed fluids, rest and painkillers not A&E

@Uhghg exactly what NHS guidance says. Surely it’s there for a reason? You only go A&E if…. I still took him even though he still didn't meet guidance. I have taken action, he is fine, still not concerned and feel I done the right thing.

I won’t be reading any further comments to this post nor responding.

For god's sake - ring the bloody Doctor or 111.

Oh have a day off will you? He didn’t have a temperature and was drinking water, 3 days isn’t a long time for someone to be lethargic and unwell. Fml he likely would have recovered from tonsillitis at home. Also, the reason that people can’t get seen in A&E is because people like you some people insist on going in when they’re clearly fine or prematurely. How long do you wait? Do you usually have such high health anxiety? Maybe you should examine your childhood and see why you feel the need to be seen so quickly.

Well no... he's on the mend because the doctors gave him paracetamol and antibiotics.
Illness doesn't need to life threatening to go to a pharmacist or a GP. No.child should be left lethargic for 3 days without at least seeking actual medical advice. So I disagree with your neglect comment.