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

Nothing wrong with kids drinking juice.

Usually with a fluid challenge in hospital they use fruit juice or something that will get electrolytes up as normal water can’t achieve this with severe dehydration

Yep.

My son was actually limited to 200ml of water per day when he was in hospital and allowed to drink again. They did have to start him very slowly again though to be fair as he was too unwell to eat for 2 months and even tube feeding started with 1ml special milk every hour because he couldn't tolerate 10ml or even 5ml at first. Obviously not as extreme in this case but it still seems odd to allow unlimited water considering he was so dehydrated they tried to get access (though not so dehydrated that they did it no matter what? again, odd).

They were incredibly strict with fluid monitoring in my son's case. Everything in and out had to be measured and they got access wherever they could to get fluids in him including his foot and at one point, his neck. Though he did end up with a central line eventually as he needed TPN.

Oh gosh, I hope he’s fully recovered now! I can’t even imagine how scary that is when it’s your own child and I’ve seen a lot in my time on the wards.

Obviously. But it was you who brought up the deletion. Maybe actually read through the comments and actually understand what happened here.

@Biosblbay op do you know that gp’s have stopped giving antibiotics over the phone for throat infection or “just tonsillitis “ due to someone dying from it. It can very quickly lead to sepsis.
Tonsillitis is very painful and your son oils have been suffering. As a parent you can’t always choose the easy option .
You are going to have to make decisions for the next 15 years and I can guarantee you that your son won’t like most of them, however they will be for his own good as adults /parents usually know best.

It was septic shock that made things so much worse in his case. He had intussusception caused by non hodgkins lymphoma and then due to the sepsis, multi organ failure including a 17 minute cardiac arrest which happened on the children's assessment ward and was absolutely terrifying for us but everyone involved too as he declined so quickly.

He's doing well now, thanks. He does have some lingering issues but it is far better than anyone ever expected and he's been in remission for 16 months now thankfully. It all started 2 years ago in March.

If he was dangerously dehydrated they wouldn’t have sent him home with just the advice to give him water to drink. They’d have found a way to get that IV in and some rehydration fluids into him.

A bit lethargic and wanting to rest is different from not moving and not eating much is normal, not eating at all is not

I understand perfectly what happened here. Hence my suggestion to the OP.

The issue you've run into here OP is googling the wrong thing in the first place
Temperatures in themselves aren't big and scary

If you'd googled extreme lethargy in toddler however... you'll see it flag all over for potentially seriously ill and would likely have gone to the GP asap. May be worth having a quick brush up on red flags in small children as fever isn't the Big Bad there.

Mumsnet HQ, I dont know how you can allow so many nasty individuals make such harsh comments to a worried mum looking for advice, and not delete them.

Damned if we do take them to the doctors and it turns out to be nothing, damned if we don't. Damned if we use A&E, damned if we dont.

Its so bloody off-putting to come on here and ask for advice. The poor OP has not only the worry of her sick child, but then nasty comments to defend herself and driving her away from the thread.

Where are peoples compassion and empathy? This website is really descending into the pits.

Can't be bothered to trawl through the whole thread but calling out some unbelievable responses I came across: @BudgetBuster @Bloodycrossstitch @Tiswa @Summerlilly @GrooveArmada

Absolute effin keyboard vultures. Think about the real live person at the other end of this thread and be kind.

I agree, it’s been nothing short of a bullying pile on from some posters. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this point at how MNHQ still allow things like this to stand.

I imagine the DH is rightfully feeling very smug!

You’d have to be a real shitbag to be smug about being right that your child needed urgent hospital treatment.

Hope the little lad is feeling better now anyway. The pile on was unwarranted but at least coming on MN and starting this thread gave OP the push she needed to ring 111 and get him seen to.

We all make mistakes and I think she misunderstood the advice she was googling. And I think we all google when our child is ill, at least I know I do!

(I think smug might be the wrong word @Dandydog84…justified maybe?)

Well then no need for your hysteria of getting the thread deleted. 😉🤷🏻‍♀️

If you think my calm and measured posts are hysterical, this thread must have been quite some ride for you.

Are you actually OK?

Please keep your nastiness to yourself, what you wrote beggars belief. The "be kind" brigade are the nastiest and most harmful types online and IRL and there are ample examples of that.

Clearly you can’t read. I said the hysteria of getting a thread deleted 🤷🏻‍♀️ just because you don’t like the content of posts.

I totally agree. This is the second thread where I've seen posters 'call out' others like some sort of queen bee.

Again, you don't seem to understand that the advice was not for your benefit and seem to be a self-appointed thread prefect. I was suggesting this to the OP, it was absolutely nothing to do with you. Talk about main character energy. If your definition of hysteria is "making a kind and reasonable suggestion" then sure, it was hysteria. The irony is, the longer you go on trying to have the last word the more likely the thread will be deleted, so please, go ahead and keep shitting it up.

It's the 'Be Kind' brigade who are the worst keyboard warriors in my experience.