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

Seeing others post that he's actually been ill since Wednesday... I'm shocked you haven't contacted your GP before this. 6 days high temp and not eating??

100 percent Call 111 they will get you an out of hours appointment with a doctor with a time frame they are super helpfull . I’d stay clear of a&e if you possibly can it’s not fun waiting for god nos how long with a poorly 3 year old and might catch or pass something on in the waiting room .

The only thing I’d worry about is low blood sugar if he’s not eating, is he peeing? Would he eat something he normally isn’t allowed - chocolate buttons say? In hospital we’d do a fluid challenge but he doesn’t sound dehydrated and he’s not having anything to give him energy we’d often give squash with sugar added. But without seeing and assessing your child no one on here can say if he needs seen or not.

where I am out of hours 111 will decide what route to go, so either gp ooh service who will assess treat and send home or send to paeds - usually a more direct way for getting to paeds assessment than sitting in a&e. We would see, treat/assess and monitor then kids can either go home and come back daily for re assessment or be admitted to our long stay ward. But no one can judge how unwell he is via posts on here. I always think it’s better to err on the side of caution with small children and get them seen. He may be in pain and he can’t tell you, lots of things in a young kid that isn’t obvious until he’s been triaged and examined etc. I don’t work in acute paeds anymore but we all preferred to see unwell kids if you’re worried.

@CatchTheWind1920 we think on the Wednesday night it might have been a bad nightmare as he was absolutely fine Thursday and Friday and his normal self, eating, went to nursery, they kept an eye on him and said he wasn’t coughing at all on those 2 days so it 100% started Saturday night.

still on the phone to 111 - they don’t seem concerned so far, just on hold waiting for guidance

@Lemonade2011 lots of wet pull ups still, drinking lots of water. He just had some apple juice. I think the not eating might be down to a sore throat. Just seeing what 111 advise

111 should always be your go to in these instances.

Please make sure he is drinking something sugary. apple juice will even do. I try and have Lucozade in the house for this reason. My little girl was unwell and only drinking water (also bringing it back up). Her blood sugar was low and we were sent in an ambulance from out of hours to the hospital. My DH thought she was fine, I did not. So glad I trusted my instincts and now I know that only water isn’t any good.

I wonder if he has tonsillitis? Mine wouldn't eat when they had tonisilitis at that age.

Glad you're calling 111 hopefully they get you an ooo GP appointment this evening.

Hope he's on the mend soon.

I would have made him a GP appointment, but there’s nothing that screams emergency. Not eating for a few days with a sore throat isn’t unusual and his temperature isn’t particularly high.

Small children can become unwell very quickly. I'm surprised you haven't called your GP for advice.

Same, I would think he’d be fine to go to the doctor tomorrow morning rather than a&e tonight if nothing changes.

Calpol on a spoon with cake sprinkles.

worked for my calpol refusing 3 yo

though we did tell her they were her cousins favourites sprinkles and she sent them for her

My DS wouldn't take Calpol, but is happy with own brand equivalents (Asda has one) or Nurofen as the flavour isn't so strong. Maybe worth trying a different brand to see if he'll take it.

I agree best to call 111. It could definitely be tonsillitis though - my little boy had it when he was about 18 months old and didn’t eat or drink properly for three weeks bar the odd bite of a cracker, we had to literally sit all day syringing water in to his mouth with a calpol syringe for two and a half weeks. At one point I was syringing custard in just to get some calories in. It was absolutely awful. This was during Covid when it was almost impossible to get seen in real life - we ended up in A&E three times and they just made us do the fluid challenge and sent us home again. My son lost a huge amount of weight and it was only after two and a half weeks that he was finally given antibiotics and got better. So definitely push to get him seen and make sure they examine him properly and take this seriously.

TBF I have just had the flu and I know a lot of children have it too. I didn’t eat for a week because my throat was so sore, I had pains in my stomach and I felt horrendous. DH got me some Lucozade and Ribena for the sugar content, but I know that’s not always a good thing to do with children, especially when you want them to go back to drinking water when they’re better. Maybe try him with some ice lollies?

My advice is to go to A&E now. Pack a small backpack with a change of clothes, phone charger, snacks and water. My dd behaved like this when she was sick at 2 years old. Anything she ate she threw up. They did a glucose test at the hospital and it was critically low. She was put on a glucose drip for 24 hours before before being discharged from the children's ward. Children have a much much lower tolerance for not eating. Listen to your dh on this one.

To add, our dd had gastroenteritis which is why she wasn't able to eat. Please take your dc to A&E tonight. It was awful to see our dd so sick. Having the glucose drip was necessary.

@schoolrundashsprint111 advised A&E, my husband is on his way there now with him. I made sure I packed a bag with exactly everything you have listed :) made sure he has some of his home comforts as well. I am at home with baby hoping they are able to come back later tonight and don’t need to stay over night.

just out of curiosity, with the glucose drip, how do they give this? I can’t even give my son calpol without a huge fight

Scarlett fever has been doing the rounds also which does cause a very sore throat and reluctance to eat anything. If not getting better though it needs antibiotics pronto.

They gave it through an IV in her hand. She was hooked up on the drip for 24 hours. Being lethargic will mean he won't be so aware if they do anything like this to him.

Very surprised you've waited this long tbh, not eating since Saturday and you're so relaxed? Why? I think your husband was correct all along, glad to see your child is being cared for finally. Are you always this blasé?

Try paracetamol suppositories. Much easier in kids who won’t take medication

Do doctors still give antibiotics as a precaution? I remember being given penicillin when I was young and had scarlet fever, it seemed to be standard then. (neither of my 2 had scarlet fever so I'm not up to date on that).

They may well do because it can lead to lots of other complications if it’s a more severe case and/or left untreated. A friend’s son had it recently and was very poorly.

@GrooveArmada I tend to go by what Google says… a lot of it says only go A&E if they have difficulty breathing, stiff neck or drowsy, even the sections that say “when to see a doctor” doesn't cover everything he has or has been experiencing. It also states fever can be managed at home as long as they are getting fluids and temperature doesn’t exceed 39 degrees which his hasn’t been that high so that’s why I have been reluctant to go A&E

This is precisely why A&E is rammed. It’s neither an accident nor an emergency. He needs to be checked by a GP. Primary care is where this should be managed