Prolonged fever in 2.5yo

[Yeddi]

I would take her to the GP first, she just might need antibiotics to help her fight it off. I wouldn't want to spend hours in the hospital waiting room, exposing her to other pathogens, if I didn't have to and TBH I don't think they would do much more than a doctor wouldn't unless it was putting her on a drip, or sticking a tube down her nose but I don't think she's quite there yet. I wouldn't worry too much about the food for another day yet either. Fluids though, is the big thing. Ice blocks, not just the Hydrolax ones (they taste pretty average) but any mainly water ones. Anything to get more fluids into her - lemonade... An epsom salts bath to counteract the panadol and ibuprofen side effects might be a good idea too, and will help her keep hydrated by absorbing through the skin as long as the water isn't too hot.

[~me~]

A GP once told me some fevers are good fevers, the bodies natural thing to fight off a virus.
I would take her to a GP for reassurance, they won't give you AB's if they think it's viral, they will tell you just to keep her hydrated and use a paracetamol. They may even reccommend a hdyrolite, in either icepole form or drink.
I would be thinking of taking her to emergency if her fever gets over 39.5 or going to a pharmacy and talking to the pharmacist to see what they say as well.
I would be forgetting about all solid foods if she is not interested or stick to basics or things that are easy to swallow like jelly.
Cold compress as well to help her cool down.
You would be amazed how sips of water can keep them going

[Livinthedream]

My GP told me that if the temp doesnt respond to panadol within 1 1/2 hrs, take them to hosp.
But if you can manage it with panadol, they should be fine and just get them checked by your doc.
She may need AB's and I may be lucky, but all the GP's we have seen have been really reluctant to treat anything with AB's unless they really need it.
Hopefully its just a 24 hr thing, they often are....

[Liz]

We try to let the fever run its course... sometimes it goes for 2-3 days. Usually they sit at a steady 38.8 and they are ok with that. I have used this advice as a guide: FEVER

Interestingly the 'common fever' is 38.4 - 39.7. So I wouldn't be too worried at the temps you've listed so far. I do like the advice 'treat the child, not the fever'. I've found with DD that if her temp gets up over 39.3 or so, she starts to get a bit distressed, saying her eyes hurt etc (I get the burning eyes with fevers too.. so I know how that feels) and then we give her something. Otherwise we find their temps do tend to stabilise themselves in the high 38's or low 39 and we let it run and keep their fluids up etc. If there's other symptoms such as sore throat or ears, I take them to the GP to be looked over.

Aside from the advice on that site..

If your child of any age has one or more of the following symptoms, you should probably call your doctor right away:
High fevers of 104 (40 Celcius) or higher that don't come down to 101 or 102 (38.3 to 38.9 Celcius) with the treatment measures below.
Lethargy – this means more than your child just isn't acting right or laying quietly in your arms. Lethargy actually refers to your child being limp, lifeless, unresponsive, or won't make eye contact.
Irritability - this means more than just fussiness. A truly irritable child will cry for hours with minimal verbal interaction, and is almost impossible to console.
Meningitis – symptoms are high fever, stiff neck or pain in the back of the neck, vomiting, headache, bright light hurts the eyes. Before paging your doctor, you should also look up any other symptoms your child has, such as cough, vomiting, rash, etc and read those guidelines to determine your best course of action.

..I would avoid going to emergency. I sat in emergency for a few hours the other night with a friend.. and OMG.. the sickness that came through was awful. People with vomit bags.. kids with TERRIBLE coughs.. I'm sitting there pregnant thinking stay away from me!! I don't need whooping cough right now!!

I hope she feels better soon. I know for myself the worst feeling of a fever is the actual change in temp.. such as the chills as it goes up, so I do try to avoid the fluctuation of temps that panadol etc can do, cos the body is trying to do it's thing and keeps trying to raise the temp once the panadol wears off. Once it settles at a temperature it doesn't feel so bad (for me anyway.. and I know my kids are more miserable if the temp keeps moving too).

HTH

[Traveller]

I would probably just nurse her at home, as you have done with paracetamol and ibuprofen if the fever gets too high. Keep her cooly dressed and use a cool cloth to bring her temperature down further. It may be that the fever lasts a few days but in the absence of any of the symptoms described by Liz, a visit to the GP or emergency is likely just to make her feel sad and uncomfortable when she would rather be at home. If you are very concerned of course seek medical advice, even without more worrying symptoms.

I would take my child to the hospital if their fever went on for more than 3 days, or went above 40, or did not respond to paracetamol and ibuprofen.

[Indadhanu]

It hit 40.4 Went from 39.2 when I posted to 40.4 in 10 minutes. Her eyes glassed over and she started shaking and falling asleep so we rushed to the GP (closer to us than the hspital and were open until 5pm today), and got straight in, we stayed there for about 90 minutes in the nurses section as the dr and receptionist helped us get it down (and calm us down LOL!). The dr, who is a pead. refused to let us go until it went down to 38 in case she can a convulsion. Which it did after 90 minutes. Her right ear was extremely inflamed and lots of pus, but she hadn't complained of any pain so I had no idea Coupled with a UTI that we suspected she had. And her throat also seems raw and red, well she didn't get a good look but thats what she said. So we've got some antibiotics now.

We got home and it went back up again, but we got it down with a cool bath. She's gone lethargic again, but the dr told us not to worry too much.

We do usually try to let it go but the heat today just made it really hard, it really knocked her around. We've actually been able to get it down without medications now which is great It was just totally unresponsive before. Maybe because it's a pretty bad infection (er, infections )?

[Traveller]

poor Jazz, I hope she starts to feel better soon.

[Indadhanu]

Going back up again and she woke up crying "too hot, owww!" hate feeling so useless! Wish I was still breastfeeding!

[Yeddi]

I'm glad that you were able to get into the GP so fast Indadhanu and got everything sorted. A double infection would explain why the panadol etc. didn't work for long, poor little thing had a lot to deal with. I hope she's feeling better soon. The antibiotics should kick in soon.