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Charlotte does not seem her self just very sookey and feels a bit warm, she also has been off her feeds for a few days and was bringing yp her milk (which she hardly ever does), just wondering how to take a temp when Madison broke our termomtor(spel)
Im not sure, but if her fontanelle gets "spongy" take her to the hossy, its means she's dehydrated. Maybe just some cooled boiled water in a bottle (anneliese wouldn't take the bottle when she was sick, i ended up getting a dropper and putting water, drop but drop, onto her lips where she licked it off. she managed to stay just hydrated enough to stay out of hospital, when she was about to be put on a drip.) i hope charlotte gets better... email me if you need to ask anything else...
thanks simone, i have just made an appointment at the docs for 11:40am she is a sleep at the moment for the 2nd time since 7:30am so she is a bit more4 tired today, I will feel her fontanelle when she wakes up.
we see an "old fassioned" GP i have never heard a bad thing about him but he dosent beleive in thermometers he says that if mum says babys hot baby is hot ! we never actually had one for T.
i hope shes feeling better soon
i think they have a temp if even their feet are hot, or something like that..
Good luck at the drs, hope every thing's fine :)
Tallon has a hot head (in more ways than one! LOL) and when I take his temp, it's normal, so i can't go by feeling his forehead. I've heard too their chest or their belly.
What do you mean by spongey fontanelle? Tallons is sometimes sunken (not badly.. just visible) and it moves in and out.. sometimes in time with his crying! LOL - it's gross! I can't imagine he's dehydrated.. he has plenty of breasfeeds, and loads of soaked nappies.
Kelly - could she be cutting some teeth? Sometimes they get a mild temp and go off food with their teeth.
Spongy fontanelle is when the fontanelle is spongy LOL nah, it is normally sunken, and sometimes when they're dehydrated, a spongy fontanelle accompanies this. I check Anneliese's fontanelle when she's not feeding as much, and if she's not wetting as many nappies...
Kelly, is she still wetting her nappies as per usual?? keep not of how many she's wet or soiled in the last few hours... the dr might want to know that. Good luck!!
thanks everyone, she has woken up and chatting, i still will take her has i want to rule out anything to why she is not feeding, though she is still grizzly
Maybe teething :D
I go by forehead temperature too - I've found that putting my forehead against hers works for me, because if she's much warmer than me I figure it's a temperature. Also now she's older, if she lets me do that, either she's really tired or sick anyway, because normally she will duck to one side :)
Yeh i go by forehead temp too.
I know after Jesse had his needles and got a temp then he got a little flush in his cheaks.. so that maybe another symptom.
Thanks for the tip guys :) I usually use temp teddies (xanders ok with the thermometer, but the younger two arent to impressed with it) but i dont always have either of those things around.
thanks everyone, Charlotte did have a temp of 39.4 so she was very hot, there is no sign of infection though so i had to get a urine sample, but i wouldn get the results from that till wed and now she has got some sort of rash, I rand nurse on call and they seem to think that she has a viral infection, But Tim will be home soon so when she wakes up if she is not any better i will take her back, I took her temp about 30mins ago and it was 37.4 so not to bad
37.4 is pretty good, just keep up the fluids and its should pass on its own. Babies sleep more when they arent well, so i wouldnt stress about it. Anneliese sleeps lots more and it just helps their bodies recover a little. Take the time to enjoy the peace :) hope she's better soon.
It's important not to focus too much on the temperature and look at the whole child. As you aid in your OP, there are other signs - being mroe tired than normal, not taking the breast or bottle as well.
A sunken and spongy fontanelle Is a sign of dehydration vut some fontanelles are normally sunken. A better sign is nappies - if they are not wetting as many nappies as usual, this is a sign of dehydration. and offering cooled boiled water is not recommended for dehydration in BF children - instead offer more frequent breastfeeds. If the child is dry because thay have gastro, try and offer small, frequent BF as tolerated; if they are on formula (or are BF but have severe gastro) you may need to switch to a lactose-free formula, initially at half strength, and then at full-strength, to rest their gut.
Feet, hands, and foreheads are not good indicators of temperature; the chest is, but remember - don't focus on the temperature. For the OP, finally getting the temperature of 39.5 only confirmed what you had already identified - that your child was unwell. And well done on noticing those signs.
Michael, i wish i had known about the formula half strength with gastro, my daughter has to stay on lactose free formula for a while as the lining of her gut was damaged... and thanks for the tips re: temp :)
You can't use half-strength formula for any extended length of time, as the amount of calories are diluted, but it's a good trick in the early days to gradually get their gut used to food again.:
thank you micheal, i have been too focused on her temp but as a whole she is not her self,her nappies are not nearly as wet this afternoon and she had a rash but that has gone done abit, we are at the doc in the morning(tomorrow)
Michael - even for the 2 days Anneliese was continually vomiting, i was trying to give her bottles... maybe she would've kept it down if it wasn't so heavy. She wont drink water at all, i even tried her on diluted juice, but she only wanted milk, which she brought straight back up.
Simone: Sometimes, with a really bad case of gastro, the best thing is to rest the gut completely, as it is just so irritated from the infection it can't tolerate anything. But yes, this is pretty difficult, because some little ones remain hungry even through the nausea...*sigh*
KMH: It sounds as if your little one is indeed unwell. Definitely stick with the doctor, or take her to hospital if you become concerned overnight. A rash is extremely common with a viral illness, and is almost never anything to worry about. A rash that would be a cause for concern would be a rash that doesn't blanch - that is, a rash that doesn't go white when you press on it. This kind of rash, called a petechial rash by health professionals, is caused by multiple small burst blood vessels in the skin - it is actually a series of pin-***** or slightly larger-sized bruises. This is one of the symptoms of meningococcal disease, which is very serious and requires antibiotics straight away. A much more common type of rash in an unwell child is a fine red rash over the arms, trunk, or face, which blanches when you press it (try pressing a glass to the rash, because you can see through the glass to the skin underneath and actually see it whitening as you press).
I do this as well and it's usually right.:
thanks again micheal, the rash i was not worried about, but over night she was screaming like she was in pain, and she has had not amny wet nappies, we are off to see the doctor at 9:50am
If she hasnt had any wet nappies, thats the bit to stress to the drs.
I took declan to the hossy with gastro with a temp of 40.5, and no wet nappies for over 12 hours at arrival, and they made him wait for 5 hours... no treatment, nothing. i ended up taking him home and syringing water into his mouth. Do whatever it takes to get her to take that fluid...
Good luck hun...
Charlotte has tonsilitls, and i am waiting for some test results in regarding her blader as something came back a bit high, so hopefully i will hear about that tonight or tomorrow morning. But my doctor does not seem to think it will be anything at they know why she had such a high temp yesterday.
She seems to be taking more feeds now which is great, i will be checking her nappy when she wakes up.
AT least its figured out. Have they put Charlotte on a/b's or anything??
KMH, my boy is exhibiting identical symptoms - wonder if it is tonsilitis also? I think if he is still like this tomorrow I will take him to the doctors....
I'm not sure about interstates but 'slap cheek' (parvo virus) is going around as well at the moment up here. Alot of the "symptoms" are not dissimilar to that of a flu/cold (ie. temps, runny nose, cough, irritability etc) but of course it's the rash that arrives (after they've stopped being contagious typically - so many children get sent to daycare/childcare whilst their contagious because they're parents don't know they're going to pass it on) a few days later.... my niece & her cousin have just had it courtesy of a few kids at childcare.
The rash looks a bit like a heat rash at times, first thing in the morning it looked like she had 2nd degree burns on her chest & arms. Oh, and the rash can rotate for want of a better word. It might show on the thighs in the morning, but then have moved to the arms and chest in the afternoon and then is just on the face in the evening.
Yeah she is on a/b i will find out the rest of the test results either tonight or tomorrow morning.
Hope Charlotte is getting better for you, Kelly.
Why is it not accurate to test the temp on your baby's forehead? Sorry if that's a stupid qn! My DD had a temp yesterday and was whingey and clingy all day but I only felt her forehead, dry and hot to touch. This morning she still had a very slight temp, but after breakfast and a couple of bf it was gone. She seems fine now. I didn't use a thermometer (I can never remember what is a high temp anyway and the batteries seem to be permanently flat...) but I'm guessing a Mum's judgement is okay?
Some good advice here, thanks everyone!
Maybe it's because it's exposed to the air so the surface temperature that you feel is inaccurate? No idea really! LOL.
All I know is Tallon's head feels hot ALL the time... yet when I take his temp its only 36.something. So it's very inaccurate for us! I don't really know what a 'high' temp is either. 38? 39?
Because the body adjusts it's temperature by radiating heat from the extremities - the arms, legs, and head. So they will not necessarily be an accurate indicator of the child's true temperature. In a very unwell child, their blood pressure will fall; to try and keep the body working, the blood flow is pooled in ther internal organs and the brain; so the outer layers of skin will feel quite cold, even though the child has a temperature.
And as someone pointed out, if it is a hot or cold day outside, the extremities will also be hot or cold accordingly.