Has anyone's baby/toddler had swine flu yet?

[Citrovie]

I'm curious about how active swine flu is in the area at the moment and, if your child has had it, how bad it was (e.g. did you feel confident caring for him/her at home? Did everyone in your household get it?) and whether Tamiflu had any nasty side effects. I haven't heard much about people getting sick around here lately but assume it'll be back when school starts again. I know the symptoms will be different for everyone who is unfortunate enough to get it but I'd like to be somewhat prepared in case my 1 year old gets it at some point. Thanks!

[pebbles]

My 22 month old had "swine flu" last week. I am a little cautious in calling it that as I find it very difficult with him only being diagnosed over the telephone however he had a temp over 38 degrees for 5 days, horrible cough and sore throat, didn't eat for 5 days and had diorrhoea.

At no point in time was i worried about him - if that makes sense. However it was truly and utterly heartbreaking seeing him feel so ill and not be able to do anything other than cuddle. He pretty much slept the whole time (however woke himself up regularly coughing so didn't have good night time sleeps so slept with me the whole time for comfort - not something i've ever done before and i loved every minute of it and miss him now that he's back in his own room!!!).

He didn't want to eat or drink anything so in the end we had to syringe water into him as he wouldn't take it any other way. I think that was what i was worried about the most was his liquid intake. We did ask for Tamiflu and we emptied the powder from the pills out into everything we could possibly think of however he didn't take any of it and now that he is better I am quite glad about that as he fought it off himself which i am hoping will stand him in better stead for if it occurs again in the future.

I'm 30 weeks pregnant so was very lucky to have my mum spend most days with us. It was more moral support that i needed as he just lay on me moaning most of the time so it was nice having someone to keep me company, take over the hugging when it got too upsetting for me and of course feed me lots and lots of food. My husband and I agreed that what was important if we could help it is that we both didn't get ill at the same time so he slept in the spare room and I did most of the comforting and so far hubby is still feeling fine. Me.... well lets just say that our son is currently on his way up to stay with Grandpa so I can go to bed. I don't have "swine flu" as I don't have the temperature that they say is a "must" but i do feel dreadful but might be the stress release from last week in combination to catching his cough and cold.

So that's my story.. sorry for waffling

Would love to hear other people's stories

[carrieon23]

Hi, I think my 6 month old son may have had swine flu about 4 weeks ago. Story very similar to above- temp for 4 days, sore throat, not eating and very clingy and unsettled, fortunately he wanted milk but no solids so at least I knew he was getting fluids. He was coughing himself awake at night, and the cough lasted for about 3 weeks. We have only just really got back to pre ill sleep patterns.

I also didn't feel 'worried' about him in fact it didn't even occur to me at the time that might be what it was! It was just awful to see him so ill and unusually unsettled. He also had a streaming cold and was very red eyed and virally looking. I guess it could have just been a bad cold, but in a way im hoping he had it and then its done with. Grandma's had to come to my rescue too as it was really quite draining being up all night again and then unsettled all day. I never got anything but dad and both grandmas got it, and all felt absolutely awful for two or three days.

Its a bit crap really (as im a childrens nurse!) of me not to think about it being swine flu at the time but i don't think it would have made any difference taking tamiflu, in fact im quite glad he didn't have it.

xx

[mich]

My daughter got diagonosed with it yesterday. She slept in quite late (which is unuasual for her) and when she did finally wake up after an hour she was asleep again. I noticed that she was coughing and getting hot so took her temp which was 39. She also had a runny nose. I called my doctors and they asked me to bring her in before surgery started. That was when she was prescriced the Tamiflu!

I'm not worried about her but as pebbles and carrieon23 both said it is so awful to she her so unwell and no energy to do anything, all she could manage yesterday when she was awake was just to lay on the sofa and watch tv. In the leaflet that comes with the Tamiflu they say one of the side effects is vomiting which usually occurs after the first dose, which unfortunately happened with my daughter (she could have put the actress from the exorcist to shame!!!). I gave her the tablet by breaking the capsule and mixing it in with a spoonful of yoghurt which she took no problem.

We both had an awful night last night, I put her in bed with me so I could keep an eye on her temp and she woke up every half hour throughout the night which has completley drained me out, at one point her temp went up to 41 but ibuprofen calmed that down!! She was crying out in her sleep too which was quite distressing! Luckily my mum came round this afternoon to sit with her so I could catch up on some sleep in case we have the same problem tonight. But fingers crossed today she seems a lot perkier and has managed to play with some toys today, although we have had 1 episode of vomiting. The only thing that is going to get me is the staying in for 5 days, so any suggestion to keeping myself amused would be great - sadly I decluttered the wardrobe last week so that's off the list of things to do!!

I myself feel fine although saying that I was poorly last week and doctor thinks I may of had swine flu but just treated it like a cold, who knows.

Hopefully your son/daughter doesn't come into contact with it, but I am pretty certain at some point everyone will of had it!

[Citrovie]

Thanks for the replies. It must be frustrating not to be sure it is/was swine flu because you won't know whether to worry about your kids getting in contact with people with swine flu in the future and whether to give the vaccination if/when offered. It must have been awful to see your little ones that sick and to even have to use a syringe to get water into them! I obviously hope my daughter won't get it but as mich said there is a good chance she will.

Hope your daughter gets over it quickly, mich.

[mich]

Just a lil update on my daughter, she woke up this morning with spots all over her, which I thought was the start of chicken pox but after a visit from doctor it turns out she is having a reaction from the Tamiflu. Been told to keep her on it, and if she gets any worse than to call them back and she'll have to come off it! Beggining to wonder now if I have done the right thing by giving her the Tamiflu, first the vomiting now this. But also wonder if her body would have been able to fight this off on it's own!! AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

[curlykaren]

oh no mich that sounds awful, thoughts with you. Did you just use ibuprofen to bring her temp down? or other measures such as cool flannels etc? You don't say what age your daughter is but for entertainment there is some great stuff online, my little man is a big fan of the computer at 6.5mths, the ceebeebies site has songs etc (the big fish little fish song by bob the builder is awesome and you can dance along providing much amusement to little ones) also will put a link to another great site at the end of my post, get well soon x

http://www.mostlymommies.com/games.html

[The Nappy Lady]

Have to say I know at least 1 other child that's had violent sickness with the Tamiflu, he was older - 8 ish, but his Mum just decided not to give it to him, and he recovered well over the course of 4 or 5 days. But not sure what I would do....such a tough decision to make, just hope I don't have to face it.

Hope any little ones in this thread with it (or their parents for that matter) feel better soon.

Molly

[mich]

thanks for the link, we will def be using that today. My daughter is 16 months! She seems to be much brighter and happier today, back into mischief so well on the road to recovery. When her temp was up I found that Ibuprofen and Calpol alone bought it down, and I stripped her down and put on the fan for her.

[curlykaren]

oh, good news, hopefully it will pass quickly x

[antijen]

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/07July/Pages/Tamiflusideeffects.aspx

Thought I'd put this link up, there is lots of controversy over the drug, Japan banned it being prescribed for teenagers due to side effects eg suicidal feelings.

I have put up a few things on different parts of this forum, I do not have much faith in pharmy medicine, and considering this drug is partly made from star anise, drug company now have 90% monoply worldwide on this herb, only 4 provinces in China grow it. To anyone not sure about taking it if offered, google star anise, tamiflu, side effects and japan, please have a look first.

[toast]

We are hoping we have had it but no idea if we actually did. Baby had it worst, high temp, diorrhoea and off food for days. His temp got to 39 calpol was doing nothing to bring it down and he became really floppy. Spent night in A&E being monitored. They were lovely, esp when i became totally covered in puke. The rest of us got a very mild version of the same but much more a 24h thing. Even the 3y old did'nt suffer too much, so like i say hoping we all now have some immunity. Would love to know if it was swine flu but the hospital said they had stopped testing for swine flu and his blood tests pointed towards a virus.