Bizarre teething...

[Ruth_Baldock]

I think Cheeky (grumpy) S is teething again; snotty nose (leading to angry coughing) spots/rash on his little face, drooling. However, he's got all his molars, incisors and canines so...what teeth could be coming through? pre-molars aren't meant to come in till 24-36 months from everything I've read, and he's just turned 15mo, so isn't this a little early The molars that just came in are right at the back, with a big gap for pre-molars, leading me to think these are the MAIN molars, I think?

Or is it a virus? Snot alternating between yellowish and clear (tmi, sorry). He had his boosters AND MMR a week ago, so it could all be down to that? possibly? this all came on last night, totally out of the blue.

Who else is going through this? It's the epitome of NOT FUN.

[bluesuperted]

Hey Ruth, sounds like the virus that E has (confirmed by docs last night). I thought it was teething too (now think that's just a concurrent added extra!) but apparently not - lots and lots and LOTS of clear snot and barking cough. Slightly better in the day but all in bed now and gearing up for another long night of coughing and pained crying (as you said on fb, soooo hard to listen to, I can't take it!!!!). Cuddles generally seem to help but in the night only mine which is sad for daddy E! May be worth a call to Seldoc if breathing becomes laboured, hugs to all the family xx

[Ruth_Baldock]

Oh cripes...WHERE did he get it?? He hasn't been in contact with anyone since Sunday, really...

If it's a virus, there is not much the GP can do, so useless making an appointment I suppose.

[EDmummy]

May be a virus but my youngest had a full set of teeth (bar adolescent molars) by 12 months so anything is possible. Perhaps it will all become obvious in a day or two.

[Lochie]

i wouldn't underestimate the effect of the MMR and jabs. My son had exactly as you described one week after his second MMR and we too thought it was molars (I think it was partially that too) but my doc said sometimes the reaction to the MMR can be a bit of poorlyness one week later. It took about a week to pass :-(

[Inkmaiden]

Inkspawn had this virus last week- temperature, snot, few little spots on face and endless coughing, much worse at night. It eased up after about a week, just as I was about to go insane from lack of sleep. I think all the coughing made I's tummy and chest hurt and needed lots of soothing at night, so slept with me as propped on one side as I could manage or slightly propped up on back which seemed to help.

A reaction to MMR can also kick in after the jab as different parts of the vaccine take effect. From the mighty source of knowledge that is The Internet: "The MMR vaccine may cause a brief reaction that can begin from a few days to three weeks after vaccination. Your child may get mild symptoms like the diseases that are being vaccinated against, eg cold, skin reaction, fever or swollen salivary glands." http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/childhoodvaccinations.htm

Or Seb could have both. Which would be most unfortunate.

[GinaG3]

All 3 of us in our house have had this virus for the last 2 weeks. My daughter is suffering with it at the moment a long with possible UTI. Antibiotics for us. Getting much better now though. My daughter waking in the night and not wanting to sleep in a lot of pain has been so hard, I feel complete zombie. Thankfully she slept 10pm-3am last night, before absolutely screaming the house down 'Mumm, Daddd, Mumm, Daddd, GET ME OUT!' What an alarm clock!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Thanks all, a visit to the GP confirmed it is a virus :( His cheeks are very red and spotty, I really feel for him. Total food and nap refusal (save 10 minutes on the sofa at 4pm) today too. I am praying for a better night, last night was dire; he got about 5 hours sleep from 7pm-7am, and I got about two hours. Awful. GP said it could last up to a fortnight, but I'm hoping this isn't the case...

[bluesuperted]

Poor viral-stricken bubs.... oh well, misery shared is misery halved: our last night was 8-8 with, I kid you not, a maximum consecutive sleep from baby of 40 mins. Weirdly he's napped well today (but of course I couldn't sleep) so I don't know if that means things will be worse tonight. Please god no, to two weeks of this, I feel demented after 2 nights! Wishing something mad, like a 4 hour block of sleep, to one and all! x

[GinaG3]

Still sleep problems here, but daughter is sooo much better today. Back to her old self, still coughing and slightly runny nose but no screaming in pain or anything. Me and partner still coughing 2 weeks on, I probably kept myself awake more last night in fits of coughing, she slept through them once in our bed though, PHEW!

BST - Funny 40 minutes is always our magic number, if she is going to wake it normally dead on 40 minutes!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Well, last night was not great- bed at 6pm, by 7.30pm he had a temperature of almost 38 degrees, and by 8pm it was 39.2! Gave Calpol, but after an hour and a half it was still the same, so gave jnr Ibuprofen and that seemed to sort it. He woke at about 1am and came into our bed but was MUCH more settled than the night before. Today he's tired, but napped easily, has eaten slightly more and is more like his old self. LOTS of drooling but not so much sneezing/coughing and it doesn't bother him so much. Since last night, no temperature either so fingers crossed for tonight. I hope we're on the road to recovery; I don't know if anyone else find's this, but he was so NOT himself yesterday that I found it sort of creepy? I probably sound pathetic, but it was very sad :(

BST and Gina, I hope your little one's recovery quickly and you all get nice, lovely sleep too!

[GinaG3]

Ruth - I wonder. I rarely give any medicine, unless I really feel I need to. We were also giving calpol though and nothing. Shes never had Ibuprofen before but I thought I'd give it a go (the calpol wasn't working!!) and it worked. Had you ever given S Ibuprofen before? Or maybe the virus is resistant to paracetamol? Hmmm...

[Ruth_Baldock]

For a temperature, we normally give Calpol and that does the trick, but when it goes above 39 degrees and calpol/cold compresses etc doesn't work, then we give him a single 5ml dose of Ibuprofen too (as advised by Paediatric A+E) and that normally shifts it. We never give Calpol/Ibfr. unless he has a high temperature, we normally try everything else to bring it down. However, my husband and I are very much of the belief that you don't muck about with high temperatures as the risks of complications on babies and young children is quite severe (a snr doctor at Kings told us this when we took Seb in with a temp of 40 about three months ago...)

[buggie]

So sorry to hear of so many with bugs at the mo :'(

Just to try and reassure slightly, when children are ill their fevers are much higher than an adult fever as they are less able to regulate heat (the bit of the brain that controls it doesn't mature until approx 5yrs of age).

If happy, eating and drinking well but have fever, then hold off giving paracetamol/brufen (commonly known as anti-pyretics) as the fever is the bodies way of helping fight infection (think of the white blood cells that are the bodies defence force akin to the washing liquids that work best on a 40 degree wash!). However, if they are miserable/not eating or drinking well (at least 1/2 of what you'd normally expect) then don't hesitate - neither paracetamol or brufen have been shown out and out as better than the other, but it could be that one works better than the other for a particular bug or even child (brufen has anti-inflammatory so is good for teething/sprains and strains) so probably worth having both in.

The only time I would suggest using anti-pyretics on a happy child with indication of fever would be if previous history of febrile convulsions - this is because the convulsion is caused by the speed of the temp rising (not how high the temp goes) and so use of the antipyretic could help slow that down and prevent/reduce risk of convulsion.

Only around 5% of children have febrile convulsions, and way under 50% would have a second one.

Hope you all get more sleep and happier/better babies in coming days xx

[Belle]

That is v useful Buggie, thanks. I've never had any compunction about using either (or both when advised by GP), but had not realised that you should leave well alone if child seems happy. As it is, we've only ever had miserable and feverish, so not experienced that yet, but good to know for the future.

[Ruth_Baldock]

Same wirh us- sometimes Seb has a fever but munches through his meals and drinks happily, so we leave it- applying cool, damp cloths and dressing him in less (this happened after his BCG) . Ibprof has worked in the past two incidences of illness which have both coincided with teething (another tooth poking it's way through on the right hand side of his mouth as he showed us today) so would make sense why that works best, didn't know that till just now :)

Once again, Buggie saves the day :D

[buggie]

Ow shucks! x