gooDADvice (Read 242212 times)

Muenchener · February 11, 2017, 08:26:39 pm

How are you administering the Calpol? I remember paracetamol suppositories doing the trick.

Although perhaps he was just struck dumb with surprise.

tomtom · February 11, 2017, 08:35:05 pm

Calpol comes with its own mouth syringe thingy.. just been out to try and score some baby ibuprofen - cheers for the tip. Sadly both our local dealers (Tesco and Coop) were out.

tomtom · February 11, 2017, 08:41:42 pm

Ps thanks both.

mrjonathanr · February 11, 2017, 08:59:55 pm

I bring the room temperature down if fever is really high. You can use a fan, or possibly open window but keep an eye on it given freezing temps at mo.

galpinos · February 12, 2017, 07:29:14 pm

Tom, we've always got a lot of drugs at ours so if you're ever struggling, you can drop me a text/pop round.

Oldmanmatt · February 12, 2017, 08:54:56 pm

Having both Calpol and Neurofen on hand is a must in this house. We give it alternately at two hour intervals, so each is still at peak when the next is delivered. Cold/cool flannel, stroked across the body helps; as does keeping them as bare as possible.
Had a few humdingers when mine were little and my daughter once began to exhibit signs of Febrile convulsions with vomiting and diarrhoea and a 42* temp aged ~18 months.
We put her in a cold bath until it dropped below 40* and then she was carted off by Ambulance to the Jebel Ali med centre. I actually keeled over (and Grand slammed) the next day and joined her. Woke up two days later to be told we'd had (suspected) Cholera.

All posts either sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or mildly mocking-in-a-friendly-way unless otherwise stated. I always forget to put those smiley things...

tomtom · February 12, 2017, 09:30:00 pm

Cheers Galpinos - he's better today (not needing constant drugging..) and sleeping now \o/

Was quite a surprise how quick he went from being a bit narky (not uncommon) to full on screaming red faced sweating fever sufferer.

Omm - scary shit...

andy popp · February 13, 2017, 06:58:28 am

They tend to do that - and the temperatures can spike really high. As I understand it babies have much less ability to regulate their body temperatures. But as you say, its very scary at the time. Glad he's feeling better today though.

dave · February 13, 2017, 10:05:21 am

We had to take our eldest to children's hospital once when he was about 1 or 2, for some reason he got really distressed and hot one night, high temperature, really not himself, calpol not working, unresponsive, delirious, really scary. Phoned NHS Direct who then ordered ambulance etc. I followed behind in car, managed to get parked, walked into the kids A&E and he's sat there shirt off playing with some bricks right as fucking rain.

galpinos · February 13, 2017, 10:39:21 am

Quote from: dave on February 13, 2017, 10:05:21 am

We had to take our eldest to children's hospital once when he was about 1 or 2, for some reason he got really distressed and hot one night, high temperature, really not himself, calpol not working, unresponsive, delirious, really scary. Phoned NHS Direct who then ordered ambulance etc. I followed behind in car, managed to get parked, walked into the kids A&E and he's sat there shirt off playing with some bricks right as fucking rain.

The healing power of A&E. We've had similar with our eldest daughter, leg totally gave way playing football, could weight it, pain etc. Get traiged in the Children's A&E, by the time we get to see the doctor she can hop on that leg pain free. Very frustrating!

Oldmanmatt · February 13, 2017, 12:01:08 pm

Quote from: galpinos on February 13, 2017, 10:39:21 am

Quote from: dave on February 13, 2017, 10:05:21 am
We had to take our eldest to children's hospital once when he was about 1 or 2, for some reason he got really distressed and hot one night, high temperature, really not himself, calpol not working, unresponsive, delirious, really scary. Phoned NHS Direct who then ordered ambulance etc. I followed behind in car, managed to get parked, walked into the kids A&E and he's sat there shirt off playing with some bricks right as fucking rain.

The healing power of A&E. We've had similar with our eldest daughter, leg totally gave way playing football, could weight it, pain etc. Get traiged in the Children's A&E, by the time we get to see the doctor she can hop on that leg pain free. Very frustrating!

Yep, eldest son did exactly the same with his arm. Except got all the way to having a Back slab fitted and was sat waiting for X-ray when he decided it didn't hurt anymore...

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Durbs · February 13, 2017, 12:05:25 pm

Just one thing to be aware of is Calpol can reduce temperature too far... Ours went from 39 down to 30 which is hypothermic - not uncommon apparently but not pleasant either.

Think general advice for fevers isn't to cool down them down too much (reference: open windows & fans?). Certainly cold flannels are a no-no according to NHS.

galpinos · February 13, 2017, 12:34:17 pm

Quote from: Durbs on February 13, 2017, 12:05:25 pm

Just one thing to be aware of is Calpol can reduce temperature too far... Ours went from 39 down to 30 which is hypothermic - not uncommon apparently but not pleasant either.

1. I thought this was very rare?
2. 30! wholly fuck, that's servere hyothermia? Were they ok, no side effects? You must have shat yourself? What did they do to reverse it?

Quote from: Durbs on February 13, 2017, 12:05:25 pm

Think general advice for fevers isn't to cool down them down too much (reference: open windows & fans?). Certainly cold flannels are a no-no according to NHS.

I thought that that was just that the research had said it made no difference, not that it was a necessarily bad thing.

My two respond to illness very differently. The oldest spikes a fever, >38, pretty much every time she gets ill, the youngest has only had two fevers, one of which was meningitis.

Durbs · February 13, 2017, 01:31:30 pm

Yeah - was a bit of a "holy shit" moment... just stuffed her in the duvet between the two of us and it started to come back up again. She was awake and lucid the whole time so we weren't too panicked - all the NHS stuff was saying only to worry if you couldn't rouse them or console them. She was sitting there playing with her cuddly panda! Odd child.

It hasn't happened since - think it was actually the first time we gave her Calpol - not sure if that's related.

tomtom · February 13, 2017, 04:52:26 pm

We borrowed a neighbours IR thermometer (one of those you stick in the ear and press a button) and it was ace... so much so we went and bought one (they had a fancy braun one that was £40 in the shops - we found a TomeeTipee one reduced from £35 to £20 in tescos (still have some left)). SO much easier than trying to keep a regular (digital) thermometer in their mouth/armpit/arse long enough to get a good reading - and less distressing..

SA Chris · February 15, 2017, 05:56:54 pm

Our daughter used to get temp spikes at the first sign of an illness, temp up to 40s, febrile convulsions etc, can only echo the calpol / neurofen double up, and keep doing it for longer than you think you need to (like 24 hours after the temp spike) to prevent recurrence. Also, google a video of a child with croup cough sometime so that you will know what it sounds like and not go into panic when your child first does it an hour or so after trying fish for the first time.

Obi-Wan is lost... · February 16, 2017, 03:35:28 pm

If you're Sheff based some good stuff here for kids of all ages...
http://www.scienceweeksy.org.uk/

tommytwotone · February 16, 2017, 04:52:45 pm

Quote from: tomtom on February 13, 2017, 04:52:26 pm

We borrowed a neighbours IR thermometer (one of those you stick in the ear and press a button) and it was ace... so much so we went and bought one (they had a fancy braun one that was £40 in the shops - we found a TomeeTipee one reduced from £35 to £20 in tescos (still have some left)). SO much easier than trying to keep a regular (digital) thermometer in their mouth/armpit/arse long enough to get a good reading - and less distressing..

We've got one of them too - I'd just be wary that they can be a bit wayward on readings. A few times when Una's had a temp that's been coming down I've gone up to check on her, done a reading and it's been 40 degrees, checked again and it's back to 37, done it again and it confirmed 37.

I had my first experience of her having a stomach bug last weekend, including multiple vomming in the car on the way back from a kid's party, alone in the car with me, on the day I'd moved her car seat behind the driver's seat so I could fit the baby seat behind the passenger. Stressful.

tomtom · February 16, 2017, 06:16:54 pm

Yup. Noticed variation with the in ear ones... when he had a temp it was pretty consistent- but when lower not so. I do both ears and take a average...

Muenchener · April 24, 2017, 09:46:22 pm

Been practicing my parenting AND coaching skills this evening.

The Lad: dad, why am I getting calluses here? Points at base of fingers.

Me: son, the holds on the boulders you're doing are too big.

Oldmanmatt · April 24, 2017, 10:08:16 pm

Quote from: tomtom on February 16, 2017, 06:16:54 pm

Yup. Noticed variation with the in ear ones... when he had a temp it was pretty consistent- but when lower not so. I do both ears and take a average...

You should use three similar thermometers of each type and take the mean of the Mode for each type...

Will Hunt · June 09, 2017, 05:28:35 pm

We'd like to set aside a modest amount each month for the sprog such that when they reach adulthood they have some savings that can be put towards first car/hover board/house/nuclear fallout shelter or whatever the times may necessitate. We'd like to put the money aside in such a way that they can't access it readily themselves until they're a certain age.

As far as I'm aware, the options are a junior ISA (not sure if there's any advantage to one of these unless it's likely that the spring will start earning enough to have to start paying tax on the interest - unlikely), a junior savings account (just like a bank account? Some paying up to 4% at the moment which seems generous), or start paying into some sort of investment fund (possibly slotted into a junior stocks and shares ISA, but again, not sure if that's actually advantageous unless they're going to earn stacks), or by children's bonds, which don't seem to pay huge amounts of interest but sound like less hassle to manage than a savings account.

Would anyone like to offer any advice on this or direct me to a resource which will help us get to grips with the different options?

tomtom · June 09, 2017, 06:43:03 pm

Send me £50 a month and I'll assure you a good return....

Will Hunt · June 10, 2017, 02:48:44 pm

No wisdom out there?

Simon W · June 10, 2017, 04:54:10 pm

Been looking at this myself a bit, we top up child benefit to £100 and just save that each month.

I don't know how old you or your partner are Will but if you're around late 30s then have you considered putting it into a lifetime ISA, you'd get the government 25% bonus between now and turning 50 and then continue to receive interest until it matures when you're 60. One drawback is that you lose the bonus if you make any withdrawals so worth reading up on it.

I'm considering this as myself and my partner are around that age and it would mean the money maturing around the time our daughter hits early/mid 20s. When I looked at the Junior ISAs I didn't like the fact that this money would be in your kids name and accessible to them when they turn 18. I got a chunk around that age and just pissed it up against the wall!