Help with temperature control

Lil' Dot's not very well. Possibly just a bad cold, but she has a temperature and is vomiting too. (she often vomits when she has a cold - all that snots gotta go somewhere! )
The problem is, she refuses calpol. I have never known a child not like it, she spits it out if you actually manage to get her to open her mouth!
So, any ideas?

Hana Harry wont take calpol either! which is a nightmare as he has HMJS and need regular pain relief

Keep her stripped off as much as possible if she is shivering 1 light cotton layer. can you get out to get her some disprol? it is soluable paracetamol. other wise lots of fluids hun. x

My DD didnt like calpol either, but would take orange flavoured ibuprofen... So i figured she didnt like the flavour of the calpol

I have also tried cool wet flannels on forehead and those cool gel forehead things to reduce temps with my DS's.

Neurofen do a paracetamol in orange flavour that you could try? Otherwise I'm not sure other than not wrapping her too much, sorry.

X posts

I've tried her on the orange ibuprofen, no luck with that either! I've been trying to keep her fluids up, but she's not even keeping water or breast milk down. She doesn't seem lethargic or anything though, so I'm just keeping a close eye for now.

how long is she going between a sip of fluid and vomitting?? try sucking icecubes/ ice lollies under close supervision as the small ammount that she will swallow will bypass the gag reflex and also you absorb fluid though the lining of the mouth.

@LynniferT tepid sponging/ cool flannels are not reccomended at all for temperature reduction even in adults now. x
There are various reasons why we do not recommend
that you use tepid sponging:
✦ there is a lack of evidence to support its routine use
in temperate climates such as the UK, because the
sponging does not produce a sustained drop in
temperature (JBIEBNM, 2001)
✦ it leads to vasoconstriction, which can result in a
further rise in a child’s temperature (O’Connor,
2002)
✦ if performed too quickly, sponging can cause a child
to shiver and have an increase in metabolic rate.
This will subsequently increase their temperature
RCN guidence

Cooling a child with a temperature with cold flannels, tepid baths etc - is not recommended.

The body feels the cold in the flannel & bath and it thinks its entering a cold environment - so the bodies core temperature rises in response to it!
Also changing the bodies temperature too quickly is what precipitates a febrile seizure. (any fast rise or drop in temperature is what can trigger a febrile seizure)

As for paracetamol/ibuprofen - its not recommended to be used for temperature control.

Paracetamol /ibuprofen should be used to relieve discomfort or distress - not exclusively for temperature control.

My two have spit out many antibiotics in the past because they dont like the flavour - but unfortunately its something they have had had to have. So you have to give it a different way.

Getting their favourite drink - even if its a milkshake or something sweet, using a syringe into the back of the mouth and immediately giving the drink.

If you know they need medication (whether its antibiotics, calpol, or regular med's) sometimes you have to keep at it. I absolutely hate having to give eleanor flucloxacillin or ciprofloxacin - she absolutely detests it.... but its the only antibiotic she can have now at home because her ear infections are resistant to everything else.
I cant let her "refuse" to take it because otherwise she will end up seriously ill and in hospital.

i realise its different with calpol - as thats not like an antibiotic, but if its something they need, you have to keep strong and give it.

Ice lolly's are a fab way of encouraging fluids when they are poorly

@docmaggoo I didn't know that about calpol etc! Aoife had a temperature ranging from 39 to 40.8 continuously over the half term, I was told by the gp to use calpol/ibuprofen to keep the temp down