41/2 Year Old Getting over Pneumonia - What's Normal?

I'm praying for her! Doesn't sound like any fun at all. I think I might have it myself and hope my 10 month old doesn't get sick.

Hi. Maybe you should take her to an ER or urgent care for second look. My son and daughter were just hospitalized for an upper resp infection and they sounded like they had pneumonia but the xrays were negative. They had to be put on oxygen because there O2 stats were low. The er dr said its going around. I did have my son in the drs the day before and of course she felt horrible because she thought it was just a case of bacterial infection. It happened to be viral and they had to stay in hospital to they fought it off which was 3 days hospitalized. Maybe your 4 1/2 yr old dont have this and I pray not but maybe just get her checked again just in case. Many blessings!

My 2 1/2 year old just got over pneumonia recently. She had a very high fever for days and coughed constantly to the point of vomiting. She did get better on anti-biotics, but it took days.

Some things to think about - is your daughter dehydrated from not eating/drinking and vomiting? That could keep her fever up and energy down. If she is severely dehydrated, you may need a trip to the emergency room to get an IV. We've had to do that before - not too fun, but at least our daughter perked up after that.

Also, are you using a humidifier in her room? That seemed to help our daughter.

Unfortunately, it can take a bit of time to recover from pneumonia. I've heard about kids taking a month to get back to 100%. Good luck.

Hi S.,

I have been in the same situation, give the doctor a call and see what they think. Tell him about the symptoms and that your are still worried that she isn't getting better. Good luck, hopefully she will get well soon.

I would take her back to the same dr. that just diagnosed the pneumonia and have them listen to her lungs again. There should have been an improvement after 6 days on her antibiotic, and if there isn't, they may prescribe an alternate antibiotic or treatment. I wouldn't wait the whole 10 days to go back if she's still so sick.

Trust your instincts! Take her back or to the ER if you feel her doctor's office isn't on the same page as you. You are your daughters advocate and if you feel she's not improving then she isn't, no one else could be as concerned as you. My daughter always responded within 48hours of antibiotic for pneumonia. You probably need a new med, maybe some IV fluids. I am a nurse (not pediatrics) and I know that they can't tell what type of bacteria from an x-ray, only from a sputum sample. They may want to do that or just assume and switch antibiotics. I've seen elderly people recover very slow from pneumonia but a 4 1/2 year old should be responding to treatment quickly. Good luck!

when my older son was little, he had pneumonia and kept relapsing. you may need a stronger antibiotic. be sure to call your doctor.

S., not sure about the antibiotics and how fast it should work, but I had pneumonia last year and I know it's a good thing if she's coughing stuff up, and you should promote it with some of those ideas from the previous response.