Should I Take Him to the Doctor? - Soldotna,AK

Better safe than sorry. Take him.

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I would bring him in to be safe. I never want to mess around with any breathing issues. Also, a 102 fever is an indication something is not quite right. Take him in so you can feel better. Even if it's a virus and they send you home, you will know that and it will put your mind at ease. Take good care.

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My doctor says to bring in my kids if they have a fever for 3 days. So if he had a fever on Sunday, Monday and today is Tuesday, you should take him in.

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The breathing really concerns me - likely his oxygen level isn't where it should be. Doctors have a tool that tests for oxygen level. Coupled with the fever and coughing sounds like probably heading toward pneumonia - take him in TODAY, don't wait another night. If you can't get into your dr., take him to immediate care.

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I wouldn't be as concerned about the fever as I would be about the breathing issues. If you look at his chest and he is "pulling" when he is breathing,or in other words, his chest area is pulling inward, then he is struggling to breathe and you should definitely take him in. Any wheezing or breathlessness, and you should take him in.

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Fever more than 3 days - take him in.
Breathing difficulty - take him in.

Load him up with vitamin C & any other you can get him to take. No one ever got worse from taking vitamins. & lots of chicken soup. If it lasts longer than 4 days go to the doctor.

Yes, pneumonia is very common this year and is nothing to fool with. My daughter wound up in the hospital quarentined for 3 days. Good luck.

If he is not eating well, sleeping well (which he wasn't last night) or acting much like himself 4 days later, I would call the nurse at the office and ask for advice. She will tell you.
Cool mist humidifier in his room too, it will help with the breathing.

Our pediatrician has told me that if the fever lasts for longer than three days, it's probably not a virus (although it still could be). If it's a viral infection, there's nothing you can do but wait it out. But if your son is lethargic or has other symptoms that worry you, make an appointment and take him in. It could be something like strep throat; you really never know till you have him checked.

Yes, take him. Better to be safe than sorry. My 4 yo was complaining at the dinner table that his mouth hurt. I looked in his mouth and down his throat with a flashlight, nothing. He had no flu/cold symptoms, no fever, nothing, so I just shrugged it off. I picked him up from daycare the next evening and he said, “I’t hurts”, but this time he was pointing to his throat. Still no fever, but following my gut, I took him straight to the doc. Yes, just for having a sore throat. There is one good thing here, my kids do not complain unless it is serious. Actually, I’m lucky if they’ll tell me at all. So when they do, I do not take it with a grain of salt. They also do not get sick very often. But still, for a sore throat with no other symptoms! Really.
The Doc said his throat was a little red, nothing big. He said he’d give him a strep test as an afterthought just in case. He came back surprised the test was positive. He went on antibiotics. Because it is so contagious, I thought I best have my 7 yo checked just in case because he had an ever so slight cough, nothing really noticeable until you know your 4 yo has strep. Guess what? He had bronchitis. I would have NEVER thought. I have a worse cough due to my allergies than he did. So, another one on antibiotics.
One with bronchitis with not much of a cough to speak of and no other symptoms, and another with strep, with no other symptoms besides a sore throat. You just never know these days. And, there have been a lot of kids running around with pneumonia and bronchitis lately.

I went through the same thing last week! Both my girls (almost 3yrs) were coughing with runny noses and fevers between 101 and 102.4. It started for one on Saturday, the other, on Sunday. I noticed "T" was breathing really shallow and fast when I got her home Tuesday afternoon. It was too late to go to the pediatrition so I sucked it up and went to the ER. ($80 co-pay, each) Physicians 'assistant' listened to their lungs and heart, looked in their ears and looked at throat. (the best he could anyhow with little girls trying to clamp their mouths shut) He said they both had the Croup! He gave them each a dose of oral steroids. Well, I didn't know much about the croup so I asked a group of Moms on a facebook page and almost all said to do the same things: Steamy bathroom and into the cool evening/night air. I did this several times and saw no change except that they both got worse. "T" got up at midnight Wed. night looking pure green and only went to sleep when I rocked her with a cool washcloth on her neck- her temp was 103! I called the Pediatritian on Thursday and begged for an appointment as the hospital didn't help and they were getting worse.
By the time I got them there for their 1:30 pm appointment on Friday, the doc was concerned that they had been sick for a week and did a strep test on both. When he tried to look at their throats they both wouldn't allow it. He said that if a kid wont stick out their tongue at their age it usually is because their throat hurts! He said the nurse would be in soon to swab for the tests. About ten minutes later he came back and said that after hearing both girls coughing all the way down the hall that he felt that a flu test was in order also. Both girls had Type A Influenza (flu) and Strep! and poor little "B" had a double ear infection on top of it all!
All this to say: I would err on the side of caution and have it checked- by someone who specializes in children- not an ER 'assistant' whowont even run a simple test!

I always do the same thing, but this last time my 5 year old had shallow breathing and after three days of fever started to look worse rather than better. It turns out she has pneumonia.

If there's a nurse hotline you can call (I think childrens hospital has a free one) I'm a big fan of calling in and telling them the symtpoms. They can tell you how to check your child's respiration and if it's necessary to go to the doctor. However, I would always rather err on the side of caution and feel silly then end up in the ER with my kidlet.

Good luck and i hope your boy feels better soon.

I will just chime in with the other moms. My Ped suggests 5 days with a fever (unless it gets over 103 and then she wants to see him right away). The breathing thing is probably not as serious as it may seem (since us moms will always overreact to those kinda things and worry! My kid is 2 and I still check on him before I go to bed to make sure he is still breathing!)

Regardless, he's had a fever for 3 days and he is having trouble breathing and sleeping at bed, might as well be safe and take him in!! I'm sure it will be something easy, but you gotta check and put those mommy nerves to rest.