As your child grows, you become more familiar with their usual behaviour patterns. You can easily recognize common illnesses, your child communicates more clearly about their pain and discomfort, and you already know how to ease most symptoms at home.
This allows you to manage mild illnesses independently using home remedies such as lukewarm baths, tea, soup, nasal drops, and balms to ease breathing. Your home medicine cabinet likely contains medications to help with fever, cough, and other minor ailments.
When common symptoms appear (often due to viral infections), closely monitor your child in the following hours, ensure they get extra rest, stay hydrated, and relieve discomfort as usual.
Pay attention to how intense the symptoms are—if your child is more distressed than usual, if their fever spikes unusually high, or if it doesn’t respond to typical fever-reducing methods. These observations will help you decide when to call your child’s doctor for advice or when urgent medical care is needed.
Symptoms that require immediate medical attention
Fever
In most mild illnesses, a child becomes more active once the fever is lowered, which is a reassuring sign. However, seek urgent medical help if the fever is accompanied by severe chills or shivering, rash, drowsiness or difficulty waking up, weakness, unusual stillness, laboured or rapid breathing, a persistent choking cough, repeated vomiting and/or complete loss of appetite.
Subglottic laryngitis – croup
Croup is a viral infection affecting the vocal cords and trachea. In croup, hoarseness develops, and breathing often produces a distinctive "scraping" or "growling" sound, particularly during coughing or crying. The sound resembles the barking of a dog. A child with croup may struggle for breath and therefore appear restless and frightened.
Croup is an illness that affects children between three months and six years of age and typically occurs at night. It is more common in boys than in girls and is most frequently seen in the autumn and spring. A child's crying is a good sign - if they can cry, they can breathe.
Seek urgent medical help if:
- breathing difficulty is noticeable even at rest
- the child gasps for air (raising their chin, opening their mouth, flaring nostrils, using neck, chest and abdominal muscles to breathe)
- the child is extremely restless and cannot find a comfortable breathing position
- the child is unable to cry or make sounds
- skin appears pale or bluish
- the child complains of severe throat pain (refuses to swallow even a sip of liquid, cries out in pain
- the child cannot tilt their head forward
- fever exceeds 38.5 °C
- heart rate exceeds 160 beats per minute
- the child loses consciousness
- the child appears very sick despite minimal breathing difficulty
- you, as a parent, feel extremely alarmed.
If someone can drive you to a doctor within 15 minutes, sit with your child in the back seat, comfort them with soft talking or singing, and ensure fresh air circulation. If no transport is available, call emergency medical services.
Diarrhoea
Call emergency services immediately if your child lies motionless or is too weak to stand.
Contact a doctor or visit an emergency unit immediately if your child:
- appears seriously ill
- shows signs of dehydration (e.g., no urination for over 8 hours, no tears while crying, very dry mouth)
- has blood in their stool
- has a fever over 40°C
- suffers from abdominal pain lasting over 2 hours
- vomits more than 3 times
- has more than 8 bowel movements in 8 hours
- has severe diarrhoea possibly caused by medication (e.g., antibiotics).
If symptoms are not severe, ensure adequate fluid intake and light food. Do not force your child to eat if they refuse.
If breastfeeding, continue to nurse.
Severe allergic reactions
An allergic reaction may cause hives (red, itchy skin), swelling of the face or tongue, sudden hoarseness, breathing difficulty, and, in severe cases, loss of consciousness. Call emergency services immediately and follow their instructions.
Head injuries
If a child loses consciousness, even briefly, or vomits after a head injury, seek immediate medical attention at an emergency hospital or call emergency services and follow their instructions.
Headache
A sudden, severe headache, especially if accompanied by nausea, vomiting, vision disturbances, or altered consciousness, requires urgent medical attention.
Open wounds and bleeding
Seek emergency care if the wound is large, deep, bleeding heavily, located on the head or near the eyes, or caused by an open fracture.
Whenever you notice a disruption in vital functions, suspect a serious illness, or if your child is in severe pain (crying inconsolably), seek immediate medical help. Call emergency medical services (194) and follow their instructions.
If you are staying in an asylum seekers' shelter, you can seek medical assistance from the shelter’s medical team instead of emergency services. A doctor will examine the child and arrange transportation to a healthcare facility for further check-ups if needed.
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