One of the things I really take for granted is the super mild and agreeable temper of my baby girl, Lauren. It takes just a few days of her extreme crankiness and irritability to get me down on my knees and thank God for blessing me with the sweetest baby ever. So when Lauren was down with Roseola, I knew never to take her for granted again![space]
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Roseola Symptoms – What You Can Expect
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See, the last week had us up every hour after 12 midnight, soothing and calming down an irate feverish goblin, that kicked, scratched and headbutt us each time she jolted from her slumber.[space]
When she was awake, she’d want nobody, nobody but me. If anyone dared or attempted to take her away from me, she’d be so enraged she’d tear down the house with the sheer power of her screams. Our neighbours came by to see if we were torturing her.[space]
And since it’s the 7th month, Ghost Festival, I even wondered if she saw things she shouldn’t have and got spooked. I sang prayer hymns and she screamed even louder.[space]
High Fever of 40.1 Degrees Celcius
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On Thursday night, she hit 40.1 degrees celcius, and her arms and legs had mottling which totally freaked me out so we rushed her to KKH children’s ER. They did a blood test and it turned out it was a viral infection. No idea what exact virus caused it though, it was too early to tell.[space]
Treatment? Sorry No Treatment
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Verdict? No cure, just let her battle it out, we were told.[space]
So after 4 days of high fever where paracetemol was totally useless, her fever miraculously went away. And on the 5th day, a rash appeared all of a sudden. Ah hah![space]
Rash Appears After Fever Breaks
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This is the demon of a virus that transformed my lovely sweet cheeks into the frenzied, incensed terror that had us totally clueless what to do. The only thing that worked to calm her down, was for ME to carry her and bounce on the gym ball until she dozed off.[space]
If I so much as move her, she’d arch her back, wince and let out her war cry so shrill it’d pierce through our hearts and make us bleed through our eyes.[space]
She refused to eat more than a morsel and only wanted to breastfeed non-stop. Looking back, she hardly walked the entire 4 days cos she had to be carried 24/7 and had her face buried deep into my boobs.[space]
So yep. For more than half a week, I couldn’t brush my teeth, eat breakfast, take a shower or function as a human being because I had a berserker baby on the loose, strapped to me.[space]
The consolation? Babies usually only get Roseola once. Usually is the key word.[space]
In any case, when Lauren grows up, I’d get her to nickname her enemies Roseola.[space]
Update 02 OCT 2017 – Joshie Becomes a Cranky Baby
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It happened again! ARGH! Not to Lauren but to Joshie![space]
This time, it was the classic case of Roseola. Joshie was a chirpy bird by day, and without any warning, transformed into destroyer-of-peace by evening time. There were no telltale signs at all, and after dinner, he was sporting a 40+ fever. Yup. No other symptoms apart from the obscenely high fever and an inconsolable meltdown.[space]
Joshie’s fever spiked so high during the nights, I felt as though I was sleeping next to a furnace. Sigh. And similar to what happened to Lauren, Joshie jolted every 15 minutes while sleeping. Not sure why, but it seems like the Roseola fever has the tendency to cause kids to jolt in their sleep, and cause them to be livid about it.[space]
After enduring 3 full days of whining and whining and non-stop whining, his fever suddenly broke. And then, his whole body was covered in rashes. I didn’t get any photos of Lauren’s roseola rash the last time, so here’s Joshie taking one for the team. And for the record,[space]
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95 Comments
Mariel
Omggg I’m so glad I found your blog! We are on day 3 of the rash and my son has been SUPER irritable and cranky! As soon as he wakes up in the morning he’s upset and has a piercing cry throughout the day. He has a low frustration tolerance for everything. He loves to be held and that calms him down. I’ve been saying I don’t know what to do anymore – he thrashes and arches his back and nothing seems to help. I thought it was teething so I have Tylenol once and Motrin once but didn’t seem to do anything. I guess the virus has to run it’s course but I hope it’s over soon. This has been so hard. I miss my sweet boy!
Nic
Hi what was the outcome of your situation ? I am currently dealing with the same thing on day three of rash and don’t know what to do about this crankiness and arching of back.
Crish middlebrook
My 9 month old son had 3 days high fever about 39.9 no sintoms, no cough and cold we given him medicine for fever nothing happened, so we take him into the hospital after 2 days the doctor check everything, chest x ray are,clear ,abdomen x ray doctor says just gastroentoritis, so we stay in the hospital overnight, we decided to just go home on the fallowing day we ask for the medicine and my baby can just relax and recovery at home rather than the hospital, he heard the other babys crying makes him feel more stress and upset plus the nurse keep checking on his temperature, plus the i,v drip on his hand that makes him uncomfortable so after 12hrs in the hospital we decided to go home he has no fever in 12 hrs when were in the hospital he have dextross on the next day i give my baby a quick bath i was so shocked the skin rashses started to appear on his head, cheek and the back of the ears at first 1 been thinking maybe just the effect of the medicine at the hospital give to him and they started to show more on the afternoon back, chest tummy, so i took the photo of my baby rash send it to my friend as she said is a roseola, i keep eye on him until tomorrow hope hes ok by the end of the day tomorrow
Cristina R
My daughter had the super high fever but unfortunately she was one of the 15% that got a febrile seizure because of this. Not just one but 3. She was in the hospital for 2 days and they ran every test under sun. Finally on the 5 th day she got the rash and everything made sense. Horrible virus for my daughter. Thankful it was only this and not something serious!!!
Caroline
I feel like everybody says this but thank goodness I found your post about Roseola! My daughter had a fever with no other symptoms for 3 days..took her to the doc and they tested for everything and took urine to see if she has a UTI. The next day the fever broke and the following day she broke out in a rash..my question is..how long will until they are back to their sweet selves?! She still doesn’t seem like herself and is very sleepy and cranky. (I’m in touch with the doctor too, just would love some advice from a parent who dealt with it too!)
Jolene Liow
Some are back to normal pretty fast, some take a while longer. Every child is different!
Maria Callahan
How long was it for you? I’m hoping your girl is out of the woods. We are going through it right now. I was also very glad to see this post.
RK
My daughter is almost 2 and she had a fever last Friday and then it reached 104 and fever stayed for like 4 days! Rash appeared and it seems a bit itchy, but today is Thursday and the rash is much better and the fever stopped 3 days ago, but she is SUPER cranky!! She is eating better though but the crankiness is killing me! Is it normal to stay cranky and irritated after 7 days!
Jolene Liow
Yes normal.
Amber Blazier
We are on day 9. Had to get iv fluids yesterday. Fever finally broke and the rash finally appears. Looks just like Joshies face. Starting to see my normal baby’s personality again.
But what’s got me stomped is he’s having really bad gas and constipation issues with this. Started at same time. Wakes up screaming and arching back. Arching back while he’s eating. Cries while eating. He hasn’t done that since he was 4 months old. Any ideas?
Sara
Wow this is so true. My girl
Is 14 months old she came down with a high fever around 38-39 for 3 days … I couldn’t bring it down for the life of me … but when the fever cleared she broke out in a rash that made me so nervous but doc did mentioned it looks like roseola … the personality change is very reallll … she usually happy does her own thing I can get stuff done .:: after fever she is still not herself .. she spits every food out .:. Doesn’t like her fav fruit .. watermelon and ONLY WANTS breast! It’s been a rough few days … but I can’t wait to have my girl back 🙏