Poll: how old are your kids and how many times have they been to the ER in their life?

[Anonymous]

12: twice (a fall down the stairs as a toddler, and a bout of transient synovitis. )

9: 0 (once there was a serious urgent care visit that the Dr recommended instead of the ER becuase it was during the worst of the pandemic)

A few urgent care visits, but most lile ear infection type stuff.

[Anonymous]

10 - 1 time
8 - 0 times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5:0
7:1

My observation is that some people go to the emergency room for everything. We have some friends whose kids (ages 5 and 3) have each been to the emergency room at least 8 times. These kids don't have chronic health issues or underlying conditions. They just think that a fever that lasts more than a day or two or a cough that persists more than a week deserves an emergency room visit. To me, that's a "call the nurse hotline, or worst case go to urgent care" situation. Usually we contact the nurse hotline through our pediatrician and get some good advice for treatment plus reassurance about what actually requires an ER visit, and it's fine.

My feeling is that the ER should be for: unexplained lethargy, trouble breathing (always), sudden injury (anything that makes you worry about a concussion or broken bone), or the weird kid incidents like an item lodged in an ear or nose, assuming you can't get into a pediatrician which these days you can't.

We don't go to the ER for cold symptoms, even bad ones, and we don't even go for flu/RSV type illness unless something escalates (like breathing issues). Most of the time, I think kids are best served by staying home, resting, and being cared for by a family member, not sitting in a hospital all night.

We went to the ER at the advice of our pediatrician's nurses line for cold symptoms, so it seems like your rules aren't actually that clear.

This is true. Our ped always told us to go to the ER when DS was a baby, even though it seemed silly to us. Plus, it costs a fortune. But the one time I didn't go and took him to a clinic instead, the clinic insisted I go straight to the ER or call an ambulance (breathing issues), and I felt like the worst mom. Of course, when we got to the ER they said he was fine.

Look, I’m an md and I’m sure the pediatrician was correct. But they are almost never going to say to not go to the er because it’s the safest option. The absolute worst case is for a ped to miss something, send a kid home that requires an ambulance later. The risk tolerance for a sick kid is less than razor thin. It’s like if you called the gas company said you thought you might smell gas- should you stay in the house or should someone come to check it. If your child was 3 months or younger, then absolutely yes, you will be told to take them to the er if there is any suspicion at all for sepsis.

[Anonymous]

14: 1
17: 2
19: 0
21: 5 or 6 (gymnast)

[Anonymous]

12 year old boy and 10 year old girl: one time each, both were under 2 years old.

[Anonymous]

6yo zero times

[Anonymous]

21: 1 time (baby- croup)
17: 1 time (UTI, worsening symptoms and it was Xmas eve during a pandemic - no urgent care open)

[Anonymous]

Does the NICU count? Both my kids were NICU babies but have not been to er in their lives. And for I'm very grateful .

[Anonymous]

6 year old - once for a concussion

10 month old - twice, once for COVID, once for RSV. Also had a 2 week NICU stay and was scheduled for a hernia surgery, but hernia resolved itself thank god.

[Anonymous]

11: 3 - febrile seizure (his first), febrile seizure at daycare (the school called the ambulance), breathing difficulties at night after diagnosed with mild pneumonia earlier that day by ped.

5: 0

[Anonymous]

8 - zero. One urgent care trip for cut to be glued.

5 - 2, RSV and fluke choking incident

[Anonymous]

3 and 8. ER never. Urgent care many times, probably 4 times in the last year for the younger one (respiratory and ear infections) and once in the last year for the older (broken toe). Since our pediatrician isn't open on weekends or evenings, and has very limited same-day sick appointments, urgent care is a more regular part of our lives than I'd like!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3 and 8. ER never. Urgent care many times, probably 4 times in the last year for the younger one (respiratory and ear infections) and once in the last year for the older (broken toe). Since our pediatrician isn't open on weekends or evenings, and has very limited same-day sick appointments, urgent care is a more regular part of our lives than I'd like!

Oh wait I think older kid would have been to ER two or three times before urgent care was around - one very high fever as a toddler, stitches, and broken toe. Those were all ER issues when I was a kid.

[Anonymous]

15, 0

[Anonymous]

12: ER 10+ times. Once for a fever of 106 (9 months old and couldn’t get him to wake up from a nap), once for staples on his head and the rest for croup (admitted twice).

10: 2 times. Once with a fever when she was 2 months old and the other was after 11 days with symptomless fever.

8: never