Anyone rapid test an infant/toddler?
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Anonymous
| I currently have very mildly symptomatic COVID and my 1 year old and husband have so far been totally asymptomatic. My husband has been testing regularly and is negative. This morning my one year old woke up with a runny nose. I want to test her for the purposes of keeping her away from grandparents (her caregivers while we work) if positive. Has anyone tried testing nasal secretions without inserting a swab? I don’t want to take her to the pediatrician while I’m positive myself, and doubt they’d let me. Any advice appreciated. |
Anonymous
| Can your husband take her to the pediatrician? I don’t really trust rapid tests even with my 2yo because she squirms so much. |
Anonymous
| My sister did it on her 10 month old. She only did one nostril but tried to get the full 15 secs. They had to hold him down. He was positive. |
Anonymous
| Just go get a PCR. |
Anonymous
|
Honestly, nasal swabbing my 5 yo doesn't go that well. Even at the doctor's office for the PCR. I have zero faith that her test results are ever accurate. We always test as well. The one time DH and I had Covid, we simply treated DD as a presumed positive (she was symptomatic, so that was easy). But we've tried everything to try and make testing easier on her, including doing throat swabs instead (it went worse), letting her do it herself (she doesn't even insert it into her nose at all), etc. I've been at the doctors office with her and DH, a nurse, and me all restraining her while another nurse does the swab, and she still manages to jerk her head away or move around. Also, this is torture for everyone involved.
I've heard in other countries they can do a cheek swab that is fairly accurate. |
Anonymous
I’m actually trying now but basically no one does tests on kids under 3. The pandemic has been rough as a parent of a baby/toddler. |
Anonymous
| You don’t need the whole 15 seconds. Just get as much “stuff” as you can. |
Anonymous
|
We swabbed inside cheeks which they were fine for, then quick swab near back tongue, then whatever we could manage to get up one nostril - not that far up or for very long. Tested positive.
Figure the next time we try we are screwed by the time they see the swab. |
Anonymous
Do you have a PM Pediatrics nearby? I’ve gotten my 2yo and my 6yo tested there several times during the pandemic, when we have needed PCR results. |
Anonymous
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When you say 1, how many months? Big difference between a 12 month old and a 23 month old in the scenario.
The rapids generally say they’re for ages 2+. My toddler was very compliant at that age (things have changed, ha) and we started using rapids on him around 20 months without a problem. We just followed the directions and were careful. |
Anonymous
| We used rapid tests starting at 1 and it was fine. Our pediatrician said as long as we could get them to hold still it was ok. Our kid saw older child doing it and was fine with it. |
Anonymous
| I've gotten a positive on an 18 month old before. It's not pleasant but it's fast. |
Anonymous
15 months. I finally got through to our pediatrician and they suggested we rapid test her. I made an appointment for a PCR but they were sort of weird about it, like they’d prefer not to. I guess they don’t want potential COVID patients in but…working with sick kids is their job. |
Anonymous
Probably because they're busy and she's not super sick. I've found it helps if you phase it as "so sorry we need a test to return to childcare" and rather than waffling about all the details. |
Anonymous
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I'm confused- are people not covid testing their kids?
My kids are 4 and 18m and have taken tons of rapid tests throughout the pandemic. |