Children’s health news, read by a paediatrician

Our take

The signal worth having is that the RSV season has started, rather than any single week’s number — and RSV is the winter infection that puts the most babies in hospital. If you are pregnant, the RSV vaccine from 28 weeks is the single thing that protects a newborn through their first months, and if your 28-week appointment has passed without it being offered, ask your maternity team rather than waiting. For a baby already here, the signs that need same-day assessment are fast or laboured breathing, pulling in under the ribs, long pauses in breathing, or taking less than about half their usual feeds; a cough and a snotty nose alone usually just need patience. And only a minority of 2 and 3 year olds have had their flu vaccine so far — that appointment is at your GP surgery, and nursery will not do it for you.

Our take

This is one cohort in one part of our city rather than a national audit, so treat the exact proportions carefully — but the direction will be familiar to any parent who has tried to get a teenager assessed, and the figures are about London. The practical lesson is not to read the absence of a diagnosis as the absence of a problem: if your child is struggling, keep a short written record of what you are seeing and for how long, and ask explicitly for an assessment rather than general support, because a named condition is what most NHS treatments are attached to. It also sits alongside the Fonagy review published on 9 October, which promised help without waiting for a diagnosis — both things are true at once, and the right move is usually to take the support on offer now while staying on the assessment list.

Our take

There is nothing new to do here, but there is something worth checking — London accounts for half of England’s measles cases this year, so a national figure does not describe our city. Six in ten cases are in children aged 10 and under, and in London the largest group is 1 to 4 year olds, which is exactly the age at which an MMR course is still being completed; the second dose, due at 3 years 4 months, is the one most often missed. If you are not certain your child has had both doses, bring the red book to your next appointment or ask your GP — there is no upper age limit for catching up, and a dose missed at three can still be given at eight.

Our take

If your child takes Movicol Plain for constipation, there is nothing you need to do — the recall is being handled at pharmacy and wholesaler level, and the MHRA is explicit that anyone who already has one of these batches at home can carry on using it as prescribed. Movicol Plain 13.7g is the strength licensed from 12 years upwards, so this is a teenager’s box rather than a younger child’s; under-12s are prescribed Movicol Paediatric Plain, which is not affected. The thing we would most want to avoid is treatment being stopped on the strength of the word “recall” — in chronic constipation a few missed days can undo weeks of progress, so if you are uneasy about a box you have at home, ring us or your pharmacist before stopping anything.

Our take

If you have a teenager in this group — school Year 13 in 2025/26, or starting university or a residential college for the first time this autumn — there is a good chance they have not had it, because three quarters of eligible young people have not, and London is the worst region in the country. Two doses are needed and they have to be at least 28 days apart, so booking the first one now rather than at Christmas is what makes the second dose possible inside the programme. Meningococcal disease moves in hours rather than days in this age group, and the vaccine is the only part of it you can do anything about in advance.

Our take

If your child takes levetiracetam as a liquid or sachet for epilepsy, nothing about the medicine itself has changed and you should keep giving it exactly as prescribed — the problem is wording left out of the printed leaflet, not the drug. What that leaflet should have told you is worth knowing anyway: seek advice urgently if your child develops a high fever with muscle stiffness and confusion, or a fever with a rash, facial swelling or swollen glands, and speak to us or your epilepsy team about any new obsessive thoughts or behaviours, or seizures that change or worsen. This brand is often the one used for children who cannot swallow tablets, so it is worth checking the box if you are not sure which you have.

Our take

One clinic’s caseload does not change anything about your own child’s care, and this is not a common problem — but the ages are worth knowing, because this is a Year 9 and Year 10 picture rather than a university one. What matters clinically is that ketamine damages the bladder, and the early signs look like a urine infection: passing urine very often, pain on passing it, or blood in it. If a teenager has those symptoms and no infection is found, ask about ketamine openly rather than waiting — the bladder damage is far more treatable early, and we would far rather have that conversation than miss it.

Our take

Nothing in the guidance has changed — this is UKHSA’s start-of-term reminder, and it is worth reading because scarlet fever usually picks up as schools return. The sandpaper feel of the rash is the most useful clue at home; if you notice it with a sore throat and fever, call your GP, NHS 111 or us the same day. Finish the whole 10-day antibiotic course even once your child feels well, and seek advice again if they worsen or develop new symptoms in the weeks after recovery.