When to Call a Doctor or Emergency Services

When to get help

This page is for babies past the newborn weeks. If your baby is under about a month old the threshold for calling is lower still, and our newborn page covers that separately.

Call emergency services now

Dial 999 in the UK, 112 or 999 in Ireland and across the EU, 911 in the US and Canada, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand. Do not drive yourself if your baby is seriously unwell; the NHS advises asking someone else to drive or calling for an ambulance. Call if your baby has any of the following.

• A rash that does not fade when you press a clear glass firmly against it.
• Blue, grey, pale, mottled or blotchy skin, lips or tongue. On brown or black skin this is often easier to see on the palms, soles, gums or inside the eyelids.
• Difficulty breathing: grunting with each breath, the stomach sucking in under the ribcage, breathing very fast, or pauses in breathing.
• A seizure, or a first seizure of any kind.
• Drowsy and hard to wake, or will not stay awake once roused; floppy or unresponsive.
• A weak, high-pitched or continuous cry that is not their normal cry.
• A stiff neck, a bulging soft spot on the head, or unusually cold hands and feet with a fever.
• Under 3 months with a temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher, or a temperature below 36°C (96.8°F).

Every one of those appears in the red column of the NICE traffic light table, on the NHS emergency lists, or both. The Irish HSE frames it the same way and adds an instruction worth keeping: trust your instincts.

Get urgent advice today

Use NHS 111 in the UK — and note that 111 online is for ages 5 and over, so for a baby you phone rather than use the website. In Ireland contact your GP or the GP out-of-hours service. In the US and Canada call your paediatrician. In Australia, healthdirect is on 1800 022 222. In New Zealand, Healthline is on 0800 611 116. KidsHealth New Zealand puts it simply: if you are worried about your child, whether or not there is a fever, get them seen.

• Aged 3 to 6 months with a temperature of 39°C (102.2°F) or higher.
• A fever that has lasted 5 days or more.
• Feeding much less than usual, or refusing feeds.
• Fewer wet nappies than usual, no tears when crying, sunken eyes, or a sunken soft spot.
• A cold that is getting worse rather than better.
• Not their usual self, and you are worried.

Why "you are worried" belongs on the list

It is not a courtesy. NICE tells clinicians that reported parental perception of a fever should be considered valid and taken seriously. Its home care advice tells parents to seek further help if "the parent or carer feels that the child is less well than when they previously sought advice" or is "more worried than when they previously sought advice" — and, separately, if the parent is distressed or concerned they cannot look after their child. Having already been seen once is not a reason to wait.

Which service, and what happens

Emergency numbers are for life-threatening problems. The NHS notes that calling 999 does not always mean an ambulance is dispatched: you may be told it is safe to make your own way, or to be seen elsewhere. The call handler will ask for your location, what has happened and a contact number, and may give you instructions while you wait. The American Academy of Pediatrics gives the same advice in different words: if you are not sure what is wrong but you believe your child is in danger, call and let the operator guide you.

Between "fine" and "emergency" there is a large middle ground, and that is what the advice lines exist for. They can arrange a call back from a nurse or doctor, direct you to an out-of-hours GP or an urgent treatment centre, or tell you it is safe to wait.

What to have ready when you call

• Your baby's age in weeks or months, and whether they were born prematurely.
• The temperature, how you measured it, and when.
• When the illness started and what has changed since.
• Feeds in the last 24 hours, and wet nappies in the last 12.
• Any medicine given, and when — this matters, because NICE warns that antipyretics can mask both fever and ill appearance.
• Whether their vaccinations are up to date.

The signs that are easy to miss

Fever gets the attention, but several red flags arrive without one. NICE notes that fever is less common in babies with bacterial meningitis than in older children, and that the classic signs of meningitis — neck stiffness, bulging fontanelle, high-pitched cry — are often absent in infants. A baby who has gone quiet, stopped feeding, become floppy or is breathing hard is unwell whatever the thermometer says.

The reverse trap is just as common. A high number in a bright, feeding, smiling six-month-old is usually a virus doing its job. NICE tells clinicians not to use the height of the temperature alone above six months, and not to use the duration of a fever to predict serious illness — with one exception it names specifically: a fever lasting five days or longer should prompt assessment for Kawasaki disease.

If you have already been seen

Go back if your baby develops a non-blanching rash, has a fit, seems less well than when you were last seen, or if the fever passes five days. That list is NICE's, written for exactly this situation. Being sent home once is a snapshot, not a guarantee.