Hey bees! TL;DR: Our ped suspects DS (26 months) might have walking pneumonia. Have you or your kid or friends’ kids had it? How did it present and what was done to help them recover? How long was recovery?

More details...DS had a cough for almost two weeks and it worsened over last week/weekend (esp days 9-10) instead of tapering off and getting better. Until then he had just a normal-for-a-daycare-kid-in-December runny nose, ate mostly normal and no other symptons. Starting day 11, he had a very mild fever of 99F and we had an epic/horrible night of sleep (he’s usually very sound sleeper). The cough wasn’t constant but just sounded bad when he had it.

Day 12 of the cough, the fever went to 101.2F so still not really high. Daycare also said he wasn’t playing much. I picked him up and took him to the ped. I was thinking ear infection, but ears were perfect. The ped thought it might be moving toward walking pneumonia based on the sound of his lungs and oxygen level of 95-96. On that hunch, DS started antibiotic two nights ago and has been home since. His fever at 99F is super mild and hardly even has a fever and yet his activity level is off, but not totally. He also looks off and his appetite isn’t the same (he’s a good wide-ranging eater and can pack it away but only chomps down a bit on his absolute favorites right now). It’s just a vague set of symptoms so it would be good to hear how walking pneumonia looked for others, in case that’s what this is. And if it’s not that, what could it be?

The ped said he might need a chest X-ray if he is not a lot better after 2 days of antibiotic. That would be tomorrow. What’s the chest X-ray process like for a toddler?

Also I am not really sure if he needs Tylenol/Motrin. We give it when he seems really off or if his fever would spike up, but the tricky thing about his symptoms is that he just seems a bit off and occasionally has a bad cough. What gives with walking pneumonia? It’s so vague, if that’s what this is.