Hand Foot & Mouth

Big Bag of Chips

Not looking for "medical" advice.. just "advice"!

Has anyone any experience of Hand Foot and Mouth disease?

My son who is 3 was a bit flu-ey earlier in the week. Runny nose, hoarse. On Wednesday he had loads of spots all over his bum, and a few on his legs and elbows, and then yesterday they finally appeared in his mouth.

I know there's no treatment for it - just pain relief, but the poor pet keeps asking me when will his mouth be better... I have read 7 - 10 days, but is that 7 - 10 days altogether, including runny nose/sore throat or 7 - 10 days of a spotty mouth?

Does anyone know?!

Moonbeam

Have you brought him to the doctor?

Ayla

Oh yikes, HF&M...our (almost) 2 year old came down with a nasty case of it a few months back. We brought her to the GP when the rash didn't go away but there was nothing to be done. Fortunately the rashes didn't bother her (we avoided much in the mouth, thank god!) but she was covered! If they had itched we would've thought they were pox.

She still has faded scars of the rash.

Now, this is the absolute worst case of the virus I've heard of yet. Some other families contracted it at the same time & all of their kids were better within a few days, whereas our daughter still had new spots two weeks later.

If there's any irritation you can give your child an oatmeal bath but (in our experience anyway) the rash doesn't actually bother them much. Ugly though! Any sores in the mouth will put the child off their food, so anything soft & cold is the order of the day.

Ayla

Oh, also, keep in mind that the virus is apparently *very* contagious. Everyone who is in contact with your son will be a carrier of the virus & will spread it around for a few weeks. This long incubation period is why the virus tends to sweep through classes/creches.

We had a strange experience with this, though, b/c no one we know (including my husband's mom who had 10 kids) has ever heard of HF&M, so presumably they wouldn't have contracted it. It follows, then, that they wouldn't have the immunity to the virus...but after our daughter had it no one else contracted it. We all kept a low profile for a few weeks in case we were carriers but no one else in our family came down with it.

Big Bag of Chips

I haven't been to the doctor because I know from speaking to parents weeks ago who were in the middle of it, that there is no treatment. It's viral and just needs to run it's course. Treating the pain with a child's pain killer is as much as can be done.

I brought him to the Pharmacist today to see was there anything else I could get, and he just confirmed what I said above. He gave me a throat spray though that may also be helping a bit.

I've been limiting his contact with people since I saw the rash, but he has 2 older siblings in school who may or may not already have it and be contagious. I suppose not a lot we can do at this stage! Although we won't be making any unnecessary outings for the next week or 2.

Fingers crossed for a low dose that'll only last a couple more days.

Ayla

Yep, that's all you can do...wait it out & provide whatever symptom relief helps...ice cream's a great comforter for heart & body

Good luck, hope it goes quickly for you all.

fitzcoff

Both of my boys have had this, the spots in the mouth cleared up in a few days, I just fed them yogurts and ice cream, soft food. If you imagine a mouth full of mouth ulcers, you'll get the ideas of food to give yours. My youngest had it a few months back and he went back to drinking bottles for the few days that his mouth was bad.

The rash on their bum, hand and feet lasted a few weeks and none of them really complained/winged of being itchy or anything. I just gave them calpol or nurofen as they needed it and of course plenty of mammy cuddles

On both occasions they had to be kept out of the creche till all the rash was gone, so it was almost 2 weeks that they were out.

lonestargirl

Ayla wrote: »

We had a strange experience with this, though, b/c no one we know (including my husband's mom who had 10 kids) has ever heard of HF&M,

Clearly it's doing the rounds at the moment - the whole wobbler room in my boy's creche had it in August. Thankfully the baby room escaped.

Big Bag of Chips

First I ever heard of it was about 2 years ago when someone in playschool had it.

Ayla

When my older daughter was in creche a few years back it did the round there too. i think she escaped though with only one small spot on a toe. strange how people are affected so differently....we really fear pox for our younger girl now...if HF&M was any indication to go by!

implausible

My wee buck got this a few months back - rash on his bum and legs and a few unsightly coldsore-like blisters on his face. The poor thing had it for his 1st birthday, I've threatened to photoshop the pics! It only lasted a week and it made him a bit miserable, but to be honest, it looked worse than it was.

Apparently, you gain an immunity to these type of rashes once you've had them. A friend of mine got it from her toddler and was really sick with it, while it had no effect on most adults.

One word of advice - make sure you specify that it's HAND, foot and mouth disease, because my childminder panicked when she heard it and was sure it was something more insidious. I had a job to convince her that it wasn't BSE!!!

cbyrd

My 3 had it a few months back.. don't go to the doctor.. phone them as it's highly contagious and not lot of treatment for it.

An anti-histamine and a painkiller is all and some lukewarm salt baths for itching. my youngest developed chickenpox about 3 days into the HFM and it was a bit horrendous

be warned that it affects the nails so don't be worried if you see toenails and fingernails start to fall off.. it happened to my youngest and eldest . . they lost 3 or 4 each and it doesn't hurt.. my middle girl came off the lightest.. Sore throat and temperature to start with and then they develop the rash..
good luck with it

ddlong

OMG, can't believe I came across this thread. My 1 year old got it last week and I'd never heard of it. My GP said it's called Stomatitis but it's sometimes called foot and mouth (thought he was joking !). My little fella has had a high temperature for more than 4 days now and his mouth is destroyed both inside and out with the spots/coldsore-type things and his gums are dark red and really swollen so I haven't been able to brush his teeth for 4 days. It's also spread to his fingers as he's chewing them like mad. I thought at the beginning that he was teething, but when the temp stayed up and he got his coldsore I knew it was more. Poor little thing keeps saying 'me have sore teeth'. All I can do it keep giving him Calpol/Neurofen and lots of drinks and soft food. Hope to God the rest of us don't get it. It's a little comforting to know that it's doing the rounds so that it's not some rare condition that he has ! He must have picked it up at playschool although they said no-one else had it. Anyway, glad to see we're not alone