Hand foot and mouth disease

[sarahmia]

my 3.5 yt old dd has hand foot and mouth disease. I have a two week old baby at home and I am terrified that a) she will get it which is probable and b) she is going to get very very ill... Anyone with experience of this or knows anything about it?

[strandednomore]

I seem to remember dd1 getting it but it being very mild. A rash? I can't remember anything about it - it can't have been too awful? If you are worried, especially about the baby, speak to the gp.

[MayDayChild]

Im sure it's not too bad just very catching ?!?
Friends little boy had it and DH caught is but neither was at all ill, just spots on hands feet and inside mouth. Bit itchy.
Are you Breastfeeding? Makes catching less likely.... But please font beat yourself up if not !

[MayDayChild]

Don't!

[battherat]

Slight fever. Slightly off solids due to mouth blisters although I don't know if that would affect a tiny one. With my ds it looked worse than it was. Please don't worry too much!

[sittinginthesun]

My DS had it as a toddler. It was quite mild, but really put him off his food. I remember phoning the HV to check if it was ok to feed him custard for 5 days, as it was all he would eat!

Not sure with babies, though. Hopefully you LO will have some natural immunity.

[monkeycat]

Oh dear , poor you , with a poorly DD and a wee baby .

My DD2 got HF&M when she was 15 months old and somehow managed to get it again about 6 months later ! I have no idea where she picked it up either time .

It is pretty contagious but Dd1 never caught it , even though the first time it took us a good few days to diagnose it , and they share baths , towels and probably more flannels and cups than I like to admit.

We did , however , manage to pass it onto a friend .

DD2 wasn't particularly unwell with it , although obviously her mouth was sore which made her pretty unhappy , poor soul .

She was still breastfeeding the first time she had it and this was the main reason that she stopped - because it hurt her tongue . :(

It is very unusual to get it more than once - the doctor hed never seen that before .

Fingers crossed that your littlest doesn't catch it and that your big one isn't too poorly .

[sarahmia]

Thanks for your responses... I called a gp who basically said, it's not ideal for the baby to get it, but then again it's nit ideal for a newborn to get any virus and that we should just keep a close eye on her milk intake and her temp and nappies. Amd if anything changes dramatically take her to hosp. As for my older one, I feel awful cos she's been banished to her grandparents house (not that she minds!:) but if it does hurt I'm sire she will want her mummy.
I'm not breastfeeding which now makes me feel awful...
This baby took us 2years to have and we lost two in between so I'm already anxious. But the gp basically said there's nothing we can do except watch her closely..

[Dawnybabe]

It went through us last year. Dd1 had had an awful blister in her mouth for ages. Doc said let her eat icecream. Dd2 1yo had a few spots on her hands. I had spots on my feet. Doc said it's quite unusual for an adult to catch it.
Did us no harm whatsoever. Looks worse than it is. Hope you all get better soon!