Took toddler to farm now she's sick

[elm26]

Hi everyone

Took 18 month old DD to the farm 9 days ago, 7 days ago she started to have very bad diarrhoea. No other symptoms, just sore bum from all the wiping and changing nappy.

I thought it was a stomach bug so just gave plenty of fluids, plain foods and some diarolyte.

DH and I are totally fine. On Christmas Eve I noticed she had a rash on her tummy with the diarrhoea so called drs who said they think she may have food poisoning and as she had no temp, her blood pressure and heart rate were fine, she isn't dehydrated that unless she also starts vomiting let it pass through.

I completely forgot that we had been to the farm, she didn't touch any animals as she was wary but she did throw some worms for the chickens. We washed hands after and then we shared a sausage roll from the farm cafe, she had some fruit I packed and her us usual toddler crisps.

I didn't even think about mentioning the farm to the dr, it completely slipped my mind. She now has a couple of what looks like blisters on her fingers, still the rash on her tummy and still diarrhoea although otherwise well and playing, laughing, running around etc.

We are now on a week of diarrhoea and I'm worrying about the marks on her fingers. She had hand, food and mouth a couple of months ago and was really poorly with it (not sure if they can get it again so soon)?

What do I do?!

I'd call 111 or call your gp tomorrow.

I would be phoning 111 now. Don't take any chances.

The worry would be e. coli, but it doesn't usually cause skin problems.

Any sign of blood in the stools and she needs urgent medical attention.

I would do what pps have suggested and call 111. They may need a stool sample from you, so its worth keeping the next dirty nappy.

Hopefully it's just something mild that will resolve on it's own.

This happened to my 10 year old when he was about 2. The doctor said these farm parks are filthy and he’d seen a fair few kids who’d been unwell after visiting. The diarrhoea did clear up after about 10 days but I’ve never rushed back to a farm park and my younger son has never been to one 🫠

if it does continue then I’d push for a stool sample to be tested.

Call 111. My DC got Ecoli from a farm when they were 15 months and 4.

DD had blood and mucus in her nappy - DS was positive but had no symptoms. Had to isolate for 5wks until 2 negative tests. Never took them to a farm again.

There are many things this could be which may or may not be linked to the farm visit. We were affected by a cryptosporidium outbreak earlier this year that is linked to farm animals and I would be wary of that. The diarrhoea is explosive and watery (sorry if that's tmi) and the stomach pains are horrendous. For me it lasted 3 weeks, by which point I needed to use electrolyte replacements. I felt lethargic for months. Hopefully it isn't that but I would fill in a gp online consultation form and try to get an appointment if it goes on too long.

I'm not the poo troll; if you ever take your child to a farm and they end up with diarrhea that is yellow or orange and smells absolutely foul, phone 111 and ask about Cystoisospora suis.

Aren't blisters linked to hand foot and mouth? I would be back onto your go.

Go

GP!! Flipping autocorrect! 😂

You need to get her seen. But you can get HFM again so it could be that.

If you didn't already know, there's now an edit option on here. You've got about 5 minutes after posting to alter your post. Loads of people still don't know! xx

@elm26 doubt it is from the farm if the visit was 9 days ago! loads of bugs going about! my grandson landed in hospital overnight on christmas day with rsv! apparently the kids ward is like a covid ward!

You can get diarrhoea with HFM so it might be that with the blisters on her hands.

Cryptosporidium can make you have diarrhoea for a long time but it also causes bad stomach cramps so I wouldn't expect her to be happy with it.

My guess would be hand foot and mouth (I'm not a medical professional).

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hand-foot-mouth-disease/

It is a common childhood illness and nothing to do with farm animals, but could have been spread from another visitor to the farm.

@FarmGirl78 Thank you! I didn't know that - it does drive me batty! xx

By "these" farm parks, do you mean all of them? That's certainly not the case I assure you. Most farmers certainly do not keep their animals in filthy conditions thanks. Most farmers put huge efforts in to maintaining high standards for their animals 24/7.

Visiting a farm is a parental choice and you as a parent know it is a place where there is livestock present and where there is livestock, there is always poo, however regularly it is cleaned up! Poo is not "filth" imho as it is an important fertiliser, but it needs to be treated with caution, especially when you haven't grown up on a farm. (If you have grown up on a farm early exposure can be beneficial to the immune system.)

Farm visits present risks to pregnant women from toxiplasmosis, risks from kicking and biting, risks from allergies, and and young children under five are more susceptible to adults than e-coli infection, and those are only a few among many bugs circulating!

All visits take place at your own risk and all farms opening up their premises to visits must provide good hand-washing facilities by law.

It's up to parents to supervise their DC and to stop them eating while visiting animals, putting their fingers in their mouths or around their face and to respect all fences and barriers in place for their safety.

And of course to thoroughly wash your hands before eating, and washing boots and shoes down before returning home.

Here are some guidelines for anyone about to visit a farm:

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/05/02/how-to-stay-safe-from-infections-carried-by-animals-when-visiting-a-farm/

Op I hope your DD feels better soon. She's very young so surely worth checking out her rash with a health professional. Where DC are concerned, better safe than sorry.

Whoops sorry I rattled your cage.

tbh I do think it must be difficult it not impossible to maintain strict hygiene in these places. You’ve got kids touching animals and then running over to play equipment and then touching it. The doctor was spot on tbh and if you’re offended by that then 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would not take any child under 5 to a farm (yes I know many children grow up on farms etc etc) BUT their immune system is just not as good when under 5 so the risk of serious harm from E.coli and similar is much higher. Having higher animal welfare standards doesn't remove the risk - the main problems is bugs that sheep & cows carry with no ill effects to the animal, but which can be dangerous to humans.

Having said all that the OP's kid sounds to have hand foot & mouth, but I'd definitely be calling 111 and getting a face to face check up. As with a PP, if any blood in poo go straight to ED (or if not drinking or peeing enough).

A girl in my class was ill with sickness and diarrhea for about 10 days and eventually it turned out age has a parasite from feeding lambs at Easter so I would definitely get that checked out. She was really weak and lost so much weight.

OP said symptoms started 7 days ago, so only two days after the visit.

Hand, Foot and Mouth isn't caused by just one virus, so it's perfectly possible she's caught it again - coughs and sneezes spread it as well.

You didn’t rattle my cage because I don’t have those on my farm: we have lovely wooden fences and large well tended pasture and warm barns full of top quality barley straw 😀👍

We do maintain strict hygiene practices too; but they are geared to raising livestock in the best conditions for them, not toddlers.

That is why all farms who open their premises to the public display notices saying “visitors enter at their OWN risk”.

And in a properly organised farm, the play equipment is separate from the animals and children have to wash their hands before passing through from one to the other,