four year old boy's tongue covered in ulcers

[sotough]

My 3.5yr has about 15 small mouth ulcers on his tongue. they have sprung up sometime during the day and he is totally miserable. they are so painful he didn't eat anything this evening and basically cried most of the evening.
I am prone to occasional mouth ulcers but only one at a time and have never seen anything like what he has. Obviously i will see how he is in the morning before considering taking him to the doctor - i'm hoping it will be quite a bit better. interested to know if anyone has any experience of this? all i could get this evening was some infant bonjela which may have been a bit better than nothing.

take him to the GP asap

If he will eat it try fresh pineapple. There is some sort of enzyme in it that helps to stop them.

Probably hand foot and mouth virus. The painful mouth ulcers are very typical. He may or may not have spots/blisters on his hands, feet and bottom.

Will he eat ice cream/ice lollies?

Or an allergic reaction to something.

Does he have a temperature? Any other symptoms?

oh god, poor boy. I have one ulcer on my tongue and its really painful, 15 or so must be horrible.
I'd take him to the GP asap tbh, it sounds quite unusual to me

He needs to see a doctor. It could be hand, foot and mouth or there's something called Steven-Johnson syndrome which causes ulcers (don't google this). Either way, it must be horrible for him. The out of hours doctor is a good place to head. I hope he's OK.

I get these every so often and I went to the dentist in the end who gave me some antibiotics.

The first few times I gargled with corsodol (sp?) and they went. So I think its a bacterial infection.

Very bloody painful though.

P.s Check for spots elsewhere in case of HF and M like someone else said too, just in case!

If his tongue is red, and it looks a bit like a strawberry, it could be scarlet fever. In which case he needs pencillin V.

My money is on primary herpes infection. Can make you feel pretty miserable, fever etc. Will last for about 5 days and clear up on its own. He needs cuddles and soft food and calpol

thanks everyone. just been to check on him and he's sleeping peacefully; not feverish and can't see any blisters on feet/hands yet. will reassess in the morning and if the mouth ulcers haven't gone will take him up to the GP.

I'm with eeeny here and think its herpes simplex virus. (cold sore virus) in young children who have no immunity they get a mouth full of sores, mild fever and feel awful. Its actually a dentist you need to see but a doctor should be able to identify it. no to the pineapple i think and just bland mild foods and plenty of fluids. If he gets a bit dehydrated he could end up with a secondary infection of thrush as he wont be keeping his mouth as moist as usual. see if his dentist can check it tomorrow. If its this it will given him immunity in the long run. here
I'm assuming of blisters on hands and feet?

No blisters on hands and feet?