hand and mouth disease

[donotunderstand]

Hello!

DD is two years old and has been diagnosed with hand and mouth disease, she's not suffering too much with her hands and feet but her mouth is terrible.

It is supposed to last 7 - 10 days (we're on day 6) but her mouth seems to be getting worse and bleeds if we try and clean her teeth. She will eat now and then but even with teething gel and calpol it's just too painful.

Does anyone have any experience of this illness and safe foods or any thoughts on if a return trip to the doctor is needed?

We've both just been in tears at tea time as it was so distressing for her trying to eat and everything hurting so much.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry that should be foot, hand and mouth disease!

We've just recovered from this, and my dd had awful awful ulcers in her mouth. She wouldn't eat a thing and would only drink milk for about a week. But others recommended ice cream, yoghurt, soup, anything smooth that could be swallowed down. Also use a straw for drinks as it makes it easier. I gave her nurofen every 4 hours as it took the inflammation down, more so than calpol.

It is a miserable virus. Your poor dd. I hope it gets better soon.

thanks luckywinner, I've tried the ice cream and soup but no joy so am going to keep plodding on with the milk and occasional weetabix I think.

Did she get better gradually or did it just seem to happen?

it's DD's 2nd birthday tomorrow and I'm hoping she may feel a little better and even be able to eat her peppa pig cake

Urgh. Hand, Foot and Mouth is a bloody miserable disease. You have my sympathies.

DS1 had it at 7 months, and days later, I got it too. Then I realised why he'd been on breastfeeding strike and was refusing to eat - extremely painful mouth and throat ulcers. It came with a very very high temp for him too - he got to 40.1. (That was the night we ended up at the local hospital out-of-hours clinic!) DS1 went on to have a very similar virus (they are zoster viruses, like chickenpox and herpes, I think) twice more, so he must be prone to it.

We got through the worst 2 or 3 days with lots of calpol and iboprofen, esp about half an hour before meals. (or rather, offering him food - he didn't really eat much for days.) Jelly, crushed strawberries and ice cream were good ways of tempting him to get some fluids in. He went back on the breast after about 24 hours, but refused to lie down to feed as normal and we had to find a different position for a while!

His sore throat, mercifully, didn't last more than about 3 days. Mine lasted about a week and I lived on vanilla ice cream (it still stung!). (and I had to miss tickets to see David Tennant in Hamlet too - ooh, it's all coming back now.)

Oh, the blisters on toes and fingers might take a few more days to emerge. They didn't seem too sore with DS1 - but they peel for weeks! Maybe stick something moisturising on. My own feet were unspeakably nasty for a good month afterwards...

Good luck, and I hope she feels up to some cake today!

oh Crikey! We're on day 4 and 11 month old DS's wee toes are getting blisters. His fever was terrible over the weekend. His mouth doesn't seem so bad but it sounds as though it could get worse. I've gone back to feeding him pureed babyfoods that aren't tomato based, smooth yoghurt and non-acidic fruit and soft bread with soft cheese spread on it. He likes the Ellas Kitchen pouches when they've been in the fridge.

Oh my word this is such a nasty illness! We ended up back at the GP today (which was a miserable way for her to spend her second birthday!) as her pillow was covered in blood and offensive smelling dribble.

GP was about as much use as a chocolate tea pot and said we just had to carry on as we are and it would pass, I think she has some kind of infection due to the smell of her breath so after a stressful conversation with a rude dentist receptionist who told me I wasn't looking after DD's teeth properly we have a dentists appointment tomorrow morning!

Bonners, hope DS is better soon and reshape thanks for the information. She didn't manage the cake but I'm enjoying it now

Thanks again!

p.s I know GP was right to a point about it passing but she didn't seem to have much idea what she was talking about and didn't seem concerned about the blood we found on DD's pillow!

Sounds nasty, and distressing all round. GPs can be very cavalier about viruses. The blood's coming from the blisters, then?

Hope all the sore mouths are better soon!

Sorry about my disappearing act I never get near the computer on work days! The bleeding is from her gums as thankfully all the blisters have gone but the dentist has given us some mouthwash to dab on which hopefully should help them to clear up soon.

DD seems much better and even asked for seconds when we had tea tonight

Hope everyone else is on the mend?