Hand, foot and mouth

[Helini]

Poor little DS, 21 months, has hand foot and mouth. Took him to the doctor's this morning as I initially thought he had thrush.

He's normally such a happy little boy but he is so sad and really upset. I've been alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen to manage the pain and using anbesol liquid but he's still miserable.

Can anyone recommend anything to help him? Any tips or tricks what worked for your LOs? I'm finding icelollys keep him slightly more comfortable for 5 mins or so.

Anbesol is good but tbh nothing really fully helped my ds when he had it, it was a case of riding it out and it was really sucky, I'm sorry. Drinking through a straw instead of from cup seemed to help when he got a huge blister on his lower lip, as we could position the straw around it, but nothing stopped the misery unfortunately.

Look out for the fever that comes with it. It really is miserable. Poor little thing.

We’ve just had this too, and we ALL got it. I’ve not felt so ill in years. Keep on top of the painkillers, it’s really unpleasant.

i caught it off my daughter anything that touches the hands or feet si painful.cold things on them makes them feel slightly less painful .Dont give them a bath warm water is extremely painful

Oh no. I suspect I'll get it as i've drunk out of the same water bottle a few times and been giving him lots of kisses.

That's for the tips. So far no spots on hands/feet aside from his poor mouth. I absolutely hate him being so poorly.

DD2 got it when she was at nursery, neither me or DD1 caught it and DD1 has shared a towel and I'd wiped her face, licked my finger and wiped again as she had food round her mouth.. I actually thought I'd caused the rash at first by doing that til it popped up on her hands too. Keep going with the ice lollies and calpol. There isnt really much else you can do. The virus actually lives in the gut so extra hygiene measures around toileting

Keep up with the calpol regularly! I could tell whenever my sons was running out as he'd be so sad! Must feel awful. I tried soft foods but he weirdly liked buttery toast best. I stopped using baby wipes to clean his face and had to wipe his bum very carefully/quickly as he hated the feel of the wipes.

I didn't catch it and nor did his older sibling despite accidentally drinking from the same bottle, and him cuddling me for 80% of the time he was ill. Fingers crossed you don't get it!

I ended up in a&e with a baby with hfm (because he had screamed solidly for 5 hours despite having had medicine). They gave us some difflam spray which really seemed to help (the kind normally given for tonsillitis). It’s pretty miserable, I caught it off him and the mouth spots were unbearable - stingy little things like nettle rash

I feel for you, it was truly the most ill any of my dc have ever been with any 'minor ailments' . Much worse that the pox. Calamine and virasooth mousse do help on the itchy spots on the body though, and especially on the nappy rash. Mine, thankfully, didn't have any spots in the mouth. No one else caught it in our family either, I think we do build an immunity to it.

Be warned as well, after a few weeks their hands and feet will shed the skin and nails can fall off. It doesn't seem to hurt them but a new nail sort of grows under the other one and eventually pushes it off. Very odd.

It's a horrible little virus. Hope you all feel better soon

Thanks for all your support. It's torture so we him so unwell. wish I could have it for him.

When we saw the doctor yesterday, She said that even though the virus lasts for 7-10 days, as soon as he feels up to it, we can continue going out to playgroups as they give the same advice as they would a cold. Im not planning on taking him out to playdates or nursery because I'd hate to pass this on. It is so much worse than a cold.

Much worse that the pox that's typical because I got him the chicken pox vaccine last year thinking it's gotta be one of the worst preventable Illnesses. And then he catches this one which is worse anyway I have major anxiety about DS being unwell. It's stems from his traumatic birth which led me to develop PTSD. We were both quite unwell so now even a cold sets off my anxiety.

@Helini yes the advice does seem to suggest it's a really minor little thing, but I do think some get it badly (I suppose like any virus). Try not to worry too much- a few quiet days indoors and he will be much better.

We phoned DS’s nursery to ask if he was ok to come in with HFM or would they prefer we keep him at home. He was passed the fever stage obviously and was ok in himself.
They said it was absolutely fine to bring him as they didn’t exclude for it.

Thanks thenewaveragebear