Hand, foot & mouth? Nursery?

[PurplePetalPip]

DS is 14 months and on Friday I noticed spots on his bum, he now has a few on his hands and feet, thighs and a couple around his mouth. I think they look like hand, foot and mouth spots but a few things I'm questioning:

• would they be on his bum as well?
• he has shown no sign of any other symptoms such as fever, sore throat or being off food.

He doesn't seem to feel poorly at all and doesn't seem bothered by the spots. Is that normal with a mild case? I've zero prior knowledge of it so apologies for the ignorance!

Also, nhs advice is that they should return to school or childcare as soon as they don't feel unwell. As he seems fine would I be unreasonable to send him to nursery tomorrow? If I had an alternative I wouldn't, but DP and I have zero annual leave left as have had previous childcare issues with my mum being ill. Plus I feel I'm already on thin ice with my boss!

Picture for reference. Bum is worse but I'm not posting that picture!

Both times my youngest has had HFM, he has had more spots across his bottom than in the usual places. Hope your little one is on the mend soon!

@PurplePetalPip you should call your nursery tomorrow to make sure their policy isn’t stricter, ours is so even though DD could have gone back, they wouldn’t accept her for a certain time

Should be hand, foot and genitals as it often starts in the nappy area. NHS says there’s no need to keep them off nursery if they’re well in themselves.

@BreadmanAndCake ok that's the same as DS then, thank you!

@BridetoBee meant to say I'm going to check the nursery literature. And yes I'll of course ask them before or at drop off. That's useful to know nurseries sometimes have stricter policies.

@HotCoffee22 yes the stuff online really needs amending as there's hardly any reference to bum and genitals!

My first I realised it was HFM straight away. My second had most spots just on his genitals and hardly any on his hands or feet so I did see a nurse just to make sure it wasn’t anything else - she said it presents like that. Baring in mind it was my second time dealing with it it even threw me!

Our nursery used to demand all rashes be checked by a doctor before you could send your DC in, to exclude chicken pox.

I'd phone nursery before you set off, to avoid being turned away at the door.

FWIW my second got lots of spots in the nappy area with HFM.

It's common for the spots to be on their bum too. Hfm is quite prevalent atm too. NHS says they can go to nursery by DD's nursery did not admit her. My friend caught it off her dd not long after and she was so so unwell so keeping them off if you can is probably best

All three of my kids had it and I hadn't noticed. We were at the school gates and another mum was talking about her poorly boy with HFM. Then I recalled seeing my middle child with a spot on her hand days earlier. I called her over, we gave her a good check over and found more. Called the other two kids over and found more spots. No illness or discomfort whatsoever. I sent them inside after a quick read of the NHS/schools illness guidelines poster just inside the door. I did mention it to the teacher but my children weren't ill and sending them in was NHS advice. Many schools will take action if they think your child is off when they disagree but are quick to change the rules to suit them and send your perfectly fine child home. You can't win sometimes.

I'll definitely try and ask nursery before we go in but he's due to start at 8. He really seems perfectly fine.

Another question... how long did it take for the spots to clear for your little ones?

For me, I'm afraid I can't tell you how long my kids took to recover. They never got even the slightest bit poorly and I don't remember checking on the spots past the initial examinations that night to see if they had them anywhere else. I think those with kids who suffered would have a better idea though.

Looks and sounds like HFM yes.

Regarding school, HFM spreads like wildfire, so some schools are reluctant to take children when experiencing things such as HFM even when the child feels ok within themselves. Definitely worth checking.

Regarding how long until it passes, it took a week for my eldests to heal and for him to feel 100% again when he had it. The mouth became painful for him. Everywhere else didn't phase him as such.