Chicken pox or hand foot and mouth?

[Usedtobechilled]

My LO is COVERED in spots, they're really bothering him because they are itchy.

He doesn't have many spots on his torso but his legs are covered, round his mouth and his hands look sore and he does have a couple on his scalp.
He doesn't have spots on the palms of his hands or the soles of his feet...
Any way to know for sure which one he has or does it really matter?
He was sent home last week (Tuesday) with suspected hand foot and mouth but it's just went crazy as of yesterday.

Also, any tips? He's still eating, I think it's mainly the itch that's upsetting him. I have a calamine lotion but I don't think that's up to much. He's 11 months so shouldn't really have Piroton. Sleeping it's almost non existent for everyone at the mo.
Thanks

So, incase anyone comes across this thread in the future... pharmacist had no idea so went to gp, gp thinks....
HFM and impetigo. Thinks impetigo round his mouth and then LO has been spreading it about himself causing infected spots. I'm not 100% convinced only because he's rubbed his eyes 1 million times with his snotty blistery hands and his eyes are still clear.

He's sent a swab to get confirmed but we have antibiotics (which LO does NOT like - will be a laugh trying to get him to have it 4 times a day for the next 5 days 😑). Thanks @JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots for mentioning impetigo. Never even crossed my mind!

It looks very much like HFM from your latest photos. No idea about impetigo as I've never had to deal with it. Good luck with the antibiotics!

The clue to impetigo is the yellow appearance - I took one look at the mouth photo and thought it immediately. You’ll know for the future now! My kids have had it a couple of times - often around the mouth and my DS once had it on his arm.

will be interested to see what the swab comes back as. A friend’s child had something very similar looking in terms of the cluster of spots and that they appeared on hands, feet and bum first but then spread to legs. The GP thought he had CP and HFM together (but not swabbed to confirm so they will never know for sure)

Good luck with the antibiotics. 4 times a day on an empty stomach is pretty much impossible!!

I've been trying to do the math for 4 times a day on an empty stomach and the math ain't mathing 😑 also, he's been given the really gross antibiotic that he already clearly hates so the next 5 days will be FUN.

Is it the bright red penicillin? Who thought that was ever a good colour paed meds.

Other antibiotics are just as bad but the first dose of the red penicillin made it look like my daughter had been in a massacre with more in her eye than her mouth and she was used to take multiple syringes every day.

Things that help us is to hold them in a cradle hold. One arm behind your back. Use the hand on the arm around the baby to hold the other arm in place. This should limit the moving and thrashing about of the torso and above. Go super slow 0.5ml-1ml at a time about 1cm on a standard 5ml syringe.
For the timings - some times pen and paper is best. Get a piece of paper then write the time they typically awake up then every hour until they go to sleep. Mark out usual nap and meal times. Try to find a time every 4ish hours for the antibiotics. For example it could be first thing in the morning around 7-8 just before lunch 11-13, after nap 4 then before bed 8 for example. If you slot it around a thing already in your routine you will be less likely to forget a dose.

OP, I'm really interested in what your swab came back with? I'm in nearly an identical situation - except my LO has no spots around the mouth!

They had also had impetigo a few months ago, which your latest face picture did look like - but the GP said it was HFM that got infected!

Hey, tbh the GP never told me what it came back as and any time I remember to ask, I then forget to ask the next time we've been.
The antibiotics did clear it up so I assume the doc was right, it was a bit of both.
I wouldn't rule out HFM because of no spots round mouth, my wee one didn't have any on his palms or soles of feet which i think are classic signs and my LO was absolutely covered which again seemed to be a bit off for HFM.