Cold sores

[DreamOn86]

hi all,
im looking for experience on this topic. My anxiety has gotten so bad tonight after i felt like my 16 mounths old girl has potentially contracted cold sore virus.
last sunday , she was kissed on the lips by my cousins baby who is also 17
months. My cousin had a cold sore and she said that her baby had a fever and was ill so im pretty sure he got it.
ny daughter has been irritable and under the weather since Monday. She developed a viral rash, her voice changed , loss of appetite and some congestion. I also felt that she had some difficulty swallowing, she was spitting a lot of her milk.
i was telling myself that maybe its not it. But i cant help it now. Im sure she caught it snd now i feel like there is something bumpy under the skin on her lip that is about to become a sore. And im just crying my eyes out.
already asked the gp and pediatrician. They both said she ll be fine. I just cannot get over the fact that at her age she got this virus!!
Anyone been through this? Xx

Honestly it’s fine. It’s just a cold sore, practically everyone gets them. Babies have very good immune systems so she will make antibodies and the cold sore will go by themselves. If our baby is immunosuppressed then seek advice from the GP, otherwise leave it be.

I’ve had cold sores pretty much all my life, my earliest memory having one probably around age 4-5 years old.

While they can be risky for tiny babies, for most people they are an inconvenience. Yes, they can be painful sometimes too. At the very first sign of tingling or blisters then apply cold sore cream multiple times daily. I’ve always used Zovirax but I don’t know if this is suitable for toddlers. Ask a pharmacist.

Avoid sharing towels with your DD and try and avoid letting her kiss anyone.

You said your GP and paediatrician say she will be fine - listen to them. Cold sores are common and for most people a minor irritance. Clearly, if she does develop a cold sore and does have any additional worrying symptoms then see your GP.

@Globetrote thank you for your reply. True most people get them. My mom used to get thrm
.. but only once every few years. But im worried getting the virus at her age will make her susceptible to have them reoccurring a few times each year which i know its painful and really annoying. She s still tiny and the pain that comes with it!!

@Globetrote can i ask you please, since you got it at an early age, how did you manage or how did tour parents manage so you dont get it on different places in your body? Or did u get it? I read how it can spread to the eyes, fingers and even genitals.. and she s only still tiny and i dont know how to prevent her from putting her hands in her mouth or on her eye..

It's a complete non issue for anyone not a newborn.
Just get her some zovirax if appropriate for her age and check your anxiety if you are like this for something so minor how on earth will you cope with something more serious. My daughter was bound to get it eventually because I have them. She got one once as a tot and then didn't get another one until she was in her teens. A normal feature now when she's run down but that's par for the course for most people, she grabs the zovirax when she feels a tingle and deals with it.

@Singleandproud it makes me feel better to see someone considering this issue as minor.
im normally an anxious person. And im not great with dealing with health problems .
i read online about cold sore being an issue for people with eczema. And my baby has eczema too and its scary to think that she can have them all over her body or face or eye and especially that she s at an age that is too young to be taught bot to touch her eye or face after touching the cold sore.

I've never bothered with them but you can get little coldsore patches that cover them and can prevent spreading. It's very, very unusual for it to be anything other than a mild annoyance, she isn't going to suddenly be covered in them like chicken pox.

How rude and dismissive! Presumably, you know how it affects everyone!

Some people get very ill with their first cold sore (my daughter did) and every time she's had an outbreak it's been totally miserable for her - and she will have this for the rest of her life.

OP, try not to worry about it unless it happens.

I wasn't being rude or dismissive. Cold sores suck, they are horrible BUT in 99% of cases they are not worthy of the concern OP is giving them. Of course some people have a bad experience with them and it's never going to be pleasant, but they are incredibly common and people learn to live with them as the occasional annoyance and inconvenience that they are.

I was putting it onto perspective for someone "crying their eyes out" at the thought of their child contracting a very common virus.

As an aside OP I have never had chicken pox despite being exposed to it closely several times, my GP has suggested that I'm probably immune due to having the cold sore virus as they are very similar so that's a bonus.

They didn’t do anything except for give me Zovirax and not share towels or let me kiss them.

It’s highly unlikely that your DC is going to start getting cold sores in various places on their body; they tend to be concentrated on or surrounding the lips, occasionally the nose (which I started getting in my late 20s). I’ve never had more than one cold sore a year.

It is a different form of the virus that affects the genitals.

Please don’t worry, they really are quite common and easily managed for the vast majority of people.