Hand, foot and mouth - HELP!

[CTiggerJ]

Hi!

Our LO (18 months old) has HFMD. We're on day 6 and we are losing our minds! It started as a fever in the night and stomach aches (lots of gas) in the night also. Now our LO has had mouth ulcers for about 3 days. He also has two very sore looking spots on his face above his lip.

LO appears to be absolutely fine in the morning up until his nap at 1pm. After waking up from his nap however he's absolutely miserable. Screaming whenever presented with food (we've got him on a soft diet due to the mouth ulcers, lots of smoothies, boiled sweet potatoes, yoghurt and now trying meal pouches). Today hes struggled drinking water. LO just seems so upset all afternoon until bedtime which has been a struggle for 6 days now.

We started off giving calpol every 4 hours, now we're giving neurofen every 6 hours which seems to be more helpful. However I feel so helpless. This is the first time I feel I cannot help my poor DS, I'm clueless what else I can do except lots of cuddles, pain relief and cartoons. The sleepless nights are taking a toll and I've found I'm getting frustrated that I don't know how else to help.

We have taken our LO to the doctors, googled and looked at forums endlessly. I can't see what else I can do. How did you all cope with this awful illness? The helplessness? Please tell me the end of all this is soon because 6 days is starting to feel like 66!!

Thank you so much for reading💐

Could you get some Diflam spray (child's version)? Need to ask pharmacist re age.
Also you can give calpol and nurofen (best to alternate and space them out).
Dont worry about eating if they dont want to.
When they want to you could try rice pudding (cold may help), yoghurt, scrambled egg and ice cream. Just focus on high calorie soft food. Or just milk. Might be best after pain relief.

I'll definitely speak to a pharmacist about the Diflam spray!
We have upped his milk intake as I worry about giving him medicine when he's not eating food. Will pick up some ice cream and rice pudding ASAP.
Thank you so much for replying so quickly and for your help! Have a Happy New Year💐

I was going to say the spray!
It worked wonders for DD with HFM and she managed to eat with it

It is a tough bug - our DS was a similar age when he had it. Hopefully he will start to improve soon.

Be careful with the painkillers - you can only give 4 doses of calpol and 3 of ibuprofen a day.

My DS loved yoghurt and mini milk lollies when he was feeling well enough to eat. He gave it to me and it was swallowing that was causing most of the pain rather than just contact with the ulcers. The spray recommended above does really help numb that so it’s worth picking up.

My three children had it at the same time and I was pulling my hair out. Ice lollies and ice cream were very relieving for them. We used that spray as well.

Good Luck. It’s tough: you just need to keep telling yourself that this too will pass.

Just wanted to update and answer responses...

We've been very careful with the pain relief, alternating between the two has definitely helped!

DS appears to be eating a lot better but we're still going to use the spray as he appears to be in a bit of discomfort still. I think you're right with the pain being swallowing rather than the ulcers as they look a lot less painful now.

I've tried cold drinks however he will only drink if it's warm (including water) so I've added a little drop of honey in that a couple times a day to try and sooth his sore throat. I like the milk ice lollies idea though as he LOVES milk so may still try those...if not they won't go to waste lol!

Sleep wise he's a lot easier to settle thank god, it's awful hearing your LO so upset! Last night he woke up a lot less than he has been so I think all this chaos is finally coming to an end!! Praise the lord lol

@Dagda I couldn't even imagine having 3 LOs going through this at the same time!! Fairplay to you👏🏻 thank you so much!

Thank you all for your support it's massively appreciated💐💓