Hand Foot and Mouth in 5mo

[GlaikitFizzog]

Spots appeared last wednesday, with blisters on Friday. Doc said no need to keep him away from people, but NHS online says its highly contagious until spots disappear .

The blisters have crusted over now and he seems to be back to his usual self. Anyone got experience of this? how long did you keep away from others?

Have a look at this - it is very infectious but can be passed on before symptoms develop, and can be passed on by kids who have caught it but never get symptoms, so keeping an affected child away from others (unless they are unwell in themselves) is pretty pointless in the grand scheme of things. Plus it is usually such a mild illness. Hope that makes sense :)

My DS has had HFM three times before he turned two - all caught from nursery and nursery's policy was that if the spots had scabbed over then he was okay to come back. They are massively contagious before symptoms show anyway. My DS was the worst when he got it first time, really bad ulcers in his mouth, was dribbling for England, had sores on his backside, and one or two on his hands and feet, second and third time he got it wasn't as bad.

and everyone told me they couldn't get it more than once. Absolutely not true!

Thanks! I should have just gone with what the Doc said but couldn't help but google Doc did say it was good he caught it early as he wouldn;t get it again though.

Only seems to have the blisters on his hands and feet. He had one tiny one on his tongue but its disappeared. So it's probably not as bad as it could have been.

The photographer is going to be at our mum and baby group tomorrow and I really wanted toget his photos done. I think I'll risk it!

It's like the common cold and is caused by lots of different viruses, hence the reason my DS got it three times. I couldn't believe it. I know a lot of mums whose kids have had it more than once.

Sounds like your lo has it pretty mild though which is good. Sometimes kids can have it so mild that you don't even notice they've got it.

There are over 60 different coxsackie viruses which cause HFM. Each virus caught will protect you against a couple of other strains too. It may be highly contagious, but it is not serious, and your ds will be fine to be with others by now!