(Hand) foot and mouth - Anyone??

[spikeycat]

Don't know if anyone can help, ds1 (19 months) had what I thought was nappy rash yesterday, but by evening it was all over his feet and inside his mouth. After a terrible night with him I took him to the docs first thing and hand, foot and mouth was his diagnosis. Does anyone have any experience of this?

He won't eat (the blisters in the mouth) or drink but he wants to do both, when ever he tries he cries so much. He won't be comforted and I just haven't a clue what to do. The doc suggested jelly and ice cream - he won't touch it.

I'm pulling my hair out here!!

Here's one thread - if you look up "coxsackie" in archive you'll get lots more.

Basically: it is horrid when in full blast, completely understand why your ds doesn't want anything in his mouth - but it lasts the inside of a week. (Oh, and it's not dangerous for pregnant women or newborns - my ds went down with it 2 days before dd's due date.)

You may catch it, though adults don't usually as we've generally all been exposed already.

thanks x

Hope I don't get it !!

Both kiddies had foot and mouth about 6-8wks ago DD20mths and DS8mths. It leaves them feeling lathargic, irritable, they had sores in their mouth which meant that fruit was out of the question as it stings, my DD wouldn't even touch ice cream, she preferred yoghourt. My DS's appetite wasn't really affected but my DD's appetite was. All you can do is give them Calpol or the Ibuprofen version for the pain and to help sleep and I tried to give DD high calorie food so that the little food she did eat satisfied her. She is very slim anyway and I hated see her lose weight.

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Oh! Forgot to say that the feaces are infective until 4wks post illness so you need to do careful hand washing at all times. Also need to wash off any dribble - didn't read how old your children are before posting tonight.