Hope this helps someone!
Whilst not a mother, I have just had this virus on my skin...and I think (touch wood) its gone! 3 months from when the first "spot" appeared, followed by 2 months of very little happening (maybe 3 or 4 appearing) I then found within a week I had 100! I was so freaked out and tried everything I could to get rid of warts (duct tape, acid vinegar, wartner, saylicit acid/wart and verruca treatments like bazucca)...only to find....its not a wart!
Warts come from the HPV virus, mollusucm comes from the pox-virus (as in chicken pox, small pox...) so you have to treat it differently.
Number one best thing you can do is to boost your immune system. Basicly your immune system needs to fight the virus to stop it coming back, children get it more then adults as a childs immune system is still growing.
Next thing is to keep it covered and not to scratch. Spreading is done by scratching the spots which then fall open, the virus is then free to infect the next part of the skin. If the itching is too bad, try ice, menthol cream and wrapping with bandages and keep nails short!
And then there is the treatment. There seems to be little research into molluscum which is probably because it is only skin deep- it doesn't affect the central nervous system so there is no real risk to a childs health (I disagree with the emotional side of that but the physical side is never going to cause any real damage to a childs body-or an adults body for that matter). So as far as scientific treatments go, I have yet to see anything. But there are natural treatments you can try.
I tried acid vinegar for a day until I could get to the shop to buy a homeopathy remedy called Thuja. I took the pills (sold at boots) and used the tincture a day later, it has to be bought from a homeopath as its made fresh and wont be available in Boots, but you can get it quite cheaply, about the same price of tea tree oil. I applied this 3 times a day, washing once a day with a tea tree oil body wash and always wiping over with a tea tree oil wipe before every application. (From the Body Shop, probably not actually much tea tree oil in it but my point is that the area must be kept clean and try to disinfect it.)
I kid you not, 10 days from starting this, it all went!
I did notice the spots turn bright red and look inflamed. They did not hurt (well not the ones I picked- we'll get onto that one in a minute) but I later read that the redness is a good thing, it means they are dying, they become red and inflamed before fading to pink and then vanishing like a normal spot.
Now, picking....
What I found out was that the virus lives only on the skin. This means its not in your blood or your organs or anywhere else. It only exists where the spots are. So, take off the spots and the virus is gone. (though you have to understand it can be very tiny spots which get bigger as the days go on so you may not see them at first but they do grow). I read about picking and its very important you do it properly and maybe get some advice from a dermatologist as it can be very easy to spread the things.
Its the center your after, it is normally yellow and pus like but can be very liquid or firm, I guess it varies from person to person. Heat makes it easier to pick, but you must make sure the are is disinfected and then that all the pus comes out. There may be blood and scarring so its not a good idea to do this with small children. Once pikced, treat/disinfect and keep clean. Cover if you must but be aware that its a very nice warm place that a molluscum looks for to grow, and this could be a good description for the underside of a plaster. I used the silver elastoplast plasters but they are exensive so obviously cannot be used on all the spots. Choose wisely.
I did notice that after I had picked the first one which ever appeared, the rest seemed to vanish at quite a speed, It soon became reinfected and I got a second bout, so I again picked at the same spot only to see these new ones vanish soon after. It could be a mental thing but I have read of this happeneing to other people so see if you can find the original spot if possible, it may help!
Keep the child or yourself (whomever is being treated) in a fairly calm state. As far as the immune system goes, stress can weaken the immune system and make it harder to get rid of the virus, your immune system will help fight this thing but impairing it is going to make it take that bit longer.
Inbetween, use things like medicated talc or lanacane powder to keep the area dry (molluscum likes moist areas) and change any dressings plasters regularly (I did mine everyday as I shower every day). If you spot one which looks like its about to burst, be very careful, this is how they spread. Either pick it or cover it with something like duct tape or medical tape. Acid vinegar can also help to dry out the area and shrink it a little.
Make sure also that whilst being treated, you do try to keep hygeine at the upmost- it goes without saying really but this thing does spread very very quickly and whats worse, you can actually carry it and transfer it without even getting the condition yourself! It can live on the skin smaller then you can see for about 7-14 days and transfers via skin to skin contact. I don't know for sure if it helps but the hand gels which kill 99.9% of bacteria do seem like a good idea... (they do sting any priked spots though- still not as bad as cryotherapy but enough to bring tears to a small child).