Which children’s health niggles do you wish you were told about before you became a parent? Tell MolluDab for a chance to win a £150 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[KathrynMumsnet]

MolluDab have asked us to find out which children’s health niggles Mumsnetters wish they’d know about before they became a parent.

Here’s what MolluDab say, “Becoming a parent throws up many challenges none more so than the countless, often highly contagious, health niggles your children can pick up. One of which is Molluscum contagiosum. Molluscum contagiosum or ‘water warts’ is a common and relatively harmless (but highly contagious) viral infection of the skin. The spots are easily recognised, and are small dome-like shiny pimples often grouped together. Molluscum contagiosum occurs most frequently in children and young adults, most frequently pre-schoolers aged 1-4 years. The condition usually clears within 12-18 months without treatment but can last longer and causes those affected much embarrassment and self-consciousness. MolluDab is a new and proven treatment for Molluscum Contagiosum, available on prescription or from the pharmacist.”

So, which children’s health niggles had you not heard of before becoming a parent that you wish you had? What advice or information would you pass on about children’s health niggles to other Mumsnetters? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who posts below will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £150 voucher for Jojo Maman Bebe.

The comments on this thread may be used (anonymously) by MolluDab in future marketing material, so please only post if you’re happy with this.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Viral rash - I panicked when DD had spots all over. Quick trip to the doctors and my mind was put at rest.

Also to toddler diarrhoea - we seemed to have runny nappies for months, and all of a sudden, it stopped.

croup. DD's had it for bloody months. Deafening barking kind of throat clearing cough. As with just about everything, there's nothing they can do about it, according to my GP.

Headlice
Worms
Constant coughs and colds
Teething
Nappy rash

You hear about these things but you just don't realise how they can impact upon your family life until you are faced with it. It's probably just as well that you don't know it all before you have children, it might just put you off forever.

Ooh, two of my Dc's currently have molluscum, I'll have to give MolluDab a go, I hadn't heard of it before I had children either.

I was also going to say croup, my son used to get it quite frequently until he was about 5 yrs old, it was very scary when it effected his ability to breath properly.

Also the number of unexplained rashes they get!

Just remembered another! Hand, foot and mouth, my DH had it and said it was the most uncomfortable illness he'd ever had.

The ceaseless, unrelenting tides of snot between the ages of 6 months and, well we're not finished yet, but I'm hoping sometime around 6

Bronchiolitis- had never heard of it until gp said ds1 had it. Dr google then scared me. I'm now terrified ds2 could get it as he's much smaller over winter.

Weaning related constipation. I had no idea how when my son was only taking tiny amounts (BLW) to deal with the fact that he was now really constipated.

I wish I'd known more about bed wetting in advance. I think I left DD2 in nappies at night for far too long (thought that she was just late being dry at night, when it was really a more pernicious issue). We eventually got her dry using a bed wetting alarm at the age of 7.

Definitely molluscum. We had absolutely no idea what it was when DS had it. We were concerned and took him to the doctor.
If we'd know we would have saved the GP's time and our worry.
I'd have been happy to pop to the chemist and buy an OTC treatment.

I was coming on here to say molluscum. Just been to the doctors today as poor ds has had it over a year and the only thing we were offered was a trip to the hospital 6-12 months down the line.

But otherwise:
Croup - sounds bad but only lasts for 3 nights. But nobody tells you they can have it every month Sept-March for 3yrs running. Or that you can do a few A&E runs as they also have asthma and can't breath when croup coughing brings on an asthma attack. (Thankfully the doctors were right and both croup and asthma have been outgrown)

Yes to a pp on toddler diarrhoea. Same dc. Turned out to be a food intolerance. Or that night terrors might be tummy ache (due to food intolerance) and not night terrors.

Hand, foot and mouth (again, same dc).

That one child catches everything whilst the other gets nothing more than a cold.

Oh, and doctors DISAGREE. On lots of things. And nurses disagree with consultants all the time (and generally they're nicer, as are registrars).

The most important - that no one in the medical profession has yet realised that kids like calpol but not antibiotics, nor crushed up steroid tablets no matter how much you bribe them!

Baby Acne - I was horrified when DS got it because I thought it was down to my diet or something. It luckily cleared up after a couple of weeks but I wish I'd known about it!

The other one, is how long cradle cap can last - DD still has it at almost 4 and I can't get rid of it

Constipation, when dd2 was 18month, she suddenly became scared of pooing and would hold it in for ages, it got so bad that she would grab onto the radiator when straining, it was awful.
She ended up with a lot of anal fissures which the go said were enough to make a grown man cry.
After several month she was prescribed movicol which did the trick. Thank god, brings tears to my eyes to think of the state she was in,

Croup
Post viral rash

Both things I ended up at the doctors in a panic because I didn't know what they were. I have no advice for other mums on it though!

My other dd has suspected mesenteric adenitis as mentioned by a previous poster.
Every couple of weeks she gets really bad pains around her nave, and ends up really ill for 2-3 hours :( nothing to relieve it apart from pain killers.

I wasn't aware of the Molluscum contagiosum, but I am now. I wished somebody explained me what to do with baby's Eczema, both of my children had it and it was so embarrassing at times in particular when they had very red faces and cuts.

Don't know.
We've not (to date) had much worse than D&V, colds and Chicken Pox.

The most useful bit of paper we've got is from a nursery we didn't end up using with lists of when you can go back post various illnesses.

Molloscum again here. I had no idea what it was before my eldest son got it. Like a previous poster, he had nasty eczema around it so it needed careful treatment. It cleared up after a year or so. My younger son currently has it and has done for a few months, though without the eczema. I've not bothered seeing the gp or anything this time round. I might try molludab!

The severe reaction to the Measles vaccine, my baby dd developed a temperature, went weak and floppy and just kept vomiting, even when there was nothing more to come up. We were really frightened and called out a GP who was very disparaging and said we should have expected this reaction to Measles vaccine.

Also nits, was embarrassed when taken aside by worker at nursery to say DD had them.

Things I wish I'd known about before I'd had them? What, so I could have just not bothered?

at the wording of the question.

Molluscum was a shock. My 2 boys had it badly for longer than average, so badly that one was sent home from school with suspected chicken pox! Both still have scars. I was never offered any treatment and this sounds brilliant.

But worms was probably the most awful, because I didn't know about it and had never heard of the possibility, the sheer horror of seeing worms all over the kids' bottoms-all 5 of us had obviously had them for a while. Now I know what to do and what to look out for, it rarely gets past 1 child.

Bizarrely, nits I had heard of and had read they are rife and resistant to treatment, but I have a 13 year old and 10 year old twins and dd had them once when she was 4 and that's been our sole family experience.

Bronchiolitis - I still get teary remembering it when my dd was only 10weeks old. Constipation. The toddler diarrhoea we're now experiencing only a week after constipation. The colds and coughs that seem to coincide with cutting a new tooth. Sickness bugs that feel horrendous but thank god often pass in 48hrs. Reflux is prob my biggest one - I had no idea what it was before but the screaming was heartbreaking. I'm not sure if Google has helped me or turned me crazy as I've got to know what all these are!

Guy ropes - I'm assuming they mean so we'd have felt better prepared. You can never know everything tho can you?!

Threadworms & tummy bugs