TIP - Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease

My two-year son came down with the Hand Foot Mouth Disease and it was no fun.

It started with a fever of 101 degrees. I knew he was not feeling well because he was not himself. He was cranky, very difficult to please and had difficulty sleeping. The next morning, his fever was 100 degrees but I noticed some blisters in his diaper area and a blister on his hand. I suspected Hand Foot Mouth because I had seen a notice at my son’s day care that a couple of kids had come down with it. I called the doctor.

I told him the symptoms and the doctor confirmed that my son had the Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Here are the basics:

-Hand Foot Mouth Disease is NOT the same as Foot and Mouth Disease (also called Mad Cow's Disease) which occurs in animals. They are completely different.
- It is called Hand Foot Mouth because the symptoms show up as small blisters/sores on the hands (usually on the palm), feet (usually on the bottom) and inside the mouth.
- It is not serious and goes away on its own in about a week.
- It is most common among young children.
- It is a viral infection and very contagious so when a kid in a group setting gets it, most likely other kids will get it as well.
- The incubation period is 3-6 days BEFORE they show any symptoms. No one knows the kid has it and is contagious until after he shows the symptoms! In fact, when they show the symptoms, they are usually not contagious after that. As long as they don't have a fever, they are fine to go back to school or daycare even with the blisters.

The fever went away pretty quick; it lasted about two days and was never very high. However, the sores are very painful. The sores on my son's hands and feet did not bother him at all, but the sores in his mouth made him absolutely miserable. He had SIX of them in his mouth including one right on the tip of his tongue. They looked just like canker sores. They hurt them when he talked, when he laughed, when he ate and when he drank. It was almost unbearable to watch. Doctor recommended that we avoid all acidic foods like orange juice, etc. and to serve him only soft food. He seemed to be able to drink milk just fine and we feed him some rice crispies cereal after the crispies softened in the milk. After a while, he did not even want to eat anything because he knew it would be painful. Finally we got some baby Orajel and used it on his sores. The relief seemed to last only a short time - maybe 30-60 minutes but it gave him some relief. The doctor also recommended Children's Tylenol for the painful sores, but it really did not help his mouth sores at all. Finally after about 3-4 days, the sores were better and he was back to normal.

Like I said, it was no fun! However, it was comforting to knew that it would go away on its own in a week’s time! I found the best information on this site:

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/healthy-living/parenting/childs-health/childhood-infections/hand-foot-mouth-disease?section=section_00