hand, foot and mouth - what does it look like?

[BrightSparkles]

I had a text today from one of the mums whos kids were at my dd2's birthday on the weekend saying they suspect her ds has hand/foot and mouth because of the blisters on his mouth and i need to keep an ete out.

Can someone tell me what i need to keep an eye out for with my kids? I've never had experience with this one.

[Trillian]

Have you ever had a mouth ulcer? HFM mouth blisters look very similar to mouth ulcers. On the hands and feel they look like white pimply looking blisters. Here is a PDF fact sheet for you http://www.racgp.org.au/afp/200308/20030805starr2.pdf If they do get it, there is no point taking them to a Dr - it's viral so it just has to run its course, but you can support their immune system while they are healing by letting them eat plenty of live culture yoghurt. Panadol will also hurt. I had all 4 of mine get it one after the other and it was awful.

[BrightSparkles]

It says that they don't need to be excluded from school/day care etc. Isn't it contagious so therefore they would be excluded??

[feeb]

As Trllian has allready covered a good description of what they look like. They are contagious until they scab over, and if kids go to CC, kinder, school you need to notify them and let them know and you will most liklely need medical clearence to send them back.

Both my boys got this last year. DS1 was much worse than DS2. DS1 had them all over hands and feet and also legs and a mouth full and poor thing ate nothing but ice cream for 4 days as everything hurt to eat, DS2 just had them on hands and feet and nappy area.

They can be on other areas apart from hands feet and mouth.

Hope you don't have too bad a run with it.

[Calluna]

Ds didn't get it too bad, but I caught it off him and it was awful! Sore throat, fever, headache, nausea, and really painful blisters in my mouth, nose and throat.

[BrightSparkles]

Thanks ladies. We don't have it here but just need to know what to keep an eye out for since one of the kids that was at dd's party hs it.

[feeb]

Yes need to be excluded as highly contagious.

Have PM you link to RCH fact sheet as didnt know if I could post link or not as I always get in trouble

[Babyluv]

My DD had this recently. She started off with a few days of high fevers and being irritable and then came down with blisters on her hands, feet, in her mouth and on her bottom. It's incredibly painful and my hubby caught it and can vouch for the discomfort. He said his hands were sore, hot and itchy. Dd was prescribed Zyrtec for babies for the itchiness because she hadn't slept in days and we alternated nurofen and panadol. She couldn't eat either. Definitely highly contagious. It's classed as a mild infection but it's really uncomfortable for anyone who gets it.

[Heaven]

Oh my DD's had it recently too. They had a fever for a few days and then got the blisters. Just looked like pimples or blisters and I noticed it on the bottom of DD1's feet first. Poor DD2 had them all on her arms and legs and in her mouth, some really big ones too that looked so painful.

[human bean]

Just be aware that they don't always get it in all 3 areas - DD had it really mildly (thankfully!) last year twice. The first time only about 10 spots all up on her hands, second time just a few on her feet and one on her hand. We were very fortunate it wasn't any worse.

[Trillian]

Just be aware that they don't always get it in all 3 areas - DD had it really mildly (thankfully!) last year twice. The first time only about 10 spots all up on her hands, second time just a few on her feet and one on her hand. We were very fortunate it wasn't any worse.

Yes! This is why I didn't realise DD1 and DS2 had even had it because it was so mild in them and they only had a mouth ulcer or two, but it wasn't until DS1 got it really bad that I knew in hindsight that the other two had it.

[Tegam]

Oh don't you just hate text like that! Better to know what might be about to happen but also stressful for no reason sometime.

Had a case of 5month old twins in ED the other night, they were covered in this rash. It was that bad that no one new what it was, until the skin specialist said it was a bad case of hand,foot and mouth poor little mites.

[BrightSparkles]

no sign of HFM.. instead I have both with croup!!!! ARGH! I have had maybe 2 hours sleep all night between the 2 of them coughing and wheezing everywhere. Off to the dr today....again....

[Calluna]

hope they're both better soon and you can get some rest

[Frangipani]

It can also take a few days for the spots to appear. We (both my DS's & I) had it in October last year...my DS2 showed signs first which were spots around his groin and bottom then hands, feet, knees and around the mouth (but thankfully for us was not in the mouth). DS1 was about the same but only 1/3 of the spots (maybe 10). I only had hand and feet (probably about 20) For us it started just getting sick...loss of appetite, temps...basically feeling like a cold/flu. I believe it can also be a secondary illness- so if you're run down with something else it has a good chance of appearing. Then a month after our blisters had gone I found both DS2 and I lost our finger and toe nails on the ones we had blisters (DS1 only had a mild case...so his nails only had slight 'bubbles' so not enough for them to fall off when they grew out).

We are on 'spot alert' too at the moment. Our kindy had 4 cases as of last Monday and 7 cases as of Thursday (including a friend of mine who's son who is in DS2's room...he'd had't been to kindy since the Friday before and he's spots appeared 4-5days later...he had an ear infection and tonsillitis to begin with). Hopefully our cases from last year (and DS1's case from whether he was 15months) are enough to keep it at bay...though we all have coughs and colds at the moment :-\

Hope you's can avoid it too...DS2 has had croup a couple of times and I know how that is :-( Hope your household is all healthy again soon.

Bec sent this on her Samsung using Tapatalk :-)

[Jaycee]

DS2 had it a couple of months ago, it started with him being a little out of sorts with a fever for a couple of days and then the rash appeared on his hands, feet, nappy area and a couple in his mouth.

It is highly contagious and the child should be excluded from child care or school for up to a week and you will need a medical clearance to return.

Hope she doesn't get it!