Hand Foot Mouth

ask the doctor for some magic mouthwash, they will either make it or write a script for it. it can help. (the solution can be kept for a long time if you refridgerate it)

i would also talk to the daycare about making the center a thumbsucking/fingersucking free center. I suggest this since my daughter got it about a year and a half ago.

hope this helps

My 13 month twin girls just got over hand, foot, mouth. The doctor said it is only contagious as long as the fever is present 1-3 days. Their daycare didn't allow them back until the spots started to scab (about 7 days).

Here is a website that has a lot of information on hfmd. Hope it helps.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000965.htm

Hello, J.,

With it being a viral infection have you thought about colloidal silver? Your health food store may have a preparation that may very well ease the pain and speed the healing.

My very best to you and your daughter.

T.

My daughter have it a year ago. Fortunately my youngest was okay. Just keep them separated as much as you can, and no sharing on toys, food, and drink. Wash their hand as often as you can. I have to keep her at least 7 days at home before I sent her back to school.

Hi J.,
I too have a daughter who has had this not once, but twice. At 16 months then again at 23 months. It is not pleasant at all. The first time around was not as bad as the second.We went to the doc, he told us what it was. We gave her tylenol for the fever and she was fine. The doctor did tell us that she could carry the virus in her stool for up to 9 months. The second time her body had a reaction to the virus and we slept 8 hours in 3 days. I called her pediatrician and he prescribed a medicine that was similar to Benadryl but stronger. I am not an advocate for medicating toddlers, but we were miserable. She was lying on the floor trying to scratch her whole body. Once she took a dose of the medicine, she immediately went to sleep and her body began to heal. She lost 3 pounds because she would not eat due to the sores in her mouth. My 5 year old did not get it, even though we had to constantly warn him not to kiss her on the mouth. We are praying that she never gets this again because it was horrible. If your daughter seems miserable, please ask her dr to prescribe something to at least help her with the skin irritation. Once the blisters started healing, I applied natural shay butter to help any discolorations and scaring. I know this is a long post, but I hope it helped a little.

My son had it when he was 2.5 and then I got it. I was 4 weeks pregnant and lost the baby. It is not good for pregnant women to get it althought the Dr. could not be 100% sure if that is why I lost the baby.

For kids it is bad but it is much more painful for adults. It hurt more than my c-section! I guess if you had it as a child then you are immune so I guess I never got it as a child.

Oh my gosh it must be really going around! My daughter got it last week too from preschool, and yes, the ER actually didn't know what it was! Can you believe it? I don't know how long it's contagious but all 3 of my kids got it. Not fun.
N.

My son just had this disease three weeks ago and it was terrible I feel your pain. I was told it takes a good 7-10 days to clear up. My son was better in about a week. The Doc. perscribed him two creams one was bactroban 2% and the other was desoide .05% I hope this can help. My son seemed to start clearing up right away. My doc also told me it is highly contagious and to stay away from pregnant women. Good luck to you and your little one.

I guess some kids are just the picker-uppers. My son gets every sore throat that any child brings to school. I swear we just get off Antibiotics and he brings something else home. (you'd think he was kissing the girls at school).

I'm not sure about how long they are contagious all three of my kids had this at diffrent times. In early grade school. I wouldn't worry about it to much, you might want to go into the class room and help the teacher spray lysol on the dests and on any surfaces the kids touch regularly, recess equipment etc. Then do it at home. Most likely the kids that pick up everything have already got it. Good Luck! J.

Just want to let you know that young kids are not the only ones at risk.i use to babysit a toddler who had it, well my high school cheerleader soon got it shorly afterwards, & then my 19 year old....they had it pretty bad.it didnt effect me. Thank god.yes you just have to wait it out, it is very uncomfortable...

All three of my triplets had hand foot mouth disease. It is contagious while they are having a temperature; after that they are fine. That is what my pediatrician told me because I was worried about "sharing". We used a concoction fo benadryle and lidocaine. It made their mouth numb enough for them to eat. You can also give her motrin/infants tylenol for some pain relief. Good luck!

Our doctor said it was contagious as long as there are sores and/or fever.

When I was an infant teacher, I saw this come through the daycare center about every three years. It is extremely contagious and most centers won't allow a child to return until the symptoms subside. Daycare Center must also have the carpets cleaned and disinfect all surfaces, sheets, toys, ect. thourouhly. You may find this link to be helpful:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-foot-and-mouth-dise...

i did some reading and as far as i can tell they are contagious for only a few weeks after physical symptoms appear but they can be carriers for up to two months prior to the appearance of physical symptoms... so if you have had any play dates in the last few months i would let the parents know... GOOD LUCK!

My son had it and as long as the sores are present he is contagious. My peditrician told me to give my son motrin to help with the pain about a half an hour before he ate. He also told me to keep the tempature in the room as cool as possible it really help with my son being comfortable.

Per http://children.webmd.com/tc/hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-... :

"The virus spreads easily through coughing and sneezing. You can also get it by coming in contact with infected stool, such as when you change a diaper. Often the disease breaks out within a community. Children are most likely to spread the disease during the FIRST WEEK of the illness. But the virus stays in the stool and can sometimes spread to others for SEVERAL MONTHS after the blisters and sores have healed.

It usually takes 3 to 6 days for a person to get symptoms of hand-foot-and-mouth disease after being exposed to the virus. This is called the incubation period."

I know it's not what you wanted to see (can be spread for several months), but really- having been a childcare provider during an out break- not a big deal! There is a reason we are supposed to wear gloves while doing diapers and disinfect the changing table after every diaper!

J. some things are just a part of child hood, but had foot and mouth is very contageous. For her mouth, go to a health food store, and get some tTea Tree Oil, and with a q tip treathe inside of her mouth, it does;t tast good but its works really good, we use it in my house for a lot of stuff, We got ours at Henry's. J.

my son had it when he was a toddler and he got it from a child care center toy box so it definitly is contagous- we were just visiting a friend who was a teacher and he played with stuff in the toy box and then that friend told me lots of her kids had come down with it- a day or 2 later my son came down with it. It is awful about the only thing my son would eat were push up pops and popscicles- I guess the cold made his mouth feel better-good luck, the days are long when your kids have this.

check out this site for more info:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000965.htm

I always do my research on medical stuff on the internet and it also helps to have a child's health book as a reference guide. I think the biggest thing is if you are pregnant or if your daughter has been around anyone else who is pregnant. You need to let that person know and she should tell her ob/gyn immmediately.

As far as other kids, they have probably already been exposed and you can let them know. My personal feeling is that I'd rather my child get the virus so that she builds up an immunity to it next time. It's uncomfortable for them because of the little sores, but it's not a huge deal and it goes away in about a week. All of my kids have had it and my husband got it once also. It was worse for him than it was for my kids. I hear that most people get it as children so it's pretty rare for adults to get it, but they can.