Are there any Mom's who are caring for their child who has been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease. My 8 year old has never been so miserable and lethargic.
Thank everyone sooooo much for the many words of advice at a time when I felt so helpless. My daughter is better but now has an ear infection(allergy related). She has been such a good patient and we are now using neosporin to clear up the external blisters around her mouth. I pray we get through the rest of the school year without any more illness. Thanks to all.
If it's in his mouth, the only relief that I know of is to mix benadryl and mylanta and dab in his mouth. It will numb it for a bit. Otherwise, MOTRIN!! Mine had this as a toddler. I'm sorry!!
We recently had a bout of HFMD with my son (1 yr now). Not a lot you can do besides providing TLC. Our Dr recommended a 1/2 tsp of mylanta mixed with a 1/2 tsp of benadryl every 4 hours or as needed to help with the sores in his mouth. We did it before feeding him to help getting the food down.
Mix her dosage of liquid benadryl with the equal amount of Maalox and have her drink it...it will coat her throat so she can eat some and have some comfort. Besides that and eating soft liquids type foods, you have to wait it out. It should pass in a few days.
the dr. should be able to give you a prescription for lidocaine and mylanta or somehting like that so he can slosh it around in his mouth to ease the pain of the sores. otherwise tylenol and motrin and lots of videos ... we had it here with my two year old. unfortunately she couldn't use the gargle thing so she screamed alot from the soreness but the tylenol and Dora helped us get through.
good luck
xoxo
G.
My daughter had this last yr and ir was miserable!! She didn't hardly eat or drink anything for days. We got just enought down her to keep her hydrated. Give her something like pedialyte to replace elctrolytes and watch how much she is using the bathroom so that she doesn't get dehydrated. It lasted about 5 or 6 days for us and her fever was sooo high. Alternate motrin and tylenol to help her fever and she couldtake a luke warm bath if those don't help. Good Luck!
My daughter had that when she was 2. It's really hard to deal with a toddler and that. I was told by her dr that if they didn't have it by 5, they wouldn't get it. Interesting. Mine was pretty lethargic too. And getting her not to pick at her bumps was hard. I still have pics of her looking all spotted. It was cute but she was miserable. I don't remember how we got through it but I know it didn't take too long. Lots of movies and games to keep her mind off of it. Good luch.
My two-year old had it last year. He was miserable. The only thing we could get him to eat or drink was chocolate milk. Good luck!!! Just keep him away from other kids. It is so contagious.
Feeling for you and your little boy.
I can tell you that my son had the worse case of it his dr and staff had ever seen. We just had to let it pass. we gave him oatmeal baths and just did what the dr's said...there was not really anything that we found to help.
Good luck with that...
A.
Wow...my toddler (22 months) just had it last week. However, i think we got a very mild version compared with yours. His started out with blisters on the feet and he had a few on the roof of his mouth and tongue. He did not seem to mind them much and he actually ate and drank normally. He did start a weird sleeping issue last week in conjunction, but i think it's more the age than the illness. I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. These two cases are the only ones I've heard of in the area, but there are probably more.
My doctor said it's most important to keep them hydrated during this time. She also said to mix a t. of Benadryl witha t. of Maalox and let them swallow or just swish with this mixture. It should help to coat the mouth and give some relief so they can eat and drink. Good luck!
I'm sorry to hear you're going through this. I've never heard of an 8 year old having HMF. I'm in Child Care, and usually it only hits the kids under 5.
I know how miserable he is - lots of jello gigglers is what I recommend. They are cool, don't have a tecture and won't hurt the blisters in his mouth. Popcicle etc. are what the kids usually live on for the duration of the blisters.
For the hands and feet, some of the parents have told me soaking in a cool bath feels the best.
My 6 year old just had it too. It was horrible! He is already very skinny and lost even more weight while he had it. We did use pediasure chocolate shakes our doctor gave us which he liked. The first 2 days were the worst. By day 5 he was definitly feeling better though. I will warn you though that every night he would wake up vomiting. The doctor did not tell us that this happens with this virus until we called after he first vomited.
My son had HFMD 2 weeks ago and it was the worst case that the doctor had ever seen. (I also got it and couldn't believe how awful I felt). I would recommend mixing a tsp on benadryl & a tsp on Mylanta. Have him swish it in his mouth to help relieve some of the pain. Also try popcicles, ice cream or ice from Sonic. Cold things seem to make it feel better. In my son's case it lasted about a week and then he was back to normal. Hope that helps.
My 15 month old has it right now. I called the dr. and described her symptoms and they told what it was without me having to bring her in and said I just had to wait it out. Their only recommendation was tylenol and motrin. The first few days were the worst. I have been giving her benadryl at night now so she has slept better the last 2 nights. She still has the spots/blisters and yesteday some of them started to pop open. Yuck! However, she is eating better now and seems to be feeling better too. Good luck!
The previous post about the Maalox mixture is exactly what the doctor told us to do. My daughter got this when she was 18 or 19 months old and it was horrible. I had to squirt yougurt and other "liquid" foods into her mouth for 3 or 4 days because she wouldn't eat anything.
Go to BabyCenter.com and do a search on Hand, Foot and Mouth and you will find a million comments from parents who have gone through it. (Look below the article you find about HFMD on the website.) There is always a bunch of information that the doctor didn't mention during our short visits when they're sick. BabyCenter.com is like my bible for information like that.
Good luck and hope she feels better soon!
Both of my girls had it when they were young. I was told to you the Malox and Benedryl mixture. It worked great. Without it, they would of never eaten. I gave them the dosage about 15 minutes before I wanted them to eat. Then I kept the food soft and cold. After a few days they were regainig their strength and eating fine.
Good Luck.
