my 22month old was diagnosed with hand/foot/mouth. friday she had the fever, sat the mouth sores, sunday the rash and red bumps on hands/feet appeared. she also has them all over her diaper area, like a butt rash only different. she is not eating much but she is playing with toys and in good mood. what concerns me is that she she is uncomfortable and up crying all night long. She sleeps for about an hour or two and wakes up crying, has to be rocked back to sleep, wakes up an hour later... this has been going on since friday night. Also, her naps have shortened to no more than one hour at a time. Is this normal to be so uncomfortable she cant sleep? Also, when do the bumps and rash usually go away?
thanks!
Wow! thanks for all the responses! Monday night we got a little more sleep, and last night she didn't wake up once!! She ate a good supper too (finally!) and ate a huge breakfast this morning, so she MUST be feeling much better. The rash has almost gone away, now hopefully the sores on her feet will heal. I'm so glad she's doing better, but a little worried because now MY throat hurts!! eeek! After this last week I am putting H/F/M up there along with Rotavirus as the worst childhood illnesses we've had, YUCK! Thanks again for all your great responses and suggestions!
my 16 mos old also has this hfmd. two nights ago I was up with him a lot. I think the crying is because of the pain from the sores. I've been giving him motrin and tylenol and it really seems to help. He still has the rash but is acting better. The fever lasted about 2 1/2 days. Now my 10 year old has a fever... here we go again!
Hang in there. She will get better soon.
Allison,
My one yr old just finished up with hand/foot/mouth. She had it for about 10 days and we had to keep giving her Tylenol or Motrin every 4 hours for the discomfort (I think the sores in the mouth were the most bothersome--especially since she's a thumb-sucker). When she was medicated she drank just fine, but her solids were way down. She actually took really long naps when she was sick (especially when she had the high fever)--our doc said to just keep giving Tylenol, and that seemed to help. Give it a try, and good luck!
This is normal. My 11 month old son just got over hand foot mouth about a month agao. He hardly ate for 3-4 days because of the soars in his mouth. The rash lasted for about a week. He only had one real bad nite of not sleeping. He was up almost all nite crying and the couple nites before that he was up on and off. We just gave him tylenol or motrin to help with the pain and as soon as the soars were gone and he started eating better agian he started sleeping better. She may be in pain from the soars in her mouth and she may be hungry at nite to from not eating much during the day. Try giving her some tylenol about an hour before bed and if she wakes up mabye give her some milk or a little snack just till this passes to see if it helps. It should be going away soon and i would guess she should be sleeping better either tonite or tomorrow nite. If she is not doing better within a couple of days i would definatly bring her back in to the doctor. Our doctor told us he should be doing better within 5 days and he was. Good luck i know what your going through and its not fun when they are in pain like that.
We had the same thing on Mother's Day weekend, and spent three days in the hospital! Just make sure that she is taking in fluids!!! Ours would not sleep and we resorted to the tylenol and motrin every two hours (per our peds advice!). It sucks I know but it will pass, just takes a little time! Good Luck. We will keep you in our prayers.
Hi Allison-
My son (who is now 4) has had this twice. I actually caught it one of the times, and let me tell you, it's totally miserable. It was one of the worst illnesses I've had. I was so uncomfortable. I now understand how the kids feel! Try giving her Tylenol or Motrin for the discomfort. The good new is, it only lasts a few days.
Yep, we just got over that here too. My daughter who is 18 months old just had it. I would also suggest either Motrin or Tylenol to keep her comfortable. It will get better. We are going into week 4 and the sores/blisters are finally disappearing. Her butt is all healed now, but there are a few dried up blisters on her feet yet. But, thats about it. The hard part should be over soon. Hang in there!
Oh, I remember it well! I have triplets (they are 9 now) and we suffered through this several times. My pediatrician gave us a recipe for "Magic Mouthwash". It was made from Mylanta and Benadryl liquid I believe. Any way, the pediatrician office is a good place to start for that. Also, they recommended cool liquids to drink, Ibuprofen or Tylenol for the discomfort. I found popsicles worked well. The good news is it doesn't last forever. The bad news - nothing works 100% and those several days will be uncomfortable for them and sleepless for you! Good luck!
My cousin just went through this herself (she's an adult). She said the sores on the hands and feet are quite painful. Have you been using Motrin or Tylenol? I'm not a big fan of medicating kids, but in this case, it may help if she is in so much pain. The rash should be clearing up in a few days.
Our 8 month old just had it too. She would scream the minute she started nursing, so I thought she was either teething or had an ear infection. When we took her in (because she had a fever for two days) and the doctor recommended that we give her a dosage of motrin every six hours. 45 minutes after she had the motrin, I would nurse her as that is about how long it takes to work. Right after nursing, I would put her down for a nap. We gave her a dose of motrin every six hours for about three days. It helped keep her comfortable, allowed her to nurse, and sleep.
Good luck!
Hi, I am a SAHM with a 4 year old daughter and a 2 year old daughter. We have had hand/foot/mouth (HFM) in my household for the last 3 springs. On average the bumps/sores last about 1 week to 10 days unless your child has a weakened immune system (which runs in my family so my girls had HFM for 21 days one time). We did have a few days like you are decribing too. The hand and foot bumps seem not to bother the kids but the mouth sores can cause some discomfort. We used a natural viral support call Sambucol (created to help boost the bodies immunities to fight a virus) and have also used a natural remedy called MonoLaurin. Both have been very helpful in our cases. Swishing the mouth with some warm baking soda water make help take down some of the mouth sore inflamation (which often causes the discomfort). And on the 2-3 days when the mouth sores were the worst for our girls, we gave them tylenol or motrin to help with pain. These are just a few suggestions. Hope they help....one more thing. HFM virus can be fatal to a fetus so if you have any pregnant friends it is best not to let your daughter have contact with them until a couple days after the sores are gone. Our pediatrician told me this when I asked if we could still visit a pregnant friend while the girls had HFM. Good luck....the very best medicine is extra love and snuggle time. And what mom can get too much of that, right!!
Both of my kids (2 and 5 mos) had this over the 4th of July. The 2 year old slept fine, but naps sucked. The baby woke up every 2 hours or so for 4 nights, then over the next few went down to only one wake up. She took a lot longer to heal, in my opinion. The bumps and rash were there about a week, all over her butt, thighs, tummy and back. She had the blisters on her feet and hands, and red spots in her mouth. I just had to wait it out... it has been over a week and they both still have a few spots left that are still healing. Hang in there! As long as she is still eating and drinking well, she should be ok. Motrin works great to get them comfortable.
I have had hand foot and mouth myself and I know how painful it is my doctor and my son doctor gave us a persription for stuff called magic mouth wash it numbs the mouth so you are able to eat and so you arent in so much pain. I would call your doctor to see if you can get it. And sleep that was tuff for even me I would make sure you keep on top of the pain meds every 4 to 6 hour for tyenol and every 8 for motrin. And make sure you or who every touches your little one to wash hand good with soap and dont eat or drink or kiss the on the mouth or you will also get it. I hope this helps. Berst of Luck!
I second Tracy's suggestions. My 11 month old girl has it right now too, same attitude and sleeping habits :( I've been nursing throughout the night because she is eating less during the day. My only worry is getting her back on her schedule when this over...
