I picked up Little Dude from preschool yesterday and the teacher mentioned he was saying he was cold. He looked pale and tired. I got him home and he had a fever of 102 without any other symptoms. He fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor, which is completely unlike him. I looked up the
Children's Tylenol dosage chart and gave him some Tylenol and that brought down his fever a little bit. Not even an hour after the time of the next possible Tylenol dose, his fever shot back up, so we gave him some more. He even told me, "Mom, I think my fever came back." and he was right. He went to bed shortly after and woke up this morning with a 99.7 fever, so I didn't give him anything.
I looked in his mouth a few times and didn't see anything, as a few people mentioned it could be
Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. Then after lunch, he still was not himself and he came over to sit on my lap and that is when I saw the red bumps on his wrist and hand.
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| Hand foot mouth on hand |
Then I asked him to look at his feet and sure enough his feet were also covered in little red bumps.
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| Hand foot mouth rash on top of foot |
After I saw the rash on his hands and feet, I had an idea that it might be hand foot disease, so I brought him over to the window and took a look inside and there were the red bumps on the roof of his mouth. Yep, HFM! Poor guy!
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| Hand foot mouth rash inside of mouth |
Poor Little Dude, those bumps look like they hurt! I feel bad because last night he told me it hurt to eat or drink. I thought he just had a sore throat. I feel like this rash came out of nowhere too. I had already checked his mouth twice today. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places, but boom there they were all of a sudden. It is apparently highly contagious and can still spread through saliva and feces for weeks even after the child has no more signs of the virus. I am still researching if the blister fluid from the hand foot mouth rash is contagious. Some websites say yes and some say no. I will do some more research for now. For now, its will be lots of pedialite popsicles and cold drinks. Also, lots of hope that baby girl doesn't get it as well. She loves her brother so much, I think its doubtful she will not catch it. Fingers crossed. Please tell me your experience with Hand Foot Mouth. Any great home remedies??
Update: Little Dude started his fever on Thursday afternoon and today is Monday, he is doing so much better already. His rash is starting to fade and his fever only lasted a the day. However, he passed it on to his 15 month old sister. She has had a much harder time fighting this virus. Baby girl's fever lasted two days and last night she only slept for two hours, not consecutive. Her feet were extremely hot and were causing her a lot of pain. The pediatrician wanted to see her today since she is so young. Her poor little feet are swollen. They have suggested cold compresses and ibuprofen. (Please consult your own Dr. for any medical advice). I thought the hand foot mouth rash on her feet were causing her feet to itch, however they said its most likely the inflammation of the lesions causing her feet to have a burning sensation. It make sense why the Benadryl we tried last night did nothing for her.
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| Swollen foot from hand foot mouth |
