Hand-feet-mouth Disease

My son had the same thing. Did you Dr. tell you to try a combination of benadryl and malox? It coats the stomach and sores to help him take something to drink. It was like one part benadryl to 2 parts malox. It's just a suggestion.

I hope he feels better.

This is contagious for as long as your child has blisters...even if they stop hurting. This is spread through feces and saliva so air and skin to skin contact must be monitored. Your older child should be no where near the baby until he is better, because a sneeze and or cough can release contaminated saliva droplets. You need to wash your hands with hot water and soap for at least 60 seconds after being near your son or any surface that he has come in contact with.

As for pain, I think popsicles, maybe even try slurpees. The cold helps and the trat may get his mind off the pain. For nutrition, pureed cold foods are probably the best. Good luck.

My children had this when they were very young, about 2 or 3 years. The baby most likely will not get it, especially if you are nursing and practice good hand washing etc.

Pain reliever might help but ask your dr. first. Mine did not eat much the first two or three days. As the sores start to heal, this will get better. Milk shakes, cold drinks and such are best.

Do not rinse with salt water.

Our doctor is Dr. Eckel at cooks children. He may have had them rinse with something else, but I can't remember. It's been too long. but I do remember the salt water made it much more painful.

I don't know what to do about relieving the pain for your son, but have you tried letting him drink everything with a straw? He will get smaller amounts at a time, and the straw helps direct the liquid better, so if his sores are more in his cheeks, it will minimize the contact, and therefore the pain. Don't worry about whether he is getting ALL of his nutrition over the next few days. He will more than make up for what he isn't eating now, once the sores are healed!!

I agree with the other post about your new baby getting it, too. If it's possible, try to minimize the direct contact between your children for a few days, though, just to be on the safe side. You might want to call an adult friend to come help you, too.

I'm feeling for ya, and praying for you and your kids!

I have heard using Mylanta and Benydryl really helps wiht the blisters in their throat. I'm not sure of the dose so you may have to call your doctor. Hope your child is better soon.

When mine had this were were told to let him rinse his mouth with a mixture of Benadryl and Maalox about 10 minutes before drining/eating. The mixture of the two meds has an anesthetic effect. I tried it myself to see, and it does! You want to use the cherry flavored Maalox, and follow the Benadryl instructions as if you're giving him a dose of Benadryl -- probably 1 teaspoon every 4 hours (ask your pediatrician for the exact dose if you need to). So, mix one tsp of Benadryl with one tsp of Maalox. Get a medicine dropper and squirt it into his mouth to coat his cheeks and tongue, and let him swallow the rest. You have to wait 10 minutes. The waiting is very important because it gives the medicine time to work and kind of deaden the area. After that, he should drink a little. Definitely no juices or fruits because the acidity will burn those sores. Cold milk is best, and water, of course. Try yogurt too, but no the ones with fruit. Look for vanilla flavored.
The main thing you want to stay on top of is fluids. Kids can get dehydrated when they have this illness.

Hang in there!

My older daughter had that at about the same age. It was undiagnosed for a few days, but she wouldn't eat, fever, etc and the dr said if my throat looked like hers I wouldn't want to eat either! She just lived on Motrin for days. I would give it to her about 20 min before I offered her something to eat. Mashed potatos, yogurt... I would offer ice cream, popsicles - anything to keep from dehydration!
Good Luck - I hope he gets well and your baby stays clear. Wash, wash, wash those hands!

Our son just suffered through this but our doctor gave him something to ease his throat and mouth. It didn't do much but if I gave it to him just before eating or drinking, it helped for that period of time. With the baby (we have a 11month old), you just need to make sure to really wash hands VERY well after changing diapers if your son is still wearing them. We were told that he was only contagious for the first several days but could still pass it on after a diaper change for up to 3 months. Apparently this is passed around a lot in daycares and schools.
It's awful and so sad to watch their suffering but ask your doctor about something to ease the mouth pain and they should be able to prescribe something appropriate. Good Luck!

Oh, HFM disease. I remember thinking we had the chicken pox when our son got that the first time. Since it is a virus, it is hard to keep contained and usually spreads like wild fire in daycares, gyms, churches, etc. I think our doctor recommended a pain reliever and that was about it. Ice pops and jello might help until his mouth doesn't hurt anymore.

See if he will drink some juice or pedialyte. try his fav foods. You can give him something cold to help relieve the mouth like a pop ice of put his food in the fridge for a little bit. my son had this about 4 months ago and it was hell. Make sure you disenfect all his toys and wash his sheets, dont let him or the little one have contact so its not passed. You can give tylenol and motrion for the pain and I used the eucrin(sp) lotion on my son's legs and feet. Good Luck and God Bless
~D.

My pedi told us to give equal parts of benadryl and Mylanta. It helped SO much. We tried to give it about 1/2 hour or so before meal time to see that it had time to start to work.

Whatever your child's benadryl dosage is, match that in Mylanta.

Hang in there; it is horrible.

K.