Hand Foot and Mouth Disease - Painesville, OH

Both my daughters got this....lots of patience and popcicles. it lasts about 5 days...but the mouth/throat peaks midway through and then it can get painful for them. It will pass....just a virus...try to find things that will sooth her throat...

Sadly you have to let this run it's course. When my son had it I was told to try and make him as comfortable as I could. I couldn't figure out how my son caught it either because he is an only child and he stays home with me during the day and on the nights I work he is at home with my husband and we had not been around children other than his cousins and they were not sick. According to the doctor it is spread very easily and many children catch it off of carts at the store or highchairs when you go out to eat, anything like that. I hope your little one is feeling better soon. I know that it is rough.

Hi D.!

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do but make your daughter as comfortable as you can. It is very contagious. So if your daughter still likes to put things in her mouth, drools, etc., you need to be very diligent about disinfecting her toys, and pretty much everything she touches. Make sure you wash your and both your daughters' hands frequently.

I actually caught hand foot mouth from the children I babysat when I was 18!!!! Those guys got it from the pool. It was the most horrible sickness I had ever gone through at that point. I was out of school for a week. The sore throat is what was the worst. Stock up on popsicles, milkshake ingredients, yogurt, etc. With how absolutely horrible I felt, I couldn't imagine a little baby with it.

Good luck to you!!!

Sounds like you've gotten lots of advice from others on this. They only thing I would add is that your child CAN get it twice! My daughter got it twice. I think there are slightly different strains of it so beware! Good luck!

My son got HFMD when he was around a year old. I'm pretty sure he picked it up from daycare. It's transmitted through saliva, so he probably got it from putting toys in his mouth.

It's very contagious, my husband picked it up from my son and said it's really painful.

I would treat with tylenol or motrin.

My daughter got this too.
It is basically a yeast infection. Do your children go to a babysitter or to a day care? That is probably where they got it. If not it could have been a simple diaper rash to start then turned into this.
My daughter got it from a baby at the sitter. The baby had a diaper rash & it spread through the things he touched. No other kid got it but my daughter & of course the baby. So it is not quite as contagious as the doc may have said. It is not harmful, just irritating. It never really hurt my daughter. Just looked bad.
Good Luck.

My 3 year old daughter had this when she was 2. I took her to the doctor as well and he said that's what she had. There was nothing we could do but let it run it's course. None of my other children got it, and we have no idea how she contracted this thing. The spots never bothered her, and she never acted sick. I know this is not alot of info but it goes away and we not delt with it any more :)

hi i used to work in a day care and hand foot and mouth is a virus that just has to run its course there is usually a fever a couple of days before the blisters show themselves that can be as you know on the hands the feet and inside the mouth it is very contagious from the time of onset of the fever until the blisters are gone tyelenol usualy helps if they have any discomfort or pain in mouth but she could have picked it up anywhere day care a friends house a shopping cart kinda like a cold oh and by the way the older child and you can both get it as well so wash hands often and try to keep things that the 14 month old touches disinfected so that the other child does not get it because they can continue to give it back and forth
good luck

Its going around town...it's very contagious and I've heard of many many people talking about it and having it with their younger children lately. I'm not sure any other information about it. WebMD.com might help!

My DD who is 20 got it when she was about 4 years old. Her mouth hurt so bad that she could not eat. All she could manage was the broth from chicken noodle soup. The good news is that when it starts to clear up - it clears up quickly!

Hi, I remember when my first daughter got this around 10 months, and it drove me nuts because her fever was so high and she was so uncomfortable. She pointed to her mouth, while crying and thats how I found the bumps inside there.

To help her symptoms, I gave her Motrin and Tylenol (alternating) for pain and fever - and lots of popsicles, and yogurt, as she wasn't hungry for anything else (reason is it hurts to eat).. It is VERY COMMON, and is very contagious so she probably got it from another kid who would've shown no symptoms at first. It led me to stay away from child play areas, as they are breeding areas for illness. It's not just the runny noses, and unwashed hands, but also dirty diapers (they say HMFD can be picked up from this, as babies can put hands in diaper).

The good news is that once they get it they rarely have it again. Be EXTRA careful with your other children and have everyone wash hands even more than normal. The HMFD is a coxsakievirus, see: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_vir...

Also, just a heads up.. my daughter not long after this virus, got something similar, but it was called Roseola, which is marked by a very high fever with no other symptoms, except when the fever breaks, she got a little rash.

Hope your little one is doing better soon!! It usually lasts 3-4 days. Best wishses, Linda

My daughter had it when she was little. I remember the pain like it was yesterday. She would cry whenever she attemepted to eat or drink anything but there wasn't anything I could do. A mouth numbing agent, like for teething, seemed to help quite a bit, but other than that not much helps. The good news is once they have it once, they won't get it again.
In regards to how your child got it, it is a communicable disease just like the 5th disease, being around any other kid that may have it or have had it recently is probably how she got it. My daughter got it from her cousins who all had it at the same time. Chances are your other daughter will get it as well. To prevent this from happening, don't let them drink from the same cups and try not to let them touch one another. I know it's going to be hard, but it's worth a try.

My daughter had hand foot and mouth disease. It goes away in a few days. I thought it was chicken pox. I think it is like a viral infection and it's common for kids to get it. If another kid sneezes or doesn't wash there hand and picks up a toy that your child picked up is how it gets passed on. There is no antibiotic to treat it. It will go away on it's own. How and why - I don't know. It's a weird disease I know. It's sort of goes away by itself - it's a strange disease. Like a common cold but shows up as bumps. Good luck.