I was actually in the middle of writing a different post when my newly turned two-year-old came down with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. The few days that she had it were treacherous to get through and honestly felt like a lifetime. Of course, being the researcher that I am, I looked up everything that I could about this disease. Unfortunately, even though this disease is said to be common for children under five, I did not find many other moms talking about it and the struggles they went through or what worked for them. So, that's exactly what I am going to do.
Hi, I'm Karli from RMO and if your child has HFMD right now, I know how scared you are. I will walk through our symptoms day to day to give you a little peace of mind. Please note, I am a medical professional, but only for animals. I am only sharing with you my experience, what our pediatrician told us about our children, and what worked based on those recommendations. Always consult your pediatrician before doing anything medical for your child. Now that we are on the same page, here's our timeline of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in our children ages 1, 2, and 10.
The Timeline
Friday
In hindsight, we now know that our 1 year-old showed symptoms first and it presented as a diaper rash. Our 1 year-old is also sensitive to a lot of fruits, so diaper rashes are pretty common for her. However, this one was different. We agreed early on that this rash was strange. The rash consisted of bright red singular dots that spread throughout her diaper area and down the inside of her thighs. Usually, her rashes are pretty painful for her but this one did not seem to bother her at all. It also was not responding at all to the creams that usually take away her rashes very quickly. That started Friday.
Saturday
Everyone was acting pretty normal, and no other signs were noticed until Saturday night.
Saturday night we noticed our two-year-old, who had just turned two the previous Wednesday, had a slight fever and was complaining about her mouth. We assumed her two-year-old molars were emerging in too good of timing since she just had her second birthday. The pediatric dentist told us they would be coming soon and that we should expect them to be pretty painful. I offered my daughter a tylenol tablet and she took it with no hesitation. That night she woke up a couple of times to the point where I slept in her bed with her. It was odd since usually when she wakes up she just comes crawling into bed with us, but this time she cried. Again, we figured two-year-old molars and we could do all the teething tricks that we already knew.
Sunday
Unfortunately, we still had no idea the HFMD was rolling through our house and this was the day that we scheduled our two-year-old's birthday party at our house. 🤦♀️ And I know what you're thinking, you let all those people come over when your kids were sick?! Well, we still thought 2 was going through standard molar pain and 1 just had a diaper rash. We kept the party short since our 2 year-old was cranky all day.
She didn't want to eat much that day and we let her do her own thing. Sunday night was another night of waking up a couple times crying and she started drooling quite a bit as well. Again, this all seemed to line up with the molars. There was even a point where I looked up symptoms of two-year-old molars coming in and she had every single symptom, the drooling, the chewing on fingers, the irritability, the restlessness, and not wanting to eat normal. It wasn't until Monday that things started to click.
Monday
Monday morning our ten-year-old was complaining of her hands hurting. She had been at a gymnastics birthday party the day before so this seemed reasonable. However, upon inspection, her hands had little, red, pin-prick spots on them. This led us to check the one-year-old. She had actual puffed up blisters on her feet and more small red dots on her hands. There were no spots found on our two-year-old but she was still miserable about her mouth. A call into the pediatrician's office confirmed that there was a unusual outbreak of HFMD in our area. Unusual because these types of outbreaks usually happen in the summer time and fall when kids are usually barefoot.
As the day went on we still weren't sure if the two-year-old had it or not. She still fit the bill for molar pain and we did not find any spots on her hands or feet. It wasn't until later in the evening when she tried to eat dinner but she just looked at her food and cried loudly and I was able to look in her mouth with a flashlight, that I saw the bright red spots on the roof of her mouth.
By this time, our ten-year-old was also complaining about throat pain and we checked her mouth as well to find the same looking dots.
So, Monday was the day we were able to confirm that all three of our girls had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. And this was just the beginning.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a really long day, so buckle in. Monday night our two-year-old was completely miserable. She woke up every 45 minutes throughout the night. She refused to take anything by mouth. She would not eat. She would not drink. She would not take medicine. She would not even suck on her pacifier. She would pop it in her mouth, get very upset and throw it away from her. This was especially abnormal for her. And even when I was desperate to help her and tried forcing some liquid motrin in her, she spit it all out. I called the pediatrician and they set up a virtual appointment for her. She was so lethargic and wouldn't drink any liquids that I was afraid she would become dehydrated. During the call, she was just staring and completely out of it. They were also concerned about dehydration, so they wanted to see her in person.
At this point, our other two girls were doing okay. 10 was able to take ibuprofen to help with her throat and 1 literally didn't act any different than any other day. It seemed to bother her the least even though she was the only one with actual about-to-rupture blisters on her feet.
Taking 2 to the doctor's office was a treacherous experience. She hated every moment of it. She screamed "that way, that way" and pointed to the door the whole time we were in the room. The doctor and I were yelling history and answers over her screaming.
He checked her throat for things like strep and tonsillitis but said everything looked normal other than the sores in her mouth. He suggested trying to give her liquid ibuprofen again and mentioned that if we couldn't get the pain under control that she would likely need to be hospitalized for dehydration. Of course, as a mother, I was terrified. I would do anything she needed, but I have been lucky enough to not have any hospitalizations yet so my mind was racing on how that would look, especially since she was not agreeable to just the doctor's office. So, what? Would they have to sedate her to give her fluids? I just couldn't imagine.
So, they tried the liquid ibuprofen and the nurse had no more luck than I did. Our stubborn little girl spit out every drop. Then, the doctor suggested an injection of ibuprofen and I reluctantly agreed. It was the only way to give her some relief of the pain she was in, and it was the only way to avoid the hospitalized stay for now. She hated it, of course. But the more difficult part was waiting twenty minutes after giving the shot to make sure she didn't have any reactions. They also wanted to see if she would drink anything while we were waiting to ensure she wouldn't get closer to dehydration. She still refused to drink. She didn't have a reaction so they were comfortable sending us home since she was still producing tears and still able to urinate. (not doing so are signs of dehydration)
Once we were safe in the car, she drank a whole cup of milk! This was a huge relief to me. Watching your child starve and not drink anything for well over 12 hours is terrifying. She then fell asleep and stayed asleep for three hours.
When she woke up, we offered her pediasure, cold water, milk, and jello. I was willing to try anything and everything. She drank the pediasure and ate the jello. This was huge and I was feeling so grateful. She even played with her toys for about 30 minutes before becoming tired and irritable again.
The doctor prescribed us tylenol suppositories for infants and toddlers. He wanted us to make sure she got them every 6 hours to keep the pain at bay. I had never done suppositories before. And to be completely honest, I felt very uncomfortable with this. But, I reminded myself, it was a medical procedure that needed to be done in order to provide pain relief for my child. The process was not bad and my daughter did much better than I thought she would, although she quickly caught on to the procedure and would protest after the third or fourth time. Luckily, I only had to do five doses total.
Later that night we were able to get her to drink more pediasure and some gatorade. She also ate a little more jello. Her sleeping pattern was the same as the night before. Every 45 minutes she would wake up crying and if it was time for her medicine, I would give it to her. I also did my best to get her to swallow liquid ibuprofen.
Wednesday
We finally started to see improvements on Wednesday. Our ten-year-old was feeling much better throughout the day and was given the okay to go back to school the next day. Our one-year-old still acted as if nothing had even happened to her. Her blisters on her feet were shrinking and never seemed to really rupture.
Our two-year-old was in a better mood despite her not getting much sleep the night before. She took a bath in the morning and was continuing down the same path of not eating or drinking like the day before. She started sneezing about mid-morning which her reaction to sneezing was to cry since her mouth was still in pain. She was still drooling excessively as well. Considering it was painful for her to swallow, her saliva all just poured out of her mouth constantly. We continued with her medication regiment throughout the day.
Around noon a small switch had flipped and 2 started drinking gatorade, milk, pediasure, and even ate some mac and cheese. Her sleep schedule was definitely off and she was falling asleep later in the day for naps than usual. This made her very irritable waking up and threw off her night routine as well. However, as her mom, I could handle a different sleep schedule way better than her not eating or drinking. So, that night she got her last doses of medication at 8pm. At this point, I think the process of the liquid ibuprofen and the suppositories were upsetting her more than the actual pain was. She was so worked up, she stayed up until 11pm. She then woke up at midnight and wanted to watch tv. So we did. Until 4am. Which I guess would bring us to Thursday.
Thursday
Both 1 and 10 are back to their normal selves. 2 slept in a little from her "all-nighter" but woke up in good spirits. She was back to eating normally and drinking normally but she did develop a runny nose. Whether this was apart of HFMD or not, I don't know. Regardless, I am now just treating her for cold symptoms as needed and HFMD is in the past.... or at least we thought.
Friday
Friday morning as my husband was getting ready for work, he noticed red spots all over his hands. The doctor mentioned that this was a disease most commonly found in children under five. However, it is becoming more and more common in adults of small children as well.
Conclusion
Currently it is Monday and my husband developed very severe blisters in his mouth over the weekend. It is most definitely transferrable to adults so make sure to wash your hands constantly while your child or children have this disease.
We have tried a recipe for "magic mouthwash" that we found on the internet to help him but it is giving him little relief. I have read that it is more severe in adults than it is in children. But, my two-year-old was miserable for two and a half days or so. Hopefully, my husband will recover soon.
Things that helped my girls was standard ibuprofen, drinking as much fluids as they could, resting, and fun activities that took their minds off the pain. Pediasure gave me peace of mind when 2 was unable to eat. When she was able to drink, I offered gatorade so that I knew she was getting hydrated and her electrolytes were being replenished. Jello was her first "meal" and seemed to go very well. She had not had jello up until then so she was very interested in the texture.
This whole experience was miserable and still is for Dad. But, I am hoping that by sharing our family experience that you will feel a little encouraged to get through your own experience. I was so scared that my baby was going to need to be hospitalized. As quickly as the sores in her mouth came, they seemed to leave just as fast.
So take it easy, and keep those babies hydrated. And do make sure to wash, wash, wash so that you don't get it too.
If you have any questions, ask them below and I'll do my best to answer. And remember to talk to your pediatrician if you are concerned with giving your child anything that I mentioned in this post. This is just what worked for us. Stay safe moms and dads!
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