As a first time parent, I wasn’t fully aware of all the rashes, diseases, or anything else that little babies and kids can catch. I mean, I had chicken pox at the age of 12, so what do I know? When I saw the single, red spot on her upper chest, I thought nothing of it. It was probably an irritation from her clothes or lotion, I thought. Babies do have sensitive skin, so I sent her off to school.
I was not prepared for what I was about to see when I got home from work. She had little, red spots ALL over her body. What in the world was it and why was it covering her from head to toe, I thought to myself? The dreaded hand, foot, mouth (HFM) disease was taking over my baby’s beautiful skin, but I didn’t know that it was HFM when I saw it. I had heard of it only because her daycare had posted something about it, but since it wasn’t in her room, I thought she would be fine. Nope, clearly I was wrong.
How did she get it? What could I have done to prevent it? How could I get rid of it immediately? All these questions raced through my mind. I will admit, there was some mom guilt happening. If only I had not sent her to daycare and if only I was a stay at home mom, maybe she wouldn’t have caught it. We were able to get her into her doctor to confirm that it was HFM disease. The spots started to fade after a week. We used Aveeno Creamy Wash to help with the red spots in hopes that it wouldn’t leave any lasting marks. Her skin looks great now and she is doing great. But I want to give some general information on hand, foot, mouth so you can be a little more prepared than we were. So here are some clear signs of what to look for and what can be done for your little ones.
Hand, foot, mouth disease is a common viral illness that normally affects children 5 and younger. But don’t think you can’t catch it parents! This illness shows no mercy on who it affects. Look for a loss of appetite, a fever, sore throat, painful sores in the mouth, and flat red spots all over the body. You can catch this by close contact with an infected person, the air when someone sneezes or coughs, contact with feces and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth without washing hands, or contact with contaminated surfaces. Children are most contagious within the first week and should be kept home as to not spread the virus any further. Currently, there is no vaccine but we can be diligent in trying to reduce the exposure.
Washing your hands often and cleaning and disinfecting toys and surfaces is a couple ways to keep the virus from spreading. The virus just has to run its course but you can give an over the counter pain reliever and can use mouthwash to numb mouth pain. Be sure to consult your physician before giving anything to your little ones. Also, make sure to keep them hydrated. I know the sores can be painful, but becoming dehydrated is only going to make things worse. We used flavor-free pedialyte to supplement her bottles just to make sure she was getting enough electrolytes and fluids.
The virus has been spreading around like wildfire, so I hope this can help educate anyone who may not know about this and maybe more people can be diligent in trying to reduce the outbreaks. Please feel free to share what helped your littles if they have gotten this illness. Share your tips so other moms can be prepared and we can love our little polka dotted babies as best we can!
Sources Used:
https://www.cdc.gov/features/handfootmouthdisease/index.html
