HFM questions

yellowtulips80 · December 2011

I'm pretty sure Lily has it. I knew she had a cold or something but the blisters popped up yesterday afternoon after the pedi closed. If I take her to urgent care is there anything they can do for her? Also her fever has broken. How long is she considered contagious?

amanda_holbird@hotmail.com · December 2011

There is no antibiotic that can be taken for HFM. It's a virus and just has to run its course. Both of my boys have had it (not at the same time). I didn't even take Jack to the pediatrician. He was diagnosed over the phone. I was told that he could return to school once his fever had been gone for 24 hours. Jack's case of HFM was mild, imo, and he returned to school 48 hours after the first blisters appeared. He had very few to begin with. Ethan, if I can remember, was out of daycare for four days when he had it. He had it when he was a baby, though. I hope Lily feels better soon and it's a mild case.

yellowtulips80 · December 2011

mrs.holbird:
There is no antibiotic that can be taken for HFM. It's a virus and just has to run its course. Both of my boys have had it (not at the same time). I didn't even take Jack to the pediatrician. He was diagnosed over the phone. I was told that he could return to school once his fever had been gone for 24 hours. Jack's case of HFM was mild, imo, and he returned to school 48 hours after the first blisters appeared. He had very few to begin with. Ethan, if I can remember, was out of daycare for four days when he had it. He had it when he was a baby, though. I hope Lily feels better soon and it's a mild case.

so did they have visible blisters when returning to daycare? Wondering if I should hold her out until they are gone.

slwprincess · December 2011

No point going to the dr if you're sure that's what it is. We weren't sure with Sophie since her symptoms were odd and she never had a fever. But the pedi basically ruled out everything else and that's what we were left with. There is no medication they can give... you just have to wait it out. The longest symptom for us was the diaper rash... it lasted 9 full days and it was awful. If she doesn't have it yet, start using triple paste now to try to prevent it. I think she's not contagious after 24 hrs w/ no fever but you might want to double check that on the Dr Sears site to be sure. It's definitely going around :-(

slwprincess · December 2011

yellowtulips80:

mrs.holbird:
There is no antibiotic that can be taken for HFM. It's a virus and just has to run its course. Both of my boys have had it (not at the same time). I didn't even take Jack to the pediatrician. He was diagnosed over the phone. I was told that he could return to school once his fever had been gone for 24 hours. Jack's case of HFM was mild, imo, and he returned to school 48 hours after the first blisters appeared. He had very few to begin with. Ethan, if I can remember, was out of daycare for four days when he had it. He had it when he was a baby, though. I hope Lily feels better soon and it's a mild case.

so did they have visible blisters when returning to daycare? Wondering if I should hold her out until they are gone.

I think if the blisters are open/oozing they are still contagious. Once they are kind of scabbed over they aren't contagious anymore. The drool is the really contagious part. If she's drooling like mad, probably best to keep her home another day.

amanda_holbird@hotmail.com · December 2011

yellowtulips80:
mrs.holbird:
There is no antibiotic that can be taken for HFM. It's a virus and just has to run its course. Both of my boys have had it (not at the same time). I didn't even take Jack to the pediatrician. He was diagnosed over the phone. I was told that he could return to school once his fever had been gone for 24 hours. Jack's case of HFM was mild, imo, and he returned to school 48 hours after the first blisters appeared. He had very few to begin with. Ethan, if I can remember, was out of daycare for four days when he had it. He had it when he was a baby, though. I hope Lily feels better soon and it's a mild case.

so did they have visible blisters when returning to daycare? Wondering if I should hold her out until they are gone.

I don't think Ethan had anything on him when he returned to daycare. As for Jack, there were definitely no visible blisters, just a little red mark where the blister use to be. The blisters seemed to leave pretty quickly.

decaturbride · December 2011

When Owen had it, he only had blisters in his throat and mouth. We were told to give him Motrin for the pain every 4-6 hours and we could also mix children's benadryl with cherry maalox. I think it was 1/2 a tsp of each. It helped to coat his throat some and let him drink again. He was miserable for a good week. He also got an ear infection towards the end too. Our pedi said that is pretty common so just be on the lookout. I hope she has a mild case and doesn't feel too awful. Poor Lily and Mommy! Not at all what you guys needed right now.

MSquires100 · December 2011

decaturbride:
When Owen had it, he only had blisters in his throat and mouth. We were told to give him Motrin for the pain every 4-6 hours and we could also mix children's benadryl with cherry maalox. I think it was 1/2 a tsp of each. It helped to coat his throat some and let him drink again. He was miserable for a good week. He also got an ear infection towards the end too. Our pedi said that is pretty common so just be on the lookout. I hope she has a mild case and doesn't feel too awful. Poor Lily and Mommy! Not at all what you guys needed right now.

We took MJD to CHOA Urgent Care to confirm since it was the first time and we didn't really know what it was. The doc confirmed it and also recommended the bendryl / maalox mix. Along with Motrin. We called daycare to ask their policy, since by Monday morning he had been fever free since Saturday just the massive drool and mouth sores. They asked us to keep him out one additional day.

Hope it's not a bad case. HFM must be going around. Besides on here, I've known 2 other families that are dealing with it too!

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