Hand Foot and Mouth

[KempsMama]

DS1 had HFM last week. It was rough, but we got through the week with lots of cuddles and extra naps. I was doing some reading on MDC today though, and came across a thread where a poster stated that HFM is nothing to mess around with and that the child in question should be under a pedi's care. Now I'm confused, all the research I did indicated that it was a virus, and that serious complications were very rare. I didn't take DS1 into the pedi at all when he was sick.

It seems we have a bit of a local outbreak of this here, and several of my mom friends call me for advice, so I'd like to know why HFM should be taken so seriously, or if my first reaction of letting things run their course was correct.

[onegirloneboy]

I think the main concern would be dehydration from the kid-o not eating or drinking. We just had it here and it was miserable but there is nothing the pedi can do about it. We ended up at the doctor but only because the fever from the virus caused a febrile seizure while DS was in the pool and he swallowed water.

[Marnica]

Nope, your initial thoughts are correct. It's a self-limiting viral illness with rare complications. In fact over half of kids that get HFM get no more than a unexplained fever (ie don't get the blisters etc). Nothing a ped can do....

[nicole_marie]

My two boys just got over it last week and I called our pediatrician, but we didn't need to go in to see her. We had a couple of days of fevers and aches with major blisters, but nothing that needed to be treated with a prescription or OTC meds...just rest.

[KempsMama]

Thank you! I figured the dehration part, but that goes with almost every virus out there, imo.