hand foot and mouth?

[mandms]

im curious to know if most people would think this was hand foot and mouth or something else?
i know i posted earlier with the baby and got some suggestions, but its much broader now.

ALL of my kids have now had this, including my eleven year old now
in the space of a month..
starts with swelling, hugely bleeding gums these are extremely sore and they cannot eat with them like this. fever that could go very high (we dont generally treat for a fever but one of them went to 104.5 at night, so we treated then for comfort (his and mine)while sleeping)
then oral sores, blisters show up on inner lips, gums.
baby had only these sores and one outside the mouth
two year old had mouth sores and a huge blister on thumb that very quickly got inflamed and infected.. and now little satellite blisters around that one, only.

Not one of them have had any other blisters on hands or feet, or a body rash.

the only thing that makes sense is HFM right?
have you ever heard of this with such horrible affect on their gums?
any suggestions on something else to help clean the mouth.. i would normally do a salt water rinse.. but it burns them.. and we cant brush for like two weeks with this going on!

[mandms]

sorry forgot to add, that in the two year old she is still coming out with new spots (blisters?) on her face after seven days.

im sorry if i seem like im obsessing and neurotic
its been a long month, dealing with this, being secluded, and with the babe exclusively nursing and 3 other sick kids.. its just ALL i can think of right now.

plus they are missing out on halloween!

[April Dawn]

I would take them to a doctor. The blisters from hand foot and mouth are generally in the throat and sometimes roof of the mouth and tongue AFAIK... I have never heard of bleeding gums with it, although I guess it could happen! Also, I don't think the fever generally goes very high with it. My son had HF&M this spring. He had white spots in the back of his throat at first and then eventually had a red spotty rash all over his feet and legs (never got it on the hands). It never blistered. His fever never got above 102, and that was only in the first day or two of it. It may be hand foot and mouth, but I would go have it checked out to make sure it's not something more serious, personally!