Lately there are many Hand Foot, Mouth Disease (HFM) cases reported in newspaper. I am honestly very worried for all the children (also adults) out there! There was a period of time that my Instagram stories were filled with videos of crying Sophie, and people must be curious of what actually happened to her. And today, I’m going to talk about HFM.
It all started with Jacob coming home from enrichment class one day, he told me he got a few ulcers in his mouth and it’s painful.
Jacob was diagnosed with HFM when he was 2 years old. I was out of the country and when I finally got back, Jacob was having high fever and not willing to eat and drink. To my horror, I discovered many many ulcers around his mouth, tongue and palate. I didn’t know what to do at first. So I sent him to hospital, did a thorough checkup, doctor prescribed him ulcer spray, some fever medicine and advised me to give Jacob plenty of water and that’s all.
This time round, I took Jacob to see doctor. Same case same advices, no medicine except some numbing ulcer cream, fever medicine and asked to drink plenty of water. I guess you already figured there is no medicine to cure HFM. I was very worried about how contagious HFM is, because I have another baby at home. Therefore I quickly set a to-do list after the check up with Jacob:-
- Separate Jacob and Sophie
- Sanitise all toys and all things they touch at home
- Change all the bedsheets. Hello Dettol my new best friend…
- Limiting both Jacob and Sophie play together (no choice)
- Sleep separately as well
I was so extra, I even fed them meals at different timings. I really didn’t want Sophie to suffer the same. Checking Sophie’s hands, foot and mouth every single day was one of my priorities.
Jacob didn’t have fever. He’s old enough to tell me his pain, explain to me how he felt and etc. He was also very cooperative whenever I fed him water, asking him to gargle salt water. Yes painful and cried a lot, but he’s a brave boy. It took about 4 days for Jacob to start feeling better. He wasn’t able to eat anything so only drinking milk for a few days.
Doctor told me, when infected with HFM, the symptoms will not appear immediately. In fact, it only appears 4 – 5 days later. Not only it is contagious spreading via mouth or saliva, it could be a transmission through personal contact, such as touching or hugging; Or being in contact with contaminated objects or surfaces, and then touching face/nose after. That’s how I suspect Jacob got infected. The symptoms may vary on individuals, some have red dots around mouth/hands/foot, fever, ulcers and etc.
So the next thing I know… I saw some red dots on Sophie’s palate(上颚). Oh my God. 晴天霹雳! 
Ini kalilah I told myself. Doctor has also told me separating the kids won’t help much. So long they’re in the same house, same space, same environment, the infection transmission chances are on the high side.
Sophie was indeed diagnosed with HFM. And being the third person infected with the same virus, she got it worse. As bad as 4 ulcers on her tongue (not forgetting huge sized ones), 3 around her mouth, 2 near her throat. One ulcer is enough to torture an adult, what more a two-year-old baby Sophie?
Sophie is the biggest fan of food. I bet many friends and followers enjoy watching Sophie to eat on my Instagram. The few days of Sophie sick were the most painful days for me. She was confused, dying to put her favourite biscuit into her mouth but fear of the ulcer pain. So she satisfied herself with only smelling or holding her food. (Poor baby)
She even refused to talk. Each time I put numbing cream for her, 5 minutes later she will let out an even louder cry. I just didn’t know what to do.
If you ask me for remedies, to be honest, I do not have much to share. I received so many Instagram messages and suggestions from friends and followers (thank you so so much!), I appreciate it, but honestly, I don’t think it worked on Sophie. Let me list down what I have tried and what you must do..
- My priority is to feed them with PLENTY of water. Even if they’re unwilling to drink, you got to find ways to make them drink. Water helps bring down fever.
- Ulcer cream/spray – only work for a couple of minutes… But you still have to try. Sophie tends to bite me when its painful, but still I had to do it.
- Gargling salt water – works for Jacob because he knows how to gargle. But not Sophie.
- Ice cream/Yogurt/Smoothies – Sophie loves it, but she hates it when she is ill. This time round I assume ice-cream gave her a burning sensation due to large sized ulcers hence she didn’t want ice cream at all. Yes, ice-cream helps soothe sore-throat but sadly, didn’t work on foodie Sophie.
- Traditional Herbs – Nope. Made Sophie more uncomfortable.
- Chlorophyll drink – Surprisingly, this is the only thing Sophie wanted to drink. I guess it helped cooling down the ulcer pain and her body (therefore not so feverish)
- Soft/liquid food – try your best to feed them, even if its just few mouthful. They need energy to power through.
- Cream for rashes – the only thing you can do is to apply for them frequently, if they scratch you can find some anti-itching cream. I don’t have any specific brand to recommend, just using whatever prescribed by doctor.
- Wash hands regularly – not only for your kids, but your hands too. Germs can be in anywhere, so keep in mind to wash hands regularly!
- Sanitise every single thing – when I say every single thing, I mean every single thing haha. Toys, cutleries, plates and etc.
- Be there for them – comfort them when they cry, talk to them and let them know you’ll always be there for them. This helps to calm them.
There you go. Nothing much you can do as as parents, just… Let them cry and release all anger on you. Haha. As for all the dads and moms out there, remember to drink plenty of water too! Stay very very strong! Adults can get HFM too, although adults generally developed immunity to the virus. A close friend of mine was diagnosed with HFM after taking care of her kid with HFM. 🙁
In conclusion, there is no medicine or immediate treatment for HFM. Hate to say this but it just requires a lot of rest, water and time to recover. As for prevention, make it a habit to always shower your kids as soon as they get home. Regularly sanitise their toys and the things they touch help too!
To all parents out there, HFM is very suffering. If your kid is diagnosed with HFM please have them rest at home even if its just mild symptoms, or even just red dots on hands. This is a warning sign for HFM and I personally think the virus spread fastest at this phase. Even when they are recovering, do not immediately send them to school. Go for another checkup with doctor to get confirmation that they have fully recovered. For my case, both Sophie and Jacob were quarantined at home at least a week.
I hope this blog post answered some of your queries! There are no right or wrong methods to take care of your children. Please understand that I wrote it based on my experience, I’m no expert or medical certified to explain further. My intentions were just to share with you guys and pen down my experience. 🙂
If you have any questions you can always drop me comments below or Instagram message me! 🙂
