Hand foot mouth disease. Yikes.

Last tuesday at my mil's place, I saw a few little bumps on Kate's bum while changing her diaper. I thought it was just because of dust or something. The next morning when we woke up, I thought she was unusually hot. As we packed to head home, I realised she was having a fever...


Still, I did not realise what was wrong. At home, she was grouchy and drooling, which led to us thinking she was teething. Since it was teething, I decided to skip seeing the doctor that night and see how it was the following day. The next morning, mom realised that she had rashes on her forearm. The moment I changed her diaper, I realised she had rashes all over her bum, a few on her soles and palms. Alarmed and thinking that she had measles or something, we brought her to Immanuel's doctor. (Her doctor was closed on thurs, which I forgot) While walking, I looked into her mouth and realised that she had ulcers all over her lower lip. That explained the super-grouchiness, her reluctance to eat and drink, her misery, and her drooling. She couldn't even sleep properly and refused to be put down. She also didn't want me to carry, preferring her grandma, which really tire mom out. The doctor confirmed mom's suspicions of hand foot mouth disease, which really upset me because she isn't even in a lot of contact with other kids and it's such a painful experience for her. (And all the other poor kids who got it!)


I was really upset with her before we found out what she had. The night before, she was really going crazy and telling us her mouth was pain(ful) but we kept thinking it's her teeth coming out so we applied teething gel and all for her. She made so much noise none of us could sleep til really late. I shouted at her, which probably is the reason why she only wanted her grandma throughout this period. Frustrating!


Then her refusal to eat or drink really worried all of us.

Her usual input every day?

-540ml of milk
-2 solid meals per day, eg. porridge
-snacks in between meal times eg. biscuits

Toddlers need to eat snacks in between their meal times so as to replenish their energy. They have small tummies so they eat frequent meals throughout the day. They fill up and get hungry easily because of their little tummies...

But on thursday, friday and saturday, all she had each day was;


- 90ml of milk
- a little bit of water, maybe amounting to 40 ml?
-1/3 cup of jelly
-a few spoonfuls of ice-cream


It was really worrying...She could go for a few days without food, but not without water. Every time she refused water, I would get really upset, but not with her. I felt inadequate, I felt so helpless.
The doctor was really good; she told us to try giving her water every hour, to try giving her juice or jelly or ice cream. She told us to get creative; anything with water content should be tried. Cold stuff would be better as it would be less painful. Bribe, threaten or coax Kate, whatever. If Kate still refused, we would have to get her to the hospital. But the doctor said that as long as we were consistent, it should work. (I agree with the doctor totally, consistency is the key to successful parenting, a topic which I would touch on another time)


So immediately after seeing the doctor, hubs and I went to get jelly for her. When we reached home, we applied the gel on the ulcers, hoping it would numb the pain enough for her to try eating jelly. When  we tried giving her the jelly, she cried and cried since she really wanted to eat it but felt that she couldn't because of the pain. When she finally got abit of jelly down her throat, and realised it wasn't as painful as she expected it to be, she began shoving the jelly down. I nearly cried. There was my little gal in so much pain, and so hungry yet refusing everything til then. Yet, she didn't eat much. After a little, she began to cry again, telling us it was pain(ful).


So for the last three days, she cried whenever we tried to get her to drink or eat. She would look at us when we eat and turn away. (Usually she would run to us when we are eating, hoping to get a bite or two) My usually very interested little food monster showed a complete disinterest in all food. But the second time she broke my heart was when hubs asked me to force-feed her some jelly. (To show her it wouldn't hurt her to eat it) The moment I pushed it into her mouth, after she swallowed it, in her hurry to eat some more, she bit my finger.  She started crying as she wanted to feed herself, but in her frustrations, she nearly spilled the jelly. She kicked up a tantrum as she didn't want us to look at her, so we pretended we weren't looking at her. As she struggled to feed herself; in her concentration and hunger, we could see her hand trembling as she tried to get the jelly onto the spoon and into her mouth. That broke our hearts so completely, we both nearly cried.


Argh! I hate hand food mouth disease! It's so painful for the child.


The symptoms? Fever, rash on the groin area and bum, the palms and soles. Ulcers in the mouth. Kate's gotta stay away from other children, since it's highly contagious. Fanni wanted to come visit, but I was afraid that she might carry some of the virus and spread it to her little nephew. So I warned her against it... Adults are usually immune to it too, but there are some that do get it too. Sigh.


But I'm so grateful because even though it was really such a terrible few days, she is finally eating AND drinking properly today. Yipee! =)