The weather has been especially hot this summer, so at first we didn’t notice that our toddler felt a little warm. But when we got to daycare that morning and she refused to eat breakfast, it was the first clue something was wrong because she’s always been a great eater. (The exception was when her molars were coming in... all of them, one at a time!)
I felt her forehead and sure enough, it was hot. At the pediatrician’s a couple of hours later, she had a 104 F fever and was so out of it that I gave her children’s ibuprofen as we waited.
The pediatrician took one look at her throat and said she had coxsackievirus. Also known as hand, foot and mouth disease, this highly contagious virus spreads quickly, mainly among children age 1 to 4, and can race through a community quickly.
“It’s been going around,” the doctor said. “I had several kids from one daycare infected.”
She pointed the light down my daughter’s throat so I could see the little red sores. To prevent dehydration, she gave me Pedialyte frozen pops and drink mixes.
But what I didn’t realize was that once the fever breaks in a day or two (for us it was one day), the sores really blossom - and that’s far worse. We spent most of day two of the virus listening to our toddler scream every time she swallowed or touched her tongue to her teeth. The only food she could eat were the frozen pops, oatmeal, yogurt and ice cream. In desperation, we taught her how to suck on throat lozenges. (“Pretend it’s your thumb,” we said to our thumb sucker.) Day two was one of the longest days we’ve had as parents.
And day three? Surprisingly, she was herself again. You could still see sores on her tongue - and we stayed home from daycare for three more days to avoid contagion - but she was pretty much back to normal. We avoided a regular playgroup that met the next day, only to hear later in the week that the host’s toddler son also came down with the virus.
There’s no way to prevent coxsackie, nor are there specific medications you can give your child, except for a fever reducer. But since the virus is spread through contact with a sick child - and since it can still be shed in feces even weeks after you’ve had it - frequent handwashing can help reduce your exposure. Believe me, I’ve been emphasizing to our daughter how taking time to thoroughly wash her hands can help prevent the pain she felt. So far, it’s working.