Hand Foot Mouth Tips

Try these remedies that you can find almost anywhere:

Apple cider vinegar
Tea Tree Oil
Baking Soda

Apple cider vinegar bath ~ 1 cup apple cider vinegar in a warm bath for the hands and feet. Cider vinegar is a soothing anticeptic and neutralizes PH on the skin. It is also high in potassium so he will have some energy after the baths. Do this several times each day. Have him take a wash cloth and hold it on his face while in the bath to help with the sores on his lips.

Once out of the bath, use Tea Tree Oil ~ 4 drops in a cup of warm water, and wipe all sores with it. Tea Tree is anti-bacterial and cooling. It will also help to continue to dry out the sores.

Baking Soda for inside the mouth ~ 1 teaspoon in a cup of warm to cool water. Have him hold it in his mouth and spit back out again. He won't like the taste, but it will soothe the sores. Some will go down his throat and sooth the sores on his throat.

Do not put cream on his sores at all!

As with any skin sores, the more they can dry out the faster they will go away. When you put cream on a sore it traps the moisture and the bacteria inside making the sore grow. Regardless of the possibility of cortisone, don't use it. The carrier it uses is a cream-base which will have the opposite affect - it will trap the sore and make it grow.

Think about a cut and how it has to be clean and dry in order to heal. Sores are the same - clean them often and dry them out.

Once they start to dry out, taper off the baths. If it looks like you need to reintroduce or increase them, you can always draw another. Since babies don't sweat, two baths a day should do it to start.

Inside the mouth - stay away from oily foods: peanut butter and butter. Throat sores need cooling foods: frozen bananas would be great, cooled carrots, sweet potatoes. Give him a diet of cooled foods for a few days to give his throat a break.

If he is still taking a bottle, use real milk instead of formula. Formula has corn syrup in it which exacerbates any infections a child may have. Milk is cooling - even if it is heated slightly. You can warm milk slightly for more digestibility.

I don't envy you or your baby T. ~ my heart goes out to you both!

Garlic is a natural anti-viral treatment. I would recommend giving him 1 small to medium sized garlic clove (mixed or put through a garlic press) in honey (unless he is allergic to honey, if so try 100% pure jelly). It will not taste good, but getting this into his system should help fight the virus. Have him drink orange juice afterwards, this usually cuts the taste of the garlic right away.

Echinacea and Elderberry are also antiviral herbal treatments, use at your own discression.

Also, visit www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com They sell medical grade (a.k.a. activated) charcoal powder which I would recommend bathing him in. The people at the company are very helpful and would be more than willing to help you if you have questions. Charcoal is used to fight infections, bites, stings, rashes, and much, much more. It may alleviate or even eliminate his symptoms. You may wish to have him take it internally, but I would start with him bathing in it first.
Best wishes!

Yeah, my heart goes out to you all. This is a terrible illness. Our youngest contracted it when she was two also. It is difficult to work with. Relieving symptoms helped our daughter a bit, but the only thing that really helped was giving her astragalus root tincture. It is the only plant/drug that is effective against this virus. It shortened the duration of the illness. Our whole family took the tincture. My husband began to exhibit symptoms after she did, and he took the tincture, shortening its length to just a few days of mouth sores. I recommend it. Just so you know, I am a trained clinical herbalist who has taught and written progams for national schools, not a novice. Check out the plant. Chamomile tea is anti-inflammatory..with some honey and cooled it was helpful. We did a bunch of other stuff too, but that would take forever to describe. These two things make a good and simple combination. Oh, and I used a few drops of lavender and peppermint essential oil in a tablespoon of olive oil on her feet. That helped too.
Good luck.

Hi T.-

My son (now 4) also had this once when he was about 6 months old. I got it twice as an adult as well (which the pediatrician told me wouldn't happen). It's miserable. I know that I was not hungry and had a fever and just wanted to sleep. The only thing that felt good on my mouth were ice cream and popcycles. My son would only nurse and refused to eat anything else. I don't remember the foot or hand sores being painful, just itchy. Good luck and remember it will be over soon!

-L.

My suggestion is to put some apple cider vinegar in his bath water, or some hydrogen peroxide in his bath water.

try bag balm or udder cream - available at any CVS or osco drug store - does not have a medication in it. Sorry for your little one's suffering.

Use the liquid antacid just before he eats. It is supposed to numb his mouth a bit so eating isn't as painful. I went through this with my oldest twice, but fortunately he didn't have the sores on his hands and feet. I hope he is feeling better soon!

you don't say if you've taken him to the doctor yet....if not, take him ASAP....

when my son had it at about a year old the dr told us to give him yogart, also popsicles or something cold to help with the pain in his mouth and throat. she also told us we could give him a warm bath with salt added that it could help with the discomfort. it would be better in about 10 days ( that seemed like a long time!) after about 5 days he did start to get over the hump of feeling horrible. Good luck and hopefully this will help your little one!

My heart goes out to you. My daughter had this at about the same age, got it really bad on her hands, feet and mouth. She would walk around on her tippy toes because she had it pretty good on her heals. She was pretty much a bear for about 5 days. We tried a lot of cold foods that wouldnt hurt her mouth - She didnt want to eat much though. Just try to make sure your keeping him hydrated if he doesnt want to eat. Does Tylenol or Ibuprofen help at all?
Good luck, it will be over soon (although it seems like forever!!!)

I'm not sure if this would help but how about an oatmeal bath? You can buy the packets in the store. Poor little guy. Hope he gets better soon.

I don't have any experience with this, but I was just curious if you had looked into going to a naturalpath. Maybe they would have some alternative natural remedies that might help. Just and idea.... Good luck!

wow, my heart goes out to you & your son. we suffered through 2 rounds of Hand,Foot & Mouth disease but only had issues in the mouth & throat...we were lucky i guess. i found a ton of info on the web. i googled it & also found info on webmd.com and mayo clinic website. also, found for eating - from the web- the most soothing for your child's throat is cold dairy so we ate a lot of vanilla ice cream. everything else made him cry even water! so for 2-3 days he sustained on primarily ice cream. you could maybe try frozen yogurt or regular yogurt although my son didnt like the yogurt. maybe also try jello but i think the coating of the dairy seems to help also, not sure. i also read the fever, if there is one, typically subsides in 2 days but the sores can last a week. wasnt sure from your email how long you've had it but hopefully the end is near! for the pain, per our nurse's suggestion we did motrin and tylenol to try to keep him confortable. we were told it is safe to do motrin & then tylenol an hour after. then would wait the 4hrs or so for another round of doses. i've read recently there is conflicting info on whether both are safe so who knows. all i know is it helped us.. mainly just try to keep him/her quiet and resting & a lot of holding him. i hope this helps...
good luck. S.

Hi T., we had this in our house once. Benadryl and Aveeno oatmeal baths help. Good luck

This is an old southern remedy to alleviate the pain of mouth and lip sores - and has been used in my family for at least 50 years. We dab a tiny bit of Karo Syrup on mouth and lip sores. It doesn't cure them, but the coating usually eases the pain. Of course, with small children you have to also discourage licking at the sweet spot. :-) You might also try letting the frozen teethers or homemade popsickles made with non-acidic liquids.

About me - Nonna with grown sons and grandchildren ages 3 & 5.

Hi T.,

That is so weird that you posted this question today, my daughter was just diagnosed with hand foot and mouth disease today! The nurse at my ped office suggested a little benadryl for the rash. I hope that this helps and that your little one starts to get better!

try the numbing spray that you can use if you have a sore throat. Clorseptic (sp?) that may help in the mouth.

I wish I had more advise.
J.

Could be staph... has it been cultured? Or herpes simplex... or a fungus. He needs to be tested! Good luck!

Have you tried antibiotics? maybe trying epsom salt to soak his feet in. they say Vicks works wonders on clearing up sores but naturally you would ask your doctor first. Good luck I hope he gets feeling better, that doesn't sound like fun for a little guy.

I have not heard of hands foot and mouth on the face and ears. I have heard of it in the diaper area, on the feet and palms of the hand and in around the mouth. Poor baby. oatmeal baths are sappose to be good. also air drying him as much as possible (letting him go unclothed) so he isn't irritated by things against his skin. anything cool, not salty or acidy etc.

Have you been to a doctor? Maybe he needs an antibiotic.

I tend to use natutal products for my kids and California Calming creme has helped many times. I buy it at Lakewinds in Chan. Liz S.