Last two weeks, Afif had a mild fever on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the babysitter texted, asking for permission to give him paracetamol for his fever. Panas sangat badan dia katanya. Being an overly attached mom, i went back at 3.30pm to get him.
Memang panas badan dia and the weird thing is he got tiny dots around his mouth and chin.
Malam tu nampak rashes around his right leg pulak. He also drooled uncontrolably. Basah baju dia penuh ngan air liur. We went to a clinic to get him checked but the doctor said the rashes are caused by baby's sensitive skin.
The second day. Kene pakaikan bib sebab air liur meleleh.
The next day Afif dah tak demam. Tapi rashes makin banyak, dia asyik merengek and air liur meleleh leleh. Direct feed pon taknak. I brought him to Dr. Shanaliza, the nearest paedretician. She confirmed that Afif had Hand Foot and Mouth disease. Kat lelangit Afif banyak luka katanya. That explains his uncontrollable drooling.
Maka terpaksa lah aku EL smpai the next Tuesday sebabnya Afif kene dikuarantin di rumah. Paling sedih he did not want to eat nor drink. Breastfeeding pon susah nak latch. Nanges2 dia nak netek. Makan apatah lagi. Sebab tak tau dah nak lasi dia makan apa, kitorang kasi dia Calci Yum yogurt and also once, frozen yogurt. Sejuk n smooth, tu je dia bole makan.
Alhamdulillah by Monday tu ok dah dia. Dah boleh makan and rashes subside. But i'm still on leave as nobody look after him at home. He can't go to the babysitter yet as he's still under quarantine. i missed my scheduled annual assessment. Sigh. Demi anak. Harap cepat dapat reschedule.
Anyway, here are the symptoms Afif had, chronologically:
- First day: mild fever
- Second day: mild fever with rashes around mouth and neck. Started to drool a lot and refused to feed
- Third day: fever subsided. Rashes increased in amount but only 1-2 dots on hand and foot. Banyak kat mulut je.. Merengek-rengek. Drooling. Refused to feed.
- Forth & Fifth day: Rashes began to dry. Drooling and cranky. Refused to eat.
- Sixth day: Less drooling. Able to eat and drink easily but no appetite.
Hand Foot and Mouth disease is contagious and spreads by droplets. Until now, i'm not sure how he got it as there's no other babies/kids at the babysitters ever had this disease. Maybe dapat masa kuar gi mall or mana-mana kot. Around that time ada sorang dua jugak anak kengkawan kene penyakit ni. Nasib baik aku kuarantin kan dia. Kalo tak kesian baby lain kat babysitter kene jugak.
If your child has this disease, there's not much you can do. Firstly get doctor's advice. The most important thing is to keep his/her temperature under control and make sure he's not dehydrated by trying to breastfeed and get him to drink as much as possible. Kene banyak bersabar je lah. Tunggu sampai penyakit tu hilang.
i just hope he will not get this disease in the future. Kesian tengok dia meleleh air liur, sakit mulut and takleh makan and minom.