# Mouth Infection



## Mahre (Mar 13, 2007)

My DS (18 mo) has had a fever ranging from 100.8 - 103.9 since tuesday. He has sores in his mouth and his gums are swollen most of the way over his teeth. He looks like he is teething again. His top lip is swollen. He is hurting so bad. I hate using tylenol, but it hurts so much I am using it 1-2 times a day. I am trying to get a wash cloth with 1/2 peroxide 1/2 water mix on my finger in his mouth to rub his gums. He fights it. He used to let me brush and floss his teeth. Not any more. His breath smells like rotting flesh. It is so horrible. The doctor said he has viral gingivitis. I HATE it! I don't know what to do. I don't know how he got it, but he has a habit of kissing gross things. He kisses floors and picnic benches, ect. I watch it, but I am not always fast enough. What more can I do for his poor mouth? I am sick of playing the waiting game. His mouth is BAD!


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## chocolatefix (Jun 22, 2006)

This sounds like it is probably a very common viral infection that goes around in the late summer/early fall. He likely caught it from another child. The other possibility is a first infection with herpes simplex virus which causes recurrent fever blisters in some people (older children or adults). The first infection often involves the whole mouth.

Either way, it is very painful. Making sure he drinks enough is the most important thing. I think I'd try to avoid the peroxide, it will make it sting worse. One thing that can be helpful to coat the mouth is a 1:1:1 mixture of benadryl, maalox, and nystatin (equal amounts, like 1 teaspoon of each). Try to get him to let you swab it on all his sores, then he might have some relief. Ibuprofen might be more effective than Tylenol for the pain. If it is really bad and nothing else works, maybe your doctor would prescribe some codeine so he can drink easier and get some sleep.








It should start getting better soon.

Monica
--







and learning to


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## mom2sophia (Aug 19, 2007)

My 18 mo dd had this very same thing last month. I took her to the pedi and it was hand, foot, mouth disease. Yuck! I'm still not sure where she got it from since she's at home...but it's everywhere I guess. She was pretty miserable for about 10 days and then it went into a cold. Good news is that I guess once your dc has it, they usually won't get it again! Good luck


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## alllyssa (Sep 1, 2004)

I think the virus your pediatrician was talking about is Primary Herpetic Gingivostomatitis - AKA herpes simplex type 1 or cold sores. My 18 month had this very painful infection in July following . Here's a link:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/457481

It comes and goes usually with out the fever, swollen gums or mouth sores, but in about 10% of the time kids have these symptoms. One major complication of this is needed hospitalization because of weight loss and dehydration. It literally hurts too much to eat or drink much of anything.

Basically, it's the first herpes outbreak - did anyone recently have a cold sore in your family? My husband, DD (6), and the baby Klara all got a stomach virus at the beginning of July. About a week later my DH got a cold sore and then baby Klara started running a high fever (103) for a few days. I dismissed it as teething (she's been cutting her canines), but then noticed the bright, red, inflamed gums and a canker looking sore on the inside of her bottom lip. Freaked me out a bit!

If you are still nursing, great, this will help keep your little one hydrated. Popscicles (not orange juice, ouch!) are great because they are cold and help numb the mouth a bit. Yogert, applesauce, ice cream, smoothies, ice water, etc. Basically, we gave baby Klara anything soft and cold that she would eat. She's pretty thin already, so we were especially concerned about her losing too much weight.

It lasts a week or two. I actually got her into the dr. office soon enough ( the morning after I noticed the swollen gums and canker sore) to start her on Acyclovir and it seems to have minimized the duration of her outbreak. If she hadn't have already been sick for 3 days with a high fever and just recently recovered from a stomach bug and teething on top of all of that, I might have skipped the anti-viral, but I was really worried about her getting any skinnier.

And I did give her Tylenol and Ibuprofin once I realized what the infection was. If I have a headache or throw my back out, I'll take something for the pain. I certainly wasn't going to withhold the only thing I could do to help relieve some of her misery. She's recovered fine and even gained over a pound in the last month.

Good luck,


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## Mahre (Mar 13, 2007)

Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the advice. I have had many cold sores in the past, but none recently. My DS vomited for 12 hours on Tuesday to start this off, but hasn't vomited since. He is refusing most everything. He is dehydrated and only weighed 18 lbs to begin this. I will think about trying motrin. He is really in pain. The doctor says it is not hand foot and mouth because there are no sores on his hands or feet. Only his mouth. They don't really look like a cold sore. They look like large white capped canker sores except there are around his lips, on his tongue and on his gums.
Again - Thank you so much!


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## bellababy (Jul 30, 2005)

when I read your description, I thought of my little one... when DS was 18 months old, he had something very similar... we ended up in the ER because we were traveling, and unable to find a ped (it was a sunday). We were told that he had acute apthostomatitis (sp?) Basically a ver fancy way to say that he had a mouth full of canker sores!

We did tylenol at night to help him sleep, and then did the above mentioned mix of maalox, liquid benadryl, lidocaine, which seemed to help a bit too. Surprisingly it went away in a few days.

He basically lived on watery oatmeal-- it was all he could get down without it hurting too much. He couldn't even nurse









Hang in there, mama, and hugs to your little one!


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## alllyssa (Sep 1, 2004)

Hi again,

In primary HSV infection, shallow ulcers can form on the inner lining of the cheeks and lips and under the tongue, and may also occur on the hard palate (which helps differentiate HSV infection from herpangina caused by coxsackie virus). These ulcers may be accompanied by fever and swollen lymph nodes.

It is ONLY in subsequent herpes outbreaks that they will actually look like cold sores. There is testing that can be done. Not sure if it is a culture of the sore or blood test, but the results wouldn't tell you anything until after he is all better - which I hope is very soon, he sounds miserable.

Here's a more user friendly link:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_gingivos...nfo%407fc5d95c


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## AbbieB (Mar 21, 2006)

We had hand, foot and mouth when DD was around 1. I had it also and it was not fun. But it was nothing like what you are describing (my hands and feet hurt way more than my mouth.)

I just could not read and not send hugs to you and your little one. I hope this passes soon.

Breast milk is the best thing if you are still nursing. Someone on the baby forum mentioned making BM Popsicles. Maybe they would be a welcome treat. Cold and Momma milk!


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## nonnymoose (Mar 12, 2004)

We just went through what I believe was coxsackie. DS1 had it at 18mos and his main sign was his high fever - it went over 104 and stayed over 100 for three days. DS2 got sick while we were at the beach a couple of weeks ago - he had a huge sore on his tongue, a low-grade fever, and spots all over the bottom of one of his feet. His appetite was gone from Friday through Tuesday, so we did a bunch of Ensure and Pedialyte. A couple of days into it I took him to an urgent-care place, because he had stopped swallowing and I was afraid he had strep.
One thing we did that you could try is a 50-50 mix of liquid Benadryl and Maalox. When I asked the pharmacist about it, she gave me a childproof bottle to mix it in. You keep it in the fridge and swab it on the sores to help them feel better.


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## Cujobunny (Aug 16, 2006)

Sounds like hand foot and mouth disease - ds had that last yr, very common. just do what u can to make them comfortable, it passes in about 7-10 days but it sure does suck.


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