Cold sore or hand foot and mouth?

[Anonymous]

Toddler DS developed what looks like 1-3 small blisters on his upper lip/skin near his upper lip over the past 24 hrs. He's not had any contact with anyone with an active cold sore, nor does anyone kiss him on the lips, but DH and I feed him bites of our food (neither of us have ever had a cold sore, but I assume we both carry the virus since close family members get them), and our kid mouths everything he gets his hands on, anywhere and everywhere. I assumed cold sore from the appearance, but I called the Ped to ask about whether to keep DS home from daycare (yes if fever, which I don't think he has), and she said it may be hand, foot and mouth as that's been going around. DS has never had it, but what he has doesn't really look like the photos I'm seeing online. But, he has had kind of peeling skin on the underside of his toes this past week - not red though, no blisters, the kind of skin that looks like a normal non-painful blister might have popped recently. (I assumed this was from him wearing sandals without socks.). He's been fussy and eating less than usual the past week too, but he's also been constipated so I had figured that was the reason for not eating as much.

I suppose it doesn't really matter which he has since a) the Ped said he doesn't need to be seen, and b) she said just keep him hydrated and either will clear up on it's own. (I really hope I don't have to keep him home from daycare for 7-10 days, though.). But I kinda want to know what we're dealing with. Cold sore, or hand, foot and mouth?

[Anonymous]

HFM has always started with a high fever (103-104) in the cases I've seen. I've been a nanny for more than 10 years, so I've seen a lot. The mouth blisters are usually in the throat and on the tongue. While not every kid get the hand and foot blisters, most get an unpleasant rash on their bum.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. That's very helpful. I've not seen any of those things with DS, so maybe my initial thought that it's a cold sore is correct.

[Anonymous]

I had hand foot and mouth as an adult last year. It was in my mouth, such fun! I had a high fever and had trouble swallowing and the inside of my mouth was covered with blisters. Based on my experience, I would think your DS would be much more lethargic and unhappy if he had it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to you as well, PP. He's been fussy and not sleeping great, but definitely not miserable, and fussy in a 16 month old is pretty much par for the course anyway. . I'm sad if it's a cold sore, as I really don't want him to have to suffer with them frequently the way my mom and sister do, but hopefully this is just a sore with the initial infection and he'll never have one again. Poor kid. I don't think he has a fever, but we're going to keep him home from daycare at least tomorrow anyway. I'd hate for one of the other kids to get it from him, and the littlest one there is still under a year old, so I definitely don't want to take any chances.

I'm sorry you had to deal with HFM, PP! It sounds really miserable. Hope that somehow we never have to deal with that one...