Panicked because many children have mouth ulcers

Their mouths were full of saliva, demanding food, but when fed, they all cried out in pain. When examining their children's mouths, they found many ulcers, many mothers were so frightened that they rushed them to the hospital regardless of the time of day or night for fear of hand, foot and mouth disease.

Painful can't eat, can't drink...

Ms. Le Thi Minh (Trang Ha Quarter, Trang Liet Ward, Tu Son, Bac Ninh) said that on February 19, at 4am, she had to carry her child from Bac Ninh to the Pediatrics Department (Bach Mai Hospital) for examination because the baby suddenly woke up while sleeping, kept lying on his back crying, no matter how hard she tried to comfort him, the baby kept latching onto the mother's breast and then letting it go, crying loudly... "Seeing the sores in the baby's mouth when he cried, my husband and I had to take a bus to take him to the doctor that night because we were afraid of hand, foot and mouth disease.

Although the doctor explained that the disease was caused by a virus, and that he should apply medicine and monitor the child for 3 days and then re-examine him, he saw that 5-6 children had similar mouth ulcers in the same area. Yesterday afternoon (February 20), I took my child to the Pediatrics Department for another examination and "begged" the doctor to prescribe antibiotics because the child was still in pain, refused to eat, and refused to breastfeed even though he was very hungry," said Ms. Minh.

Ulcers are easily detected when examining the child's throat. Photo: H. Hai

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, head of the Pediatrics Department (Bach Mai Hospital) said that recently, the department has received many cases of children brought to the clinic by their parents because of mouth ulcers, an average of 6-7 cases/day. Most parents who bring them are panicked, worried that their children have hand, foot and mouth disease. But when examined carefully, most of the children have mouth ulcers caused by viruses. This is a type of gastrointestinal virus and is often found in children with viral fever.

“It is indeed difficult for people to distinguish these ulcers from hand, foot and mouth disease, so they are right to worry. But it is different from hand, foot and mouth disease in that the child only has ulcers in the oral mucosa, tip of the tongue, near the palate... The ulcers do not blister and there are no spots on the hands and feet, and the child is still very healthy, playful, and still wants to eat,” said Dr. Dung.

Healed itself after 3 days

In the above cases, “just taking care of the baby so that he can still eat and drink will help parents to worry less and after 3-5 days, he will recover on his own, without having to use any antibiotics. It is absolutely wrong for parents to ask for a prescription for antibiotics or give their children antibiotics and believe that this will help the baby recover,” Dr. Dung emphasized.

“In fact, this disease usually does not cause any complications if hygiene is maintained properly (drinking water after meals),” said Dr. Dung.

When the baby has the first ulcer, parents often do not pay attention because the baby is still able to eat with a little pain, but the ulcers will multiply rapidly, with some babies having dozens of ulcers in the palate. At this time, apply a topical anesthetic (pain-relieving antiseptics such as Zytee or other lip-shaped medications) before meals to help reduce the pain and allow the baby to eat and drink; then take vitamin C and zinc to increase resistance.

Before applying the medicine to your child, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, let them dry, apply the medicine to your little finger and rub it into the child's palate. After about 15 minutes of applying the medicine, you can feed your child, but be careful to eat and drink cold food, not salty, sour, spicy, or soft food. Absolutely do not apply folk medicine (orange medicine), which is not only unhygienic but also has the risk of causing lead poisoning, or use a gauze soaked in saline to wipe, which will further damage the oral mucosa. The disease will definitely go away on its own after 3-5 days without having to use antibiotics.

According to Dan Tri