The Best Natural Treatment For Hand Foot Mouth Disease

Get quick solutions for getting rid of hand, foot, and mouth disease in your babies and home! In this article, I will cover the best natural treatment I have found for hand, foot, and mouth disease, colloidal silver. Using colloidal silver for the treatment of your little one (along with some other supportive aids), not only supports your child’s immune system but will mitigate or reduce the length of painful rashes that occur after the fever breaks!

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If you find this article helpful, check out this article about using colloidal silver to treat pink eye at home!

What is Hand Foot Mouth Disease, and who gets it?

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a very contagious viral disease. It is more common for children under the age of five to contract this illness, therefore, it is considered a childhood illness. However, outbreaks have been known to occur in adults.

HFMD is commonly caused by the Coxsackievirus A16 virus and Enterovirus 71. (source) Once exposed to the virus, it takes around 3-6 days before the first symptoms begin to appear.

HFMD is rarely serious. Keeping and maintaining a healthy immune system will help if exposed to this virus. However, babies and little children often have a weaker immune system. I’ll cover the best treatments my family and extended family have used to naturally cure HFMD after contracting it, but first let’s go over the symptoms so you know what to look for.

Symptoms of Hand Foot Mouth Disease

After contracting the virus, it takes a couple of days before the child starts showing symptoms. Usually the first symptoms to appear are fever and sore throat. This typically lasts for two days. Along with the fever the child has a loss of appetite, is very needy, inconsolable, and cries often.

Once the fever breaks, the sore throat oftentimes continues. However, the next symptom to appear is a red rash. The rash appearance is small, red spots that appear on the palms and backsides of the hands, the soles and backsides of the feet, and on and around the lips and tongue. It is common for the rash to spread up to the elbows, knees, buttocks, and genitals.

The red spots will stick around for a couple of days, then transform into blisters that will break open and crust over. The fluid inside the blisters contains the virus. So, whatever that baby or little one touches during this time, the virus is living on that surface. The longevity of hand foot mouth virus on a surface depends on the type of surface and can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days.

Natural Treatment Using Colloidal Silver For Hand Foot Mouth Disease*

When my family lived in South Korea, my baby was a little over a year old when she caught hand foot mouth disease. We went to a baby play gym and must have caught it there. She had incredibly mild symptoms and I didn’t have to do much other than some extra snuggles and keep her hydrated. Her rash was mild and didn’t keep her from eating and drinking. The treatment I used helped it not progress and supported her natural immune system to fight it off quickly.

Fast forward 8 years later and my family is on vacation to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Four days after exploring and enjoying the Ark and Museum, my 19-month-old got a fever. It persists for about two days then ends. During that time, he was lethargic, inconsolable, complete loss of appetite, whiny, needy, and incredibly irritable by any efforts made to help.

I thought it might be related to his two-year molars coming in…I was wrong.

After his fever passed, he then started to break out with little red pimple-like bumps on his hands around his fingers, feet around his toes, mouth around his lips, chin, and bottom.

I immediately recognized it as hand foot mouth, but we were on vacation, and I had all my natural medicines back home!

I needed colloidal silver, and fast.

My husband searched and called nearby stores to our Airbnb. The area of Kentucky we were visiting was not as natural-minded as I thought it should be… Finally, an hour away, there was a store I could go and get what I needed. I left my husband with all four kids and was relieved when I arrived.

I grabbed this colloidal silver spray and this colloidal silver gel. These were a must have to treat and combat the emerging rash and get rid of it before it got worse.

I also grabbed an herbal supplement to support his immune system, and a juice to help him stay hydrated. Dehydration is a common side effect due to the sore throat and painful sores on the tongue during the illness.

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Natural Treatment for my other kids

As I was doing these things to treat my 19-month-old, I realized that I needed to start treating my six and four-year-old. While my daughter had already been exposed to it as a baby, the other two kiddos hadn’t. This meant there was a higher chance for them to starting showing symptoms – since the virus had already presented itself in our baby.

I did a similar treatment with the other kids: colloidal silver spray in the mouth and herbal supplement drops before bed.

Administering this natural treatment for my baby was helping so much. His little rashes began scabbing over the next day. His irritability was quickly disappearing and he could eat a drink again normally the next day. However, because we were on vacation, we decided to end our trip early and get home. We didn’t know if our other children would soon be as miserable as our baby was.

Since I had been naturally treating my older kids, they didn’t get the full extent of symptoms. My six-year-old was only sleepy for a day. My four-year-old got a fever but no rash and was able to eat and drink just fine.

I was so relieved that the colloidal silver had kept it at bay and avoided full on symptoms for the older kids!

What is the last stage of hand foot mouth disease?

Once the rash is over, it is common that the little scabs turn into peeling skin. This can be painful for littles. However, my little toddler’s rash was naturally treated quickly and only a few of the little scabs turned into very mild peeling skin. He didn’t experience any pain and it was very mild. I think it totally had to do with treating it so quickly with colloidal silver! My kids and I are thankful to have used colloidal silver over the years and now share our family experiences with you. I hope it does as well for your littles if they catch HFMD.

How long does hand foot mouth last?

Typically hand foot mouth disease last around 10 days. However, in our experience, using colloidal silver spray shortened the length of illness and reduced the painful symptoms associated with HFMD.

For example, my 19-month-old had two days of fever and five days of rash. We started naturally treating him on day two of his rash appearing, so this could have been shortened had we had the colloidal silver available sooner.

My six and four-year-old were treated with colloidal silver spray before fevers and rashes appeared. The oldest only had one day of sleepiness and the four-year-old had two days of a fever.

When is hand foot mouth disease no longer contagious?

A person with hand food mouth disease is the most contagious as soon as a fever occurs. Then following the fever, a rash appears. Once the rash has all scabbed over and there is no longer any fluid that can be transmitted to people through touch or surfaces, it is very unlikely they are contagious. (source)

However, after the rash has gone, the body is still excreting the virus through feces for a few weeks, and in some cases a month. (source) Therefore, it is vital when changing baby or toddler diapers that have just recovered from HFMD that you have excellent hygiene. If toddlers are using the potty on their own, be sure they are practicing good hand washing as well.

Another prevention is to be sure to wipe down the bathroom surfaces regularly after a HFMD infection in your home. Be sure to include doorknobs, countertops, and switch the hand drying towel daily.

Overview of symptoms

• Fever – about two days
• Malaise – or general feeling of being unwell
• Inconsolable – due to malaise and pain
• Sore throat
• Loss of appetite – because of a sore throat in the beginning and the latter part from the painful rashes on the tongue
• Red Bumps – these are often times painful, red, pimple or blister looking lesions. They appear on the tongue, gums, cheeks, lips, outside of the mouth, chin, palms and backs of hands, soles and backs of feet, buttocks, and sometimes the genital region.

Overview of natural treatment for hand foot mouth disease methods that work fast!*

These are the best home remedies for hand, foot, mouth disease that have been tried by our family and extended family:

1. Colloidal spray – spray in the mouth and anywhere else you see a red bump! I spray on their hands, feet and bottoms if I only see bumps in one area. This is to prevent it from breaking out and keeping it at bay. If you have multiple little ones, I recommend spraying in their mouths before they show symptoms. It wouldn’t hurt to spray their hands either, since they are likely touching the same things in the home. This could mitigate or reduce their chance of catching hand foot mouth disease from their infected sibling.
2. Colloidal silver gel – if the baby or toddler has the rash in their buttock or genital region, I recommend applying this gel, in the same way you would apply a diaper rash cream. The gel creates a barrier on their sensitive parts and heals the infection quickly down there.
3. Support the immune system – Living a lifestyle that has limited processed foods and focuses more on nutrient rich whole foods will help in times of illness. We ditched modern wheat and eat ancient grains. We incorporate fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, and more into our daily diets. However, in times of illness, make sure to get enough Vitamin C. During HFMD, I also administered this herbal supplement to my kids.
4. Hydration – This is very important, as babies and kids can easily become dehydrated during HFMD. Pick a juice or electrolyte drink that your child enjoys and encourage them to drink sips often. Ice chips or popsicles are another great option to get little ones staying hydrated.

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Commonly asked questions about HFMD answered!*

How can I heal my hand, foot, and mouth naturally?

A natural treatment for hand foot mouth disease is to use colloidal silver spray and colloidal silver gel on, and before the rash appears. Being sure to get plenty of rest and staying hydrated.

How can I speed up the healing process of hand, foot, and mouth?

In addition to using colloidal silver, resting, and staying hydrated, avoid acidic foods such as: oranges, orange juice, tomato sauces, lemons, limes, grapefruit, sodas, etc. Acidic foods can irritate and cause pain to the mouth ulcers.

What treatment kills hand, foot, and mouth virus?

When I was in nursing school, I learned that colloidal silver used to be the primary disinfectant for surfaces in the hospital setting. Its powerful antimicrobial properties kill bacteria and viruses on surfaces, however, it is gentle enough to not cause toxic harm to humans. Today, bandages and other methods of administration are used in hospital and home health settings.

In our personal experience, colloidal silver, both topically and internally, has helped kill bacterial and viral infections quickly.

Can I put anything on the hand, foot, and mouth rash?

While there are many topical options out there that help relieve symptoms – the only non-toxic, natural treatment I found to bring relief and bring hand foot mouth to an end quickly is colloidal silver.

Do baths help hand, foot, and mouth?

If the child can tolerate a bath, then an Epsom salt bath is my recommendation. The Epsom salts will help get magnesium in through the skin. Magnesium helps your body fight infections by improving the white blood cells’ ability to find and destroy pathogens. Hand foot mouth is an infection and this is a great natural treatment to aid in supporting the immune system.

What ointment is good for hand, foot and mouth disease?

Colloidal silver gel

I’d love to hear what natural treatments worked for your family when your kids got hand foot mouth – share your experience in the comments below!

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

3 John 1:2

*As always, I will recommend that you do extended research, consult your health care provider, and use caution when reading things on the internet. Not everything works for everyone and not everything should be tried on everyone. Just because it works for my household doesn’t mean it will be the exact same for yours.