My Baby Has Mono!

Someone recently told me that her one year old was diagnosed with mono. How, I wondered, did she know to have her child checked? How did she know there was something wrong? How did the doctor diagnose that it was mono? Now that she knows her child has mono, what should she do with an active, lively one year old coping with this illness? These are all important questions and ones that will be discussed below.

Detecting Mono

Mono in children is often not detected. Young children, particularly babies and toddlers, will not exhibit many symptoms that are related to mono. While teenagers and adults may have many symptoms, including sleepiness, swollen lymph glands, soreness and more, children often don't show any noticeable signs.

When To Go To The Doctor

How then would you know that your child has mono? Certainly, if your baby or toddler seems to sleep a great deal more, to lose his appetite, or to exhibit fever over an extended time period, you should go to the doctor and present these symptoms. Often times, mono will be diagnosed when you've come to the doctor for another reason.

Contagion

While it often goes undetected, mono in babies and toddlers is still contagious, and is often picked up through saliva. The baby may have gotten it through saliva that another child left on a toy or through a shared cup, etc. The incubation period for the illness is far shorter than it is for adults, with a 1-2 week period rather than the 10-60 days that you'll see in adults.

Treating Them

Mono can't be cured, but the symptoms can be dealt with to ease discomfort. If the child has a fever, you can give Tylenol. If they are extra tired, you can allow them the time they need to rest. If they've been treated with ampicillin or amoxicillin while they have mono, they may get a pink rash all over their bodies. This is actually one of the ways that doctors will diagnose that a child has mono, when they have, unknowingly, been given these medicines. Children should not, under any circumstances, be given aspirin. Speak to your doctor about medicines that you can use if your child has been diagnosed with mono.

Keeping Them Calm

This can seem like an oxymoron. How do you keep an active toddler calm? When they have mono, it is usually recommended that you do your best to keep them calm. Sometimes, mono can cause an enlarged spleen, and it is very important for the patient not to take part in strenuous activities or contact sports with this condition. This can include play-fighting and wrestling with siblings, running around too much, and other active sports. You should try, as much as possible, to keep your child's activities to a minimum and to see the doctor before allowing him to return to any energetic activities.

The good news is that the body will heal itself and the mono will pass. The tricky part, of course, is to help your child to take it easy and to relax while he is recovering. Mono will pass, and it will be just one of the many trials that you undergo with your little one!