Roseola

Rashes all over neck, face, back and torso

 Anya has caught roseola, or what is commonly known as false measles. Typically, one will not know that a child is down with the viru until nearing the end because the onset presentation is fever (that lasted for a few days) with vomiting, diarrhea, irritability and/or loss of appetite - which can be mistakenly diagnosed as stomach flu as was the case for Anya. It was only after the fever subsided that rashes started popping out, and with that, arouse my suspicion that stomach flu might not be the correct answer.

To be honest, the virus itself is quite manageable. Yes, Anya threw up a couple of times and had really poor appetite. All we need to do in response is to clean up a few more times, go easy during meal times and ensure we give her lots of snacks and fluids in between. For a few days now, she has ate meagre amount of rice and noodles and instead, been supplemented with fruits, dried fruits, cereal bars and biscuits on the side. On top of that, we have to sponge her frequently during the first few days to help bring down the fever. This translates to us having to wake up in the middle of the night to do the sponging which was fine by me since I have to be up to express milk anyway. 

At the clinic

 The dreadful part here is the mood swings that come with it. Boy! I have never seen my child like this before!

Right now, we are having major crying fest in my little household and I am up to my neck coping with her. Quietness prevails only when Anya is asleep. The moment she wakes up, we get tantrums, meltdowns and howling every 5 minutes. She is implacable, extremely  clingy and whiny and is edging very closely towards being manipulative with her cryings and 'booboos'. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be temporal and her misbehavior will fade off together with the rashes gradually. Hopefully, The Husband and my sanity are still intact when she is back to her normal self.

Let sick baby sleep