chicken pox and siblings

[kmoon249]

For those of you who've had one child pass the chicken pox onto another, could you pls tell me how many days passed before the 2nd child turned spotty? Our toddler woke up with spots on Thursday and so far our newborn hasn't gotten it. Was wondering when i could start celebrating.

many thanks

k

[pebbles]

I stand to be corrected but I think your toddler would have been contagious from 3 days before he got the spots until the last spot has scabbed over and from that last day it's 21 days before you can start celebrating.

Fingers crossed

[WorkingMummy]

I heard up to three weeks too!

Both my girls had it at about 2 yo, when we had a newborn in the house. Both times, the baby didn't get it.

[melbourne groover]

My daughter had it whilst we also had a new born, my gp happened to get through to a top guy at Kings (randomly I suspect...) who said that a fully breastfed baby would have approx 6 months of immunity if the mother had had chicken pox. Not exact but a guideline I think.

[KatDew]

A child is contagious from the coughing stage till the spots have scabbed over, usually 5 days after they appear. Chicken pox has a maximum incubation of 3 weeks.

[The Nappy Lady]

Breast fed newborn not that likely to get it, though sometimes they get a very mild dose & you don't even know.

TBH it's kind of good to know its out the way - our 4 year old is yet to get it as far as I know, and having had to miss a plane thanks to older child's timing it is hanging over me like the sword of Damocles!!!

[Carrie]

My twins were exposed to chicken pox at about 5 months whilst still breast fed. One did not get it, one got a very mild dose and I was told by the GP at the time that they would have benfitted from my immunity but as a result the one who had a very mild dose would not have built up her own immunity. Sure enough they both got it again at the age of about 4.

[Indiana]

My 3 year old got it a few weeks ago - my 4 month old got spots pretty much exactly 2 weeks after the first spots appeared on my 3 year old. My baby is still breastfed but only 1 feed a day so not enough for immunity I guess.

I treated my baby as infectious for the last few weeks and avoided mixing him with other babies who hadn't had it as didn't want him to spread it. As it happens he has been relatively ok. Good luck

[pebbles]

Sorry to hijack this thread but I have a question. My youngest (3 1/2) hasn't had it yet. So when she does have it what do I do about keeping her at home when I have to drop off and pick up my eldest from school (we have to go indoors and queue up outside his classroom door and then they let them out one by one)? I'm not going to be able to rely on friends to drop off and pick up every day for the whole of incubation??

Would love to hear how people get around this issue?

Thanks

[SBot]

My nephew broke put on spots on Boxing Day, then my daughter 2 weeks later, then the children I was looking after 2 weeks after that.........

Pebbles, I've cared for a child with the pox and had to do a pick up like that, I kept them in the buggy with the rain cover over them! You could always pick up 5mins early or deliberately late.

[kmoon249]

thank you everyone. I really thought the baby's spots would be out by now. At least we're not missing much weather wise. So the waiting game con't......

[edanna]

Pebbles, all the stuff I read said that if you're outdoors then you're ok - in other words your child is highly unlikely to infect another unless they are in physical contact or in the same room. So the solution of keeping the infectious child in the buggy should work fine if you don't have to go indoors to do the pickup or if you can leave them outside for a minute or two.

pebbles Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry to hijack this thread but I have a question.

> My youngest (3 1/2) hasn't had it yet. So when

> she does have it what do I do about keeping her at

> home when I have to drop off and pick up my eldest

> from school (we have to go indoors and queue up

> outside his classroom door and then they let them

> out one by one)? I'm not going to be able to rely

> on friends to drop off and pick up every day for

> the whole of incubation??

>

> Would love to hear how people get around this

> issue?

>

> Thanks

[keane]

My four year old just had it and my 5 month old baby got it exactly 2 weeks after him - but she coukdnt scratch which was a bonus and she was happy and not uncomfortable. Spots all gone within 2 weeks.

[etta166]

kmoon249 - like everyone has said, a completely breast fed newborn is unlikely to get it. It might be worth a call to your GP about what to do if your newborn does come out in spots. My GP recommended getting antivirals immediately (within hours) to reduce the risk of any of the very rare complications of CP in newborns. I was in a similar situation when my second child was only 4 days old. We went to a birthday party for my older child and all the other children there came down with CP over the next 2 weeks... Oddly, niether of my children got any noticable spots.

And pebbles - staying in the buggy with a raincover on should be absolutely fine in terms of keeping an infectious child apart from other children. Also, CP does spread because in real life you can't always keep an infectious child at home alone all the time. We all try our hardest to do the prefectly right thing when our child is ill but it's not always possible in reality.

[jollymummy]

My 20 month old got it in February (on my birthday!) and two weeks later my 4 year old son broke out in spots.