Poss. chickenpox - should I keep ds off school tomorrow?

[edam]

We had a warning that some kids at school had gone down with chickenpox. When ds (age 3, at nursery 2.5 hours a day) woke up this morning, he had three spots on his leg. Has been tired and miserable today and developed a temperature this afternoon. But he's developed a snotty cold too so the spots could be coincidence. Just ordinary spots.

What should I do tomorrow, when he's due at school? Obv. if he's covered in spots I won't send him. But what if he hasn't got any more, no more fever etc. etc.?

Also, my nanny hasn't had it - do I tell her not to come in? Personally I could really do with her esp. if ds is off school so that I can crack on with some work.. but would it be unfair?

Any advice welcome...

[edam]

Oh, and to complicate matters, I visited my gorgeous newborn neice yesterday. Without ds though. So she should be OK, shoudn't she? (Have started to itch just thinking about it although I've had chickenpox so I should be OK.)

[nutcracker]

Tbh if it is chicken pox he'll probably have lots more spots by morning so you'll have a better idea then.

[LIZS]

Sounds possible,a lthgou neither of mine started it on their legs, but you will know by tomorrow. He would have been contagious for a day or so beforehand so your nanny may already have been exposed anyway. You can but ask, she can only say no but if she plans to work with kids it would be an occupational hazard. MIL was a Reception teacher but claimed never to have had it.

[LIZS]

Niece should be fine, you can't "carry" it as such.

[QueenEagle]

{shock] - you're not thinking of sending him to school are you...or... having your nanny in?!!

Have you seen my thread today?

[RustyBear]

DD started with a spot on her leg,which looked at first just like an ordinary spot, but she had loads by next day.

I'd be careful, especially if the nursery teacher could be pregnant - a teacher friend of mine at school was pregnant but not ready to tell the school yet - she had to go home saying she felt ill when a mum sent her child in with spots - she wasn't sure it was chickenpox, but my friend couldn't take the risk

[QueenEagle]

If it were my child.....hmmm, I think if there were no more spots tomorrow morning, I'd send them in tbh.

ds3 often has rashes pop up from time to time....in fact since xmas I have twice queried a spotty rash and it wasn't cpox either time even though it looked suspiciously like it.

You can't keep them off just in case imo. Only when you are sure it is.

[edam]

Thanks for the advice everyone - have been reading QE's other thread. Golly.

Guess I'll see how spotty he is in the morning... given that there are other c pox cases at school, I'm assuming anyone who is especially vulnerable knows it's going around.

I feel really itchy after reading these threads... oh, I remember how bloody awful it was as a child. Hope they've developed something more effective than calomine lotion by now!

[amidaiwish]

any chance the nanny could be pg?

if not, i would carry on as normal. if it's in the nursery then they are more contagious before the spots come out anyway... keep going!

you can't carry chicken pox, you're (and were) only infectious if you get it so don't worry about your niece. You have definitely had it, yes?

[PeachesMcLean]

Hi Edam, no advice re school but Piriton (medicine and cream) can help rather than calamine. I had cp a few years ago and really appreciated insect bite creams.
Let's hope you won't need them!

[edam]

Oh, of course Piriton would be the thing, thanks Peaches.

Amidaiwish, yes, I've had it. That's why I was bitching about calomine lotion, I remember the agony. Standing on the lid of the downstairs loo, clutching my sister, while my mother painted us heat to foot. As soon as she finished, I'd be itching again where she started!

Nanny isn't p/g AFAIK and she was the one who got the c/pox warning from school so I'm sure she'd have mentioned it if she was.

[amidaiwish]

don't use piriton until the spots have stopped appearing - the antihistamine in it can suppress them and then it will take even longer!