How long does a child feel unwell before spots appear with chickenpox?

[Pamandy]

Hi all, I'm new to mumsnet so please bear with me! Dd (age 3) is on day 9 since spots appeared. She displayed only with headache 2 days previous to spots appearing and slightly off her food. Ds (age 6) hasn't had cp yet. He has had headache and sore throat along with mild fever all on and off since Fri. This morning he woke up upset that he felt sick. He hasn't been sick and now is feeling better other than slight headache. Could this be the start of cp, and if so how long is it possible he will feel headachey and sore throaty before the spots appear? I'm sure I read somewhere some children have had these symptoms for 2 weeks before spots arrive

Thanks in advance for any guidance! xx

[Doyoumind]

I think it was only a day or two for mine, though I can't really remember. Hope spots appear soon and you're not stuck waiting for him to be able to go out and about.

[MrsBertBibby]

I don't think mine was noticeably ill at all with CP. I was quite upset his dad had him for a day so I could get to work. He was around 3, I think.

I think it varies wildly, some bouts of CP seem utterly virulent, the version going round when my son got it were pretty benign. Plus it varies for individuals.

[Soubriquet]

My two were perfectly fine before the spots appeared.

Never knew anything was wrong with them.

Dd got slightly grotty feeling once she had her spots but was fine otherwise

Ds needed antibiotics as his got infected and got quite poorly from them

[Pamandy]

He had a few "itchy spots" in one cluster when he went to bed last night. A few more had appeared overnight and within an hour this morning they began to look more like cp. Still waiting for the mass spread! Xx