My friend’s baby has chicken pox and we are going around for dinner. Should I cancel?

[BBrush]

Hello, my friend just told me that her baby has chicken pox. My partner, my 5 month old and I are meant to be going around her new house for dinner on Saturday. I don’t know much about chicken pox - if we arrived after her baby was in bed, could my baby still catch it? Or would they need to be in direct contact? Sorry for my ignorance, I’m sure you all have way more knowledge... I don’t want to cancel on her but I definitely don’t want to risk him getting the pox at such a young age either. What should I do?

Cancel. It can be mild. Ds1 has it and barely noticed. Ds2 had it awfully and was very poorly for a good few weeks. He was 18 maths and I would t have wanted him to be much younger

Please cancel. My eldest was very poorly (hospitalised) with chicken pox. It's not always just a few spots and can be very serious

Cancel.

Cancel

Def would cancel wouldn’t risk it as Chickenpox is highly contagious. Very dangerous with babies especially as young as yours but yes def def def cancel

No cancel, getting it young is one thing but 5months?? No I would just say sorry can we leave it for a week!

Cancel! I've got a good friend whose daughter died from it shortly before her 4th birthday.

Absolutely cancel. It would be very foolish to go.

please cancel and come back and tell us you've cancelled!

Regardless of the age of your child this is a bad idea. It is not worse because your dc is only 5 mths, it can be risky at any age.

My 2.5 yr old had it worse that the 5 mth old. The 5 mth old was being exclusively bf and the 2.5yr old was still bf'ing.

My 9 months old was extremely sick with it, she's got secondary infection in the pox there's no way I'd expose 5 months old to it. Poor thing please don't do it.

Hasn't some big anti vaxxer in the Us just been hospitalised with chicken pox? I'd cancel

MY DD was exclusively bf and still got it

Other DD was 3 and fine. Younger still has scars. She didn't get many but they were deep and severe

Oh no didn't know about shingles

@kimlo

My kids got it under 1 and have immunity to it. They were about 8 months and I still dont know who they caught it off.

That is not to say i would go to your friends house OP. I think i would cancel if I was in your situation.

Yep, do NOT go. You don't want to deliberately expose your baby. Both mine were very unwell indeed with chickenpox. She'll be relieved if you cancel I'd think.

"Chicken pox isn’t that bad and you want to get it done with" irresponsible nonsense! My brother ended up in hospital due to chicken pox and no I don't mean "complications from".

Please don't spread misinformation!

The virus is not only spread by direct contact but can survive on surfaces particularly fabric for several hours.

With a 5 month old I absolutely would not risk it!

Thanks all - most informative. Im sorry for those of you that have had terrible experiences of CP - sounds like a nasty thing. I cancelled on my friend this morning and I’ve not heard back from her (she’s usually very hot at replying) so I think I might have annoyed her, but hey - there are more important things to consider. Thanking you all greatly for your advice x

If she’s pissed off with you because you’re not so stupid and irresponsible to allow your tiny baby to catch CP, then she’s no friend. Plus, she’s a fool.

Your baby comes first not your friend so don’t worry about offending her that’s down to her if she wants to get upset but I’m sure if it was the other way round she wouldn’t be coming to your house either

Hasn't some big anti vaxxer in the Us just been hospitalised with chicken pox? I'd cancel

Italy. He got chickenpox as an adult.

You may have offended her or she may have realised that looking after a poorly baby takes up time and mental space.

Cancel.

Don't go - it can be extremely serious. It makes me cross to hear people say it is always mild - it isn't