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What age did your LO have chickenpox?

113 replies

CtrlU · 23/11/2020 22:19

I’m just curious to know what age your children were when they had chickenpox?

And is it more common with bigger families?
(Children with siblings)

My son is 7 and hasn’t had it yet. I’m not worried but curious to know what age children usually catch it as most of my friends children’s seen to have had it when they were younger

OP posts:
MollyBloomYes · 23/11/2020 23:34

Ds2 had it when he was 9 months. Pretty spotty, a bit grumpy and off colour, upped his breastfeeding game significantly. Ds1 escaped it.
Ds2 caught it again when it did the rounds at pre school, so he would have been about 2.5/3. Was absolutely covered. Still has scars including a particularly fetching one right by his eye that I'm quite glad wasn't any closer or it could have gone very nasty. Absolutely miserable with it, slathered him in Eucerin/Euramax (I think? The anti itch stuff in yellow and white packaging that is miraculous but wears off quickly). Not much sleep to be had for many many nights. Ds1 avoided it again. Dr tested him for antibodies in case he'd somehow caught it and it had manifested in one tiny spot or something. Nope, no antibodies. I stumped up for the private vaccination for ds1 at that point-I couldn't afford another two weeks off work and DS1 has disabilities that make his reactions to pain and irritation unpredictable and I didn't want him clawing away at his lovely face if he caught it! Two years later and still pox free and worth every penny!

BikeRunSki · 23/11/2020 23:39

DS - 3 yrs 10 months
Very poorly - Fever, lethargic, cold symptoms - 10 days of spots.
DD - 9 months
Very high fever, vomiting, almost completely covered in spots, slept a lot, cold symptoms, for a week.

They are 9 and 12 now, nor reoccurrence

itsovernowthen · 23/11/2020 23:43

DS was 3, DD got it 3 weeks later at age 2.

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Giganticshark · 23/11/2020 23:44

My 11 yr old hasn't had it. Always been around other kids in childcare /nursery /school. Plenty of outbreaks....... Fkin nowt.
Tempted to vaccinate as its shit to get it when you're older

DramaAlpaca · 23/11/2020 23:44

DS1 2 years. He wasn't terribly spotty but was grumpy and miserable. Caught it from another toddler at our NCT group, as did every other child in the room, apart from DS2.

DS2 8 months, caught it from DS1. Extremely spotty, scarily so, but not unwell at all.

DS2 2 years, caught it from his cousin, not very spotty and very mild.

I had it at 7 and my sibling was 4 and caught it from me. We were itchy but not unwell.

Canyousewcushions · 23/11/2020 23:49

Mine all got it at nursery age. I think it's less rife in school than it was 30 years ago because more children are in childcare younger- there must be more herd immunity by the time they're at primary school because it goes round like wildfire in nursery settings.

thaegumathteth · 23/11/2020 23:51

Ds was 4 and passed it on to his sister who was 13 months. Neither of them were all that ill but they were both hot and absolutely covered in spots. Dd was soooooo itchy and being a baby it wasn't much fun!

Bumblebee1980a · 23/11/2020 23:59

I remember having it at 8 or 9. My DS has had the chicken pox vaccine (privately not NHS) so won't be getting it at all.

FlurkenSchnit · 24/11/2020 00:11

DS1 had it around his 3rd birthday which also coincided with Easter so he couldn't enjoy any chocolate as he had chicken pox in his mouth too.
DD was 3 and passed it onto DS2 who was 2. DD's was quite mild but DS2 had it much worse, he had around 30 blisters on just one side of his neck/face.
DS3 is 5 and hasn't caught it yet, he wasn't born when the others had it.

CorianderLord · 24/11/2020 00:18

I never had it despite growing up in the era of CP parties. Had my vaccine at age 23.

YerAWizardHarry · 24/11/2020 00:23

Think DS was around 2. He had been in full time nursery from 8 months so was kinda expecting it sooner tbh

Smallwhiterat · 24/11/2020 00:24

Swept through the whole school when my oldest was in year 1. Over half the class were off, including them. At least one staff member had it too. Two weeks later younger siblings got it. Though it wasn’t remotely mild (easily 200-300 spots each, high temperatures, quite ill) it was a bit less horrendous for my eldest - I do think there is something in the theory it’s worse in siblings due to the viral load from household exposure. Still, apart from some very slight scarring (nowhere very visible and really faded now) there were no permanent ill effects.

GlassLake · 24/11/2020 00:33

Eldest had it at 11 months and youngest at 2. It was horrendous for second child. I wish we'd had him vaccinated on hindsight.

StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff · 24/11/2020 07:02

Eldest caught it at nursery age 3, it brought her whole room down. Exactly two weeks later our youngest caught it aged 6 months.
Both not particularly happy but not too bad. Youngest had so many spots though and apparently catching it before the age of one means it doesn’t give lifetime immunity like it usually does

Tfoot75 · 24/11/2020 07:13

Mine had it at 5 and 2. Dd1 caught it at school and along with half the class had it over half term. Dd2 got it exactly 2 weeks later along with all the siblings of those who caught it! Dd2 definitely had a worse case, dd1's spots had dried out after 3-4 days so we were able to enjoy some of half term, but Dd2 still had new spots coming out on day 4. I had it when I was 11 and wasn't very poorly.

whatswithtodaytoday · 24/11/2020 07:21

If he hasn't had it be secondary school I would recommend getting him vaccinated (or even better, do it now!) It can be a serious illness, especially in adults.

Birdsong111 · 24/11/2020 07:24

Mine haven't had it. I got them vaccinated.

cptartapp · 24/11/2020 07:28

DS1 two years old.
DS2 one week old same time!). Very mild as I was bf. He's now 15 and never had it again!

AGeeseGoose · 24/11/2020 07:32

DS was 3, he had a pretty standard case - he got it from nursery where we were aware there was a few kids with it. Then DD got the symptoms 2 weeks later - she was only 13 months old and she was miserable with it, had huge spots (one got infected), and had load of them round her eyes. She was drowsy and it took her a few weeks to get back to her best. I was just looking into vaccinations when DS got it.

Nat6999 · 24/11/2020 07:33

Ds caught it at 16 months, was very wingy one day, I had taken him out shopping & on the way back he was sick in the car on the way back, when I undressed him at bedtime he was covered in spots. I caught them age 12 off my younger db, my mum caught them age 39 at the same time, we were both very ill, covered from head to foot in spots, there wasn't an inch where we didn't have a spot.

custardbear · 24/11/2020 07:35

Both got it at the same time, DD was 4 and DS was 11 months. Baby wasn't too bad, DD was quite unwell but only as you'd expect in a child.

KittenCalledBob · 24/11/2020 07:36

My three DC all had it together (after being exposed to the same child) aged 1, 3 and 5. It was the week from hell!

inthethickofit19 · 24/11/2020 07:37

2.5 and 9 months. Caught it together

BogRollBOGOF · 24/11/2020 07:37

2 and 9 weeks.
Both had it quite lightly.

I was 9, and passed it on to D"B" (16) and DM (28). DB came off worst.

SuperDuperJezebel · 24/11/2020 07:40

I got my DD vaccinated. She comes to work with me as a nanny (I'm in the nanny, she's the sidekick). About a fortnight after her second dose my nanny charge came out in possibly the worst chickenpox I've ever seen. They shared baths together, nicked each others drinks, spent a lot of time playing side by side, so I was worried about viral load and I was terrified she wouldn't be immune yet, but it passed her by. V relieved.

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