Chickenpox & letting her in the garden

[sarahh899]

Hi all

DD(3) has got chickenpox. She was playing outside in our garden yesterday as she's well in herself and no temperature & my mum was absolutely shocked and is convinced that they're not allowed to be out in the fresh air as sun can cause the rash to get worse..
is that true? Have I caused possible complications? 🥴 I only let her in the garden as she keeps asking to go to nursery or the park and of course she can't.

Ah, your mum's being a bit daft. It's not like you have her in really hot, direct sunlight. She's fine to play in the garden.

I've not heard that. Can you find anything via Google?

Mine had chicken pox a couple of months ago, he'd have gone stir crazy if I'd kept him in.
He does have a couple of spots that have left marks, but then he also has some on his body out of sunlight that have marked too.

It’s actually the opposite. A dose of UV from the sun slows or stops the spread of the chicken pox rash. It also inactivates the virus on the skin making the person less contagious.

I think there was something about measles and uv light from when I was a kid with measles... is your mum getting her diseases mixed up?

I have tried google. But it only comes up with "don't take them to parks / nursery / "outside in public spaces"

Taking them in the garden is absolutely fine.

Thank you everyone.
It's only gone past 9 and she's already asking to go outside 😅 so I'll let her go out for a few hours 😀

If your weather is anything like mine it's not going to be an issue however if by any chance you're somewhere incredibly hot it might be.

www.childrensmn.org/educationmaterials/parents/article/9113/does-sunlight-cause-problems-with-chickenpox/

Never heard of this. When has fresh air not been beneficial to children?

I get the logic of keeping them away from other people, truthfully i took mine out on his bike but away from people if that makes sense.

@BaronessEllarawrosaurus I wonder how strong the sun needs to be?

Playing in the garden by herself is fine. It is close contact with other people that needs to be avoided.

I assume your garden is not a public highway so it is the perfect place for her to get some fresh air provided that she is not cold and is pretty well in herself.