Why didn't my DC get chicken pox?

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A few months ago my older DC got chickenpox. Obviously my younger DC was in close proximity before during and after but never caught it!

What are the chances ?! Could they be immune?

Yes, natural immunity exists. I was one of three children all close in age. Two of us caught it, the third didn’t and again when they had their own DC who had chicken pox, my sibling didn’t catch it.

They might had a mild response.

I did as a child. My eldest 2 sisters had a full blown response whilst I didn't get much.

As an adult I was unsure if I even had chicken pox until I was tested whilst pregnant.

My daughter avoided it when she was a toddler though cousins etc all had it. She probably had residual immunity from being breast fed. She ended up getting it when she was about 7 or 8, only a few sports though.

We had the same here..DS caught it when DS2 was a baby. No spots or illness in DS2 and to be fair DS1 had a mild case. Then when DD1 was about 2 years old she was covered in spots. Still no signs on DS2. I'm assuming he's naturally immune or had a mild infection as a baby. I did breastfeed him which probably helped.

When I was in the early stages of pregnancy DS1 had chicken pox. DS2 avoided it, despite outbreaks at nursery (he was the only one not to have it) and two outbreaks in Primary School. He actually got it at about 6/7 from DD and so I always wondered if there was some sort of natural immunity covering him when he was younger.

I was the same. Sister had it and DM encouraged us together to get it over with
Best friends had it.
Various epidemics of it at school...

I never got it

Until I was at uni and I caught it from no one knows where because no one else had it.It must have been someone I walked past or something, so a brief encounter. I then had it really badly.

Don't rely on natural immunity.

Soo weird because my two older boys had chicken pox as babies but my youngest boy has never had them he has also been around children with chicken pox and never caught them, when I knew family members children had them I used to make sure I took him round soo he got them young but he's now 8 will be 9 this year and he's never had them 🤷🏼‍♀️ never caught them 🧐

My dc are 13 and 16 and have never had chicken pox.... despite being exposed to it many times

I was the same. My sister had it everywhere, she was off school for a month she was so unwell. I didn't have it until I was 36 and it was a mystery how I got it as I hadn't been in contact with anyone with chicken pox.

I got my dc who hadn’t caught it by 8 despite multiple exposures immunised in case they ended up getting it as an adult when it can be more serious. It’s a routine vaccination in some countries.

I would consider the vaccine.

My dd appeared to be "immune" to chicken pox when she was younger - didn't get it despite repeated exposure. I had it very badly as a child so wondered if I had passed on stronger antibodies from breastfeeding.

She eventually got it when she was around 16 and had it really badly. It's utterly miserable at that age being covered in spots!

I really regretted not just paying for the vaccine!

I've not had it. I had my immunity tested for it when I was pregnant. The GP kept saying that I would have had it previously but just not known (which is also a thing), but immunity testing showed I hadn't had it. Since then I've had 3 children, all who have had it and I've still not had it. My immunity was tested again after having 3 children and I'm still immune.

Weird things happen sometimes. The day before I came down with chicken pox we played with a family friend. My brother showed no signs of chicken pox so once I was better we played with him again. The next day he came down with chicken pox. (So had presumably caught them off me and had been harbouring them ever since.) And then 2 weeks after that my brother came down with them.

So my parents think that I gave them to the family friend who then gave them to my brother. Somehow my brother did not catch them off me despite living in the same house as me. Quick game of Ludo with family friend though - and he had them!

Natural immunity is quite common, I work in a role where we have immunisations and I have come back as immune to chicken pox despite never having them x

We always thought DD avoided catching it. Her DB had it 3 to mes. Until that is she got shingles, so she must have had CP at some stage v mildly.

My kids caught it when DD was newborn (2 weeks old). DS had it badly, DD had one spot and wasn’t ill. That single blister was her only symptom, and if it had been on a less conspicuous part of her body I probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all. I was told that was because of the immunity from the breastmilk, but she’d probably get a proper dose when she was older. Years later we had a sleepover and DD’s friend who she’d shared a bed with woke up covered in spots. DD still didn’t catch it. She’s 20 now and never caught it properly.

Strange! At the same time while older one was active with spots the younger one had a temperature for a few days but nothing else, wonder if that was related or just coincidence.

Considering the vaccine!

DS2 had it very mildly at 9 weeks after DS1 brought it home from nursery a couple of weeks earlier when DS2 was too young for Calpol.
He was a bit grouchy one day, had barely a handful of spots and was otherwise fine. If DS1 hadn't clearly had it then I might have not recognised it in DS2.

At our 8wk check the GP said that DS2 should be well protected by my antibodies from birth and BFing.

My youngest uncle never got it as a child despite having 3 older children at home and attending nursery and school.
I gave it to him when he was 25 and me 3. He was so unwell with it as an adult!

I had it when I was about 10 but none of my siblings caught it from me. A few years later they all had it at the same time. Dh never had it as a child but caught it in his 40s from our son.

DS was exposed to it at least twice in the early years of primary because it went around the village like wildfire about 18 out of his class of 27 caught it, including a couple of his closest friends. It bothered us, especially as neither DH nor I has ever had it, so we paid for the vaccine for all of us.

It happens. We refused to catch it as kids despite it being regularly prevalent.

We did catch it as late teenagers, though. Two weeks for one, then two weeks for the next and then two weeks for me. I was nineteen.

OMG, I was so sick. My temp went skyhigh and stayed there. I had sores where you couldn’t and wouldn’t want to imagine them. My DM dabbed my brothers sores with friars balsam. She painted me with a brush. I couldn’t eat for more than ten days so you can imagine the weight loss.

And then my DM caught it again in her later, immunocompromised years. She also had it dreadfully as a teenager. A month in the city hospital, two of those weeks in full rigor, going in every morning to reports from the nurses of how they fought for her life overnight. While it was the brain tumour that killed her six months later, once she was transferred to her local hospital, she never came home. It was horrifying at the time.

My dsis had it when younger and my mum looked after 3 of the neighbours kids who all had it when I was young ( as their mum needed to work )

i caught it from a patient I was nursing when I was 21.He was literally covered from head to toe . I caught it mildly .

Neither of mine had it either - despite being in contact with lots of children who did.

My sister was the same. My mother assumed she was immune. She turned out not to be as she caught it as an adult (from her toddler).

I have twins.
One got it at about 25 months and the other not until a year later. Bizarre!