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Original poster

Chicken Pox dilemna

19 replies

dreamchocolate · 05/04/2006 19:15

Some advice please!!!! ........ my friends dd has just caught chicken pox and I am wandering whether or not to let my ds and dd play with her in order to catch chicken pox to get it over with. The problem is that dd (11 months) suffers with quite bad eczema and I don't want to put her through any more discomfort than she already endures. She will be having allergy tests soon (seperate thread) so maybe her eczema will be better dealt with after that. It would actually be a really convenient time for them to get chicken pox (before ds starts school, no holidays booked, etc)but I just don't know what to do. Any advice would be really appreciated

OP posts:
wendy33 · 05/04/2006 19:18

I would say to let them catch it! It will be 10 days until they start to get chicken pox symptoms but with chicken pox you can apply camomile lotion to soothe the itchyness, which will also soothe eczema.

marialou · 05/04/2006 19:25

My daughter had chicken pox at 8 months. I am glad she got it over with as she is definately a picker and would have ended up with a lot of scars. She also has eczema and she suffered a lot with the chicken pox because of this. After 3 days of constant crying and no sleep I called NHS who told me to wash all the calomine off as it was probably aggravating the eczema and to let her sit in a luke warm bath to ease the itching. The next morning I took her to the dr having previously being told dr couldn't give me anything for chicken pox and came home with a carrier bath of creams and bath stuff and also a piriton type medicine which had a sedative in it.
I think it is a good idea to get it out the way but be prepared that your son might suffer in the same way, and don't be fobbed off by dr's receptionists.

Sparklemagic · 05/04/2006 19:35

my view is that I never knowingly open my DS up to catching infections. I would not take him round to play with someone just so he could 'get it over with'. He gets those infections that he can't avoid, that's life. And doubtless your children will unknowingly come across chicken pox; yes, maybe at an inconvenient time but that's parenthood! I just thought, my DS may never get chicken pox in his life, so how would I feel knowing that I exposed him to ANY suffering, even minor, that he might not otherwise have experienced?

My MIL said she felt the same, as with any 'fever' there is always a risk of some sort of complication, and she didn't want it on her conscience.

Just another view on the matter for what it's worth!

kid · 05/04/2006 19:43

I always wanted my children to catch CP when they were young as there are more complications if it is caught when they are older. So far, they haven't had CP, DD is 7 and DS 4.
I know they may never catch it, I will just wait and see what happens.

I can understand people wantimg their children to 'get it out of the way' but also the guilt of them suffering due to being exposed to it.

TheBlonde · 05/04/2006 19:45

I would avoid it
At 11 mths it's going to be impossible to prevent your LO scratching

NASWM · 05/04/2006 20:00

I am in two minds about this. To some extent I agree with sparklemagic, why potentially cause your DD to suffer more? But on the other hand, it is almost inevitable that she will catch it at some point, so maybe now is as good a time as any.But with the imminent allergy testing perhaps it is safer to stay away. Difficult one. I will ponder some more.....

Mamu · 05/04/2006 20:04

Go for it a good dose now is a lot safer, if the don't get it to adulthood real problems can arise. A friends hubby got it from her girls a few months ago and ended up in hospital for four days.

As for the itching, one of mine was just 1 when she got it, Dr gave priton said calomine was just to sticky. OK mine where breastfeed, apparently this makes for a milder reaction as they carry some immunity from mum (so I'm told!) but both where fine no picking and the future worries gone!

poppiesinaline · 05/04/2006 20:09

Personally, I would avoid it but then I am a coward when it comes to illness - someone only has to mention a cold and I take 4 steps back LOL. Anyway, if it was me I would avoid cos of all the eczema problems. She may catch it later anyway and you may have her eczema under control by then. It is also possible that she may catch it now, be awful cos of the eczema but not get it bad enough to produce immunity and get it later on again anyway. That can happen.

I suppose only you can really decide. As you can see by this thread, everyones view is different. Only you know what you can cope with IYSWIM.

BudaBabe · 05/04/2006 20:09

Don't know how true this is but was told that if they get it under one year old it doesn't necessarily confer immunity. Obv if your DS is 11 months he would probably be ok but you never know.

poppiesinaline · 05/04/2006 20:12

I had heard that too. Mind you, I had chicken pox at one year and have never had it again since (my kids have had it so I have been in contact with it).

foxinsocks · 05/04/2006 20:14

I wouldn't go out of my way to catch it until the eczema is under control. Of course, she may get it at anytime anyway but the itching can be severe and on sore skin, it can really get very nasty.

Chandra · 06/04/2006 02:41

I would try to avoid it, your DD has already enough in her plate to top it up with chicken pox. DS had it last January (almost 3 yrs old), I think eczema has taught us so much about controlling itching that he really didn't have a bad time (but... he clearly understands that scratching will make things far worse and stops himself from doing it!), so, not much itch but lots and lots of deep marks.

I'm grateful that it didn't happen when he was a baby, he would have scratched his skin off, actually, he did it even without the cp, so could not imagine if he had got it at that time

Airy · 06/04/2006 04:10

Sorry to hijack a little, but on the subject of immunity through breastfeeding...I fed DD for well over a year and I was so sure at the beginning of the week that she had chicken pox and am now unsure because she has very few spots and isn't really suffering. Is it possible that she just has a really mild case do you think?

Original poster
dreamchocolate · 06/04/2006 07:24

Thanks everyone for your advice, it really helped me make up my mind. I am not going to knowingly expose ds and dd to chicken pox, I'm just going to get on with life and if they catch it at some point I'll deal with it then. THANK YOU XXXX

OP posts:
brimfull · 07/04/2006 00:20

Wouldn't recommend Chicken pox with open excema sores.The complications can be quite serious ,I think it's called excema herpeticum,try googling it.

clicker · 07/04/2006 04:19

Eczema herpeticum is eczema infected with the herpes simplex virus, not chickenpox. I wouldn't recommend it, ds1 had it, (it can be fatal!).

I would be careful about a child with eczema contracting chickenpox if it's bad, especially in such a young child where the eczema may well improve rapidly with age. At 11 months ds1 was covered head to (almost)foot in eczema herpeticum (only clear patches of skin on his feet- the rest of his skin was blistered). After clearing the infection his whole body was wet wrapped daily. By the time he caught a very mild dose of chickenpox aged 3 he had only a few very small patches of eczema and the chickenpox passed without complication.

brimfull · 07/04/2006 20:58

sorryBlushdidn't mean to confuse things.I must have got the viruses mixed up.

clicker · 08/04/2006 14:09

well it is a bit confusing becasue shingles is sometimes called herpes zoster or something I think. I only know because it was so hideous!

expatinscotland · 08/04/2006 14:13

I had it as a baby and it was very mild. AND, my titre 5 years ago showed I was still immune to it!

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