to not go to party with 6mo DS as one of the attendees has shingles?

[itisnotacompetitionyouknow]

Tomorrow is a close relatives 40th birthday party. Me, DP and DS have been invited. Wanted DS to go for 2 reasons 1) my close relative really loves him and doesn't see him very often, and has specifically asked on several occasions if he coming 2) I'm BF and he won't take a bottle.

Another close relative is attending. They have shingles and still have blisters. As far as I'm aware if the blisters are still present then there is a chance that a person who has not yet had chicken pox can catch the virus from this person. I also have read that the virus can be airbourne, therefore transmit easily.

This relative is "determined" to go the party, despite people hinting it will be a bad idea, so I feel I have no choice but not to go.

What really concerns me is there are babies going to this party who won't be aware of this person having shingles and it puts them at risk. At least I can make an informed decision and not go.

Am I being unreasonable by not attending (am I being too cautious?)

Also, would I be unreasonable to approach this relative and tell them they shouldn't be attending as it is putting several people at risk? (To be honest can't understand why someone so ill, covered in blisters, would want to go anyway!)

DD2 got CP when DD1 had shingles but obviously there was a lot more close contact and I probably cross-contaminated.

So I would think the chances of your baby catching CP from this person are extremely low, as presumably they won't be touching him, but there is still a small risk (shingles person touches their scabs, shakes hands with someone who holds your baby). It's definitely NOT airborne.

may I ask a question please? I searched and got this thread. A friend of my DH's has shingles, apparently the worst case a GP friend has ever seen. DH is going to be at the friends flat doing some work tomorrow. Is there a risk my 3.5 mth old baby could catch chicken pox from him without direct contact?

It's pretty much impossible unless he's in contact with your baby. You can't catch shingles, it's something that's dormant in you or your DH hasn't had chicken pox

While I'm not overly adverse to my children catching chicken pox, the risk of complications in a baby under 1 is a lot higher, so YANBU.

I would also tell everyone why I wasn't going too.

Could the party organiser not have a little word with the person with shingles? It seems very unfair for you to have to miss it.

Quint said:
"Yanbu. Ds1 got chicken pox from dhs shingles. Babies dont get lasting immunity if they get chicken pox at less than 1 years og age."

DD had CP at about 15 weeks old. (100% breastfed from CP-immune mother, very mild case, just to kill any other myths).
She's not had it again in many subsequent outbreaks in her class (15 of 26 children came down with it), in her school, among friends and younger siblings.

But she's only 9yo, so I guess time will tell.

I'm also interested in the thing about chicken pox in babies. DS caught chicken pox very mildly as a baby, and then caught it again in reception. DH caught chicken pox as an adult after having caught it as a baby. I hadn't heard before that you don't get immunity if you have it as a baby, but that would explain what happened to DS. Perhaps some get immunity and some don't.

DH had contracted shingles a week before DD was born (great timing). I had chicken pox but our then toddler DS hadn't. We were advised that it was unlikely that DS would catch chicken pox, or the new baby, but that DH should keep the blisters covered, regular handwashing, seperate towels etc. He also went and slept in the spare bed so we wouldn't have to share sheets - although this was also handy as I was 9 months pg and sleeping badly anyway... He also couldn't have skin-to-skin when DD was born.

Neither child caught chicken pox at the time - they finally caught it last Christmas when they were 4.5 and 2yrs. DD was really spotty and poorly with it - it can be nasty.

Might it be that this person's shingles are well covered and present no risk? My DH's shingles were restricted to a small patch near his waist, so nobody could have come into contact with them accidentally.

However we didn't know what it was and it wasn't painful, DH asked me to have a look, and I can certainly confirm that you can get chickenpox from shingles. :)

You need to have direct contact with shingles blisters to catch chicken pox. Not airborne. If the shingles are on a covered part of the body, there wouldn't really be any risk.

Don't go. My 3-year-old caught chicken pox in exactly this way! At 3, fine, but 6 months is too young to build lasting immunity, or watch DVDs while ill. And your relative is BVU. Tell the party's host to warn others with babies so they can make a choice.

But it's easy for babies not to have direct contact with shingles blisters. SOund s like scaremongering.

Apologies to the OP for bumping this, I was asking about something slightly different and didn't realise there would be lots of responses to the original question which is about a situation which has now passed.

Oh I see fanjo.

Not without direct contact, no. Be careful with any towels.