following on from my "can I take ds out with chicken pox" thread..

[LiegeAndLief]

So ds is all scabbed over, went back to school today and no I didn't take him out.

However..

Dd hasn't had it and has no symptoms. She was obviously in very close contact with ds all the while, so seems highly likely that she is currently incubating (although I am still bfing her, no idea whether the antibody thing still happens at nearly 2yo). I had thought I would keep away from toddler groups for a couple of weeks, where she is likely to be sharing toys and be in very close contact with other children and possibly pregnant women or newborns, but not keep her in otherwise.

All the mums I've spoken to today though seem to think I'm overreacting and should just carry on as normal. WWYD? There seems to be a CP outbreak going on around here, local pre-schools and schools have cases, so there are probably lots of contagious pre-spot children around.

I would carry on as normal and just keep her away from woman who may be pregnant. By that, I mean go to all the places you would normally go to and don't let other women pick up your dd. Be strict about the usual hygiene things that you probably already do.

You can't live your life on a maybe.

one point about letting the DCs roam around spreading infections:

it's fine for other children, who will usefully build up their immunity. But better if you let the others come to you. You never know who they will meet who might have an 18-y-o sister, or a pregnant mum that you don't know about.

Just a thought.

I'm glad it's come round quickly and you don't have to be under house arrest for too long! Hope it goes ok for your DD.

I agree with the damned if you do, damned if you dont. Obv I'd be careful where I went thou.

For what its worth my mum tells me she never knew if I had it or not, my brother got it awful, i was either so mild I got no real spots if i didnt get it and was just scratching cos he was. maybe DD is like me?

thank you schmee, she's covered but ok. Itchy but I've given her piriton - hope that's allowed!

DS1 had it at 2 when at nursery. The nursery sent him home, but were happy for DS2 to remain there for that week, and the following week (daycare) DS2 came down with it a fortnight later.

And DS2 was 8mo and still BF when he had it. And I have never seen such a bad case of chicken pox - almost hospitilised with dehydration and couldnt eat for a week.

DS1's was so mild it took 4 health professionals until we finally found out it was chicken pox - they all thought it was just a weird rash it was so mild.

There is no need to quarantine children, and the NHS doesn't recommend it.

But if you're going to do it, then do it properly. The incubation period is up to 21 days, so you need to do it for the full three weeks from when your DS was completely scabbed. Anything short of that and you are not covering the risk period and so may as well not bother.

PS: voice of doom - DD came down with it exactly on the 21st day (just when I thought escaped it!)

One of my best friends did this - took her probably-infected ds to the breastfeeding group we both went to. I was pregnant at the time, and there were other pregnant women there as well as a lot of newborns. I told her I wouldn't go because of the risk, but she seemed fine with going. I think that was a really wrong call though as far as I know no ill came from it.

OTOH I did take my toddler to the park when she had CP. One other child arrived and I warned the mother to keep her away from dd. It simply never occurred to me that a virus could live on the swings etc. Still not sure that is right tbh.