To take my baby on holiday with chickenpox

[MamaMia100]

Before you shoot me down, read on:
It started on monday 16th when I found a big well developed (so must have been there a day or 2 already) blister under his testicles. A day or 2 later, more spots and a temperature (quite mild, he hasn't really been that unwell). Old advice is wait until all spots crusted over (which would prob be a good week away from
now as new spots still appearing) but gp said (and wrote me a note saying) that new guidelines are that they are only infectious for a max of 6 days from first spot (which must have appeared on Sunday at latest as it was already a big fat blister by the time I found it on Monday, and the other spots have taken a few days to reach that stage). Supposed to be going to rural France to stay in a v isolated house which we are unlikely to leave v often (as there's a pool ad massive gardens there) by train tomorrow morning. I am worried about
A) infecting others on train as, despite gp advice, spots are far from crusted over,
B) him getting more ill while away from home (been told they can get a bad cough a week after pox gone - any experience of this???). He has breathing issues which are due tone investigated when we get back from hold (noisy breathing/gasping - suspected floppy larynx or similar. Endoscopy had to be postponed when he developed the pox).
Any opinions? Do I go with gp's advice, or my conscience (and miss out on my hols when he may not even be infectious - don't think travel insurance will work as we bought it after pox
seen by gp). And there's the worry of a bad cough making his breathing worse. We are going with a friend who is a trainee gp and there is a hospital nearby but still a bit worried...

Any thoughts/ opinions greatly appreciated as I've lost the plot somewhat! Sorry for mammoth post! TIA

No, I wouldn't go. You could potentially devastate someone else's life if you passed the infection on to the wrong person, and you woudn't even be covered by your travel insurance if complications arose in your own child.

Littlemissbroody and fuzzypicklehead- you will find that cases of chicken pox are known in all settings where children gather together and are heard of almost all year round. Spring and autumn are the peak but it NEVER goes away. By your logic a child who attends any sort of care or play setting should be continually kept at home! The incubation period is three weeks by the way.

To isolate a child simply because they have been in contact with CP but you should be cautious to avoid anyone who you know is vulnerable.

Really? Dd's childminder and nursery went the whole year with only one case of CPwhich was my DD. I may be over sensitive to it because I know someone whose daughter died as a result of exposure to CPso when DD's mate developed spots two days after a play date (in an outdoor play area with no close contact between them) I damn well kept her home for 3 weeks until spots came out and crusted over. And then I kept DD2 home until her spots came out and crusted over. It was nearly 7 weeks in total--but there were plenty of immune friends to play with, shopping could be delivered, and it was fine. And I didn't worry about giving it to anyone else.

see here

Dated 2010, but taken from the up-to-date 2012 website.

op if you can go by car then do so, otherwise i would probably not go.

tho the enw info about the six days after the first spot is interesting and yes they are less contagious but are you really going to be able to stop an 11mth old touching things or other people? i guess you may be able to, just thinking what mine were like at that age.

re keeping them in if they have been exposed to chickenpox, you cant, all my elder 3 had it at differing ages, never caught it off each other, the little 2 havent had it yet, but it went round ds4's pre-school this spring for about 2mths, he never got it but was exposed to it loads, should i have kept him at home for all that time? i took him out but warned anyone i knew who was preg, had small babies, illness etc that chickenpox was diong the rounds at his pre-school and at school pick up tried to keep him away from other children. i thought that was sensible and fair but with 5 kids to keep him at home every time he was exposed would be impossible! if and when he actually gets it i will keep him at home, ditto dd, but i wont keep them in just because they have been exposed to it.

littlemissbroody you would keep them at home for 21 days after exposure to cp just in case Get real.

Fuzzy - I assume your dds were not of school age whilst you were engaged in your 7 weeks of isolation?

Why do people always use the stupid 'well they are infectious before you know they have it arguement'?

You don't KNOW.
When you do know you shouldn't deliberately expose others to an infectious disease.

A lot of hypocritical toss about CP.

Loads of sympathy for sick children on MN. Lots of expressions of support.
Unless that sick child's unfortuanate vulnerability to CP gets in the way of someone's plans.
Then it's 'a tiny risk' and 'up to those who are vulnerable to protect themselves'

I don't see the problem with staying home till I knew they were safe.. or going to places I knew were safe, like relatives houses, walks in open countryside.

It is a little different for us as we get full pay to stay at home and look after a child if they are ill or could be a risk to others.

I would only go to that extreme if a child at their daycare or a friend they had played with closely had chicken pox, from what I have read about chicken pox it is fairly easy to catch when in close contact, so there would be a high risk of my child having cought chicken pox.

There are many situations where the parent wouldn't know their child had chicken pox, but personally for me If I knew there was a risk I would feel bad having my child (even with a possible risk) around public places just for the ease of my everyday life.

I wrongly assumed I had chicken pox as a child because I remeber having itchy spots but my mum said that was measels. I will be having the vaccination before I become pregnant again!

I did. I'll admit, I was possibly bit oversensitive because I know how badly it can harm an immunosuppressed person, but it also seemed like the most common sense thing to do, especially given the number of pregnant women we knew at the time.

I wouldn't have kept her at home if she had just been exposed to it at school, unless it was one of her particular friends who I know she would be hugging and hand-holding etc. But since it was a friend on a play date, I knew she had a good, long exposure.

littlemissbroody by your suggestion if a child at school gets the pox then every other child in the class at least, if not the school should stay home for 3 weeks. Their parents should all stay home from work for 3 weeks. Every time anyone you come into contact with gets the pox? Erm no.

OP I personally wouldn't go unless all spots were scabbed over.

Fair enough.

5madthings--I can imagine it would be just about impossible to keep a "possibly incubating CP" child isolated when you've got 4 others that need to be out and about!

Drive instead of taking the train if you still want to go, but don't risk other people.

Indith, I don't think that's what missbroody was suggesting?

Indith is right - that is the implication of this 'isolate just in case policy'. I can't believe you kept a child out of school for three weeks.

but when your child is continualy exposed to chickenpox as ds4 was it would have been a lot longer than 7wks and with 3 elder children to get to school and a toddler as well i couldnt possibly stay in for that length of time. as i said i warned everyone i knew that could be at risk that ds4 had been exposed to the chickenpox, kept him away from other children when i could, didnt go and see preg friends or those with little babies etc. but i had to go about daily life.

if they actually get it then we will stay in as i did with the elder 3, but as ds4 and dd have both been exposed to it numerous times and not had it i would have had endless enfored isolation periods which are not practical, esp when you ahve other children and they didnt get it anway!

and your school will not let your child have 3 wks off each time they have been exposed to chickenpox because they 'might' be going to get it, their attendence records would plummet! essentially ds4 would have had a good 3mths if not longer where he wasnt at school/pre-school and what would i have done iwth ds2 and ds3 who had to be at school? we had to go out simply to take them to school.

when my little 2 get it (as i am sure they will) then i will arrange lifts etc with friends, but i cant do that for 3mths ont he basis that my little ones 'might' be getting chickenpox.

My daughter is currently in hospital with severe complications from chicken pox. She is usually very strong and healthy - was just one of the unlucky ones.

Caught it most probably from a child who was brought round to ours while contagious. Parents knew - just decided not to mention it to me.

So I agree it's not fair to knowingly expose others as you just don't know what the risks are for them. Car/tunnel sounds like a better idea, for sure.

When DS2 got chicken pox we cancelled our holiday.

It was a pain in the arse. We probably could have wangled around the dates but I didn't want to be away with him feeling shit and I didn't want to risk that he would infect others, especially on the flight.

gastro I do hope your wee one is soon fit and well.

indith my ds will be in daycare from age 1-7 in a group of 5 babies (till he is 3/4) then in a group of 10 till he is 7. I assume he will play in close contact with all of those children everyday. If one of them had chicken pox as I have said I feel the chance is high that he will catch chicken pox and my choice would be to stay at home from work with him (probably split the time 50/50 with my DP.)

When DS goes to school he will be in a class of 15-20 children, if a child he didn't play with often had chicken pox I wouldnt feel the risk of infection was high but if a child who he was close friends with had chicken pox I would do the same.

3 weeks away from school isn't the end of the world, my mum took my little sister out of school for 9 months when my sister was 6 (to go traveling in south east Asia and India and to come and stay with me for 3 months whilst I lived in Australia) my sister now 9 is doing very well, you can't tell she missed 9 months of school.

sorry littlemiss where are you living as in the uk i am pretty sure if you told the school you were keeping your child out of school for 3 wks as they 'might' get the chickenpox then they would contact the relevant authorities for school truancy or whover it is, or they would expect a drs note, (which i doubt you would get) i agree btws i dont think missing huge chunks of schooling is necessarily bad (hell mine are having a week of in sept!) but this is not a reason i would use and you are very lucky if your employers will let you and yoru dp have the time off, the reality is that just wouldnt happen for most people.

I live in Sweden, parental time of to care for ill/contaious children is protected by law, infact it's better to be away from work with an ill child as you get 100% pay than if you are ill yourself where you get 80% pay, that pay isn't time limited so if you have a very poorly child you would have 6 months or a year or however long you need away from work.

school begins at 7 so before then you can take your child out of daycare whenever you want. When the children do start school they have lots of free time and play, I have never heared of attendance issues, I don't think there are even targets for attendance.