To ask... Would you give your child chicken pox deliberately?

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DD's cousin is due over tomorrow for a sleepover. Cousin has just been diagnosed with chicken pox.

Should we go ahead with sleepover, assuming cousin feels well enough, in the knowledge it will likely lead to DD catching chicken pox?

DD is 4 (not at school yet), cousin turning 6, and I've got a 9 month old at home to who woke this morning with a high temp so he might be ailing with something toi

No, my ds had it really bad, was in bed for days, eventually ended up on strong antibiotic tablets and antibiotic cream because he was covered from head to toe and they had become infected. He could barely walk and has been left with scars all over his face and body because of the infection.

I kinda did with my first, my childminders son had it and as he’d already been in contact with him during the incubation period, I carried on sending him. He caught it 10 days later.

Someone I knows 6 year old had it last week and if I wasn’t ready to pop out a newborn I’d of probably gone round with my 2 year old. TBH he’s been around kids during incubation periods and hasn’t caught it yet though. If he hasn’t had it by 8, I’ll vaccinate but I’d prefer him to get chicken pox as it’s more reliable then the vaccine.

I would cancel the sleepover just based on the infant coming down with a fever! Why add another sick child into the mix? And I agree with most of the above just get them the Vax.

Absolutely not. My 6 year old caught it in January and ended up with complications including staphylococcus pneumonia. He was in hospital and very poorly. I would never deliberately expose my kids to any kind of illness

When my ds had chickenpox a friend of mine wanted to bring her dd round to catch it. I refused because chickenpox is a horrible illness without complications. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if her dd had caught it and had complications.

I wouldn't recommend you deliberately infect your child. Get the vaccine. I wish I had. Poor ds still has chickenpox scars a year later.

‘£130 for a vaccine is a lot of money for much of the population. I live in one of the most deprived areas of the UK and many struggle to feed, clothe and house their kids due to unemployment. They're already eating beans on toast every day so can't spend a month's food and heating budget on a chickenpox vaccination.’

Stop having kids if you cannot protect them!! Honestly, statements like this are beyond my understanding.

Mine are vaccinated. CP is not a mild childhood disease we should celebrate!! There was a poster on here a few weeks ago called Chaos something or other who kept banging on about how it is harmless. Notice she/he hasn’t commented on this thread.

Lots of people have very little idea of how bad it can be, we have posts on here from allegedly rational parents asking odd questions like “my kid has chicken pox the spots came up last night,can I take him on a long haul flight this afternoon”

I am constantly seeing kids with chicken pox out and about in the comunity with very obviously new spots usually in places you expect to see lots of tiny babies and I once got called a dramatic cunt for offering to drive for half an hour to drop off some essentials to a Mum with 2 kids with it at the same time and asked why the fuck I thought it was acceptable for her to have to inprison her kids for a week.
It astounds me.

No as only a complete idiot would deliberately expose their child to a potentially fatal illness.

To those wanting to deliberately infect their children with chicken pox, this is a good article.

www.parents.com/health/vaccines/chicken-pox/chickenpox-parties/

I wouldn't in a million years and I have vaccinated my children.

Even if not a complicated case, I wouldn't want my child catching a mild one either if it can be avoided. I wouldn't wish a day's sickness on my child, not even a common cold. And chicken pox can be incredibly dangerous itself and can lead to other dangerous complications. I also wouldn't want my child to be a vector of disease to others.

No way.

DS1 had it very very bad. Off school for a month. He has terrible scars still, years later.

Plus the 9 month old, no way!

My 7yo will have to be hospitalised if she gets chickenpox. She had it at 11 months, but doesn’t have the antibodies. She is now on two immunosuppressant drugs that would mean chickenpox is dangerous for her.

Don’t knowingly spread disease because you know who your child will subsequently infect.

Besides, added to the above - my younger daughter had it twice - at 5 months and 2.5.

I still think that if you can't afford the vaccination, it's better for your kids to catch it quite early on.

YTho - that isn’t necessarily true though. Both mine had it before 1 year. One had it twice and the other isn’t immune.

Horses4, no it may not be true for every individual but looking at the wider population it still seems to be the case. Me and DH had it twice as well so probably the odds are that our DC would have had it twice.

But the issue is, if you can't afford the vaccination, there is no sure way to shelter your kids from catching it so it would be better if they caught it earlier.

Knowingly giving your child chicken pox is now considered abuse.

Don't do it

I’d only allow it if one of my children already had it. I wouldn’t send the other sibling to stay elsewhere so they wouldn’t catch it.

But if it wasn’t in my home, I’d avoid it.

THE VACCINATION IS NOT ON THE NHS PROGRAMME IN THE UK! Don't assume everyone can afford to have it done privately.

And there is a good reason for that, relating to shingles.

It is usually mild, and a lot of the complications have arisen from people giving their children iboprofen to reduce high temperatures.

And it's not abuse to expose your child. Does that mean you are an abuser if you send your child to nursery/school as they may catch illnesses from other children? What a nonsense.

Never understand people who intentionally infect their dc with things to get it out the way! Let the kids catch it when it's unavoidable, at school or whatever, they're better getting it when older in my opinion, my sisters dc got it at 4 and 1 and the 1 year old was very poorly

A lot of medical people don't recommend the vaccine. In the US where it is very common to get vaccinated, very few people get the later boosters or revaccinated (since it only lasts around ten years you need to do it again), which is leading to far more cases of c pox in older children and adults.
Adults have a 20 times higher risk of dying from c pox complications than children, and about the same for being hospitalised with it.

Also for 15 to 20% of children it doesn't work at all.

None of these means vaccinated is a bad idea, just that its really not as simple as go get a single c pox vaccine and your'e done.

If I'd have known there even was a vaccine I would have got it done. DS had Chicken pox when he was at nursery and is now a teenager and has seriously bad scars (craters!) on his face from it even now. I had shingles about ten years ago and it was bloody agony apart from feeling awful.

And there is a good reason for that, relating to shingles.

The data actually isn’t very good. It doesn’t seem like wild circulating cp in younger people reduces shingles by that much. Furthermore the severity of some cp cases tips the balance in favour of vaccination.

Many countries do vaccinate - they all have access to the same data. I personally would like to see it added to the schedule.

My DC were seriously ill with chicken pox. I now advise all my friends with young DC to pay for the vaccination. Just wish I’d known about it and been able to spare my kids. Please don’t assume it’s a minor illness that you should actively try to catch in order to get it over with.

And off topic, but another virus that I’ll never be so nonchalant about again is flu. I was hospitalised by problems stemming from contracting flu this winter and my recovery will take many weeks if not several months. I was completely fit and healthy beforehand, it’s not just the weak or vulnerable at risk.

itstimeforanamechange It's not on the NHS schedule due to costs. So many other countries have it on their schedule, that's because it can be a very serious illness.

Given that if when people had a baby if they were to save 63p a week (£32.50 a year) then they could protect their children at 2 years old, I'm not sure the affordability argument adds up. People need to plan. Honestly if people can't afford 63p a week then I would question them having a baby tbh.

blastomama the doctors and nurses I know do absolutely recommend the vaccine, and have had their children vaccinated.

It's on the schedule in Spain and so is a booster at 12 for example.