Hit me with your chicken pox tips!

[Noloudnoises]

Pretty sure toddler is going to get this. And probably on holiday. Somewhere hot. Fabulous....

I need to know EVERYTHING!

I've looked online and know the tips but thought some mumsnet wisdom would give me some golden nuggets.

Help!

Is chicken pox vaccination even a thing? It's definitely not in with routine vaccinations - is it something you have to ask for separately? My two have both just had chicken pox, around the same time as virtually every child in nursery so I don't think it's a vaccination that many people have heard of!

I've just looked it up. The UK doesn't vaccinate against chicken pox. No wonder I was confused!

Vaccinate! £65 per dose at superdrug, he'll need two doses. (It's not routine in the UK but is in lots of European countries and the US).

Top tip: track down calamine aqueous cream. It does exist. It soothes much better than calamine lotion, which is fine until it dries and then the dry lotion becomes itchy which defeats its purpose. Calamine cream and Piriton for itching, Calpol for any headaches and temperatures. If they are small enough put those cotton scratch mittens on.

Advice given to me by an excema sufferer was bicarb of soda in luke warm baths to instantly remove itching. Worked much better than any cream when ds was covered head to toe in crusty spots, he even had a bath at 3am one night!

DO NOT use ibruprofen as it can increase the risk of infection/scarring

Get the vaccination. Chicken pox are very unpleasant and it can cause your child to get shingles later in life. Shingles are very, very painful. The official name for shingles in both Norwegian and Danish translates to "Hellfire", because they cause a burning sensation.

Will look into vaccination but I fear the horse may have already bolted.

Anyway, I have taken all advice and will stop panicking.

Thank you.

Government thinks it’s not cost effective to vaccinate UK children with chickenpox. US/Other European countries think differently.

Some friends children were and just sick for a few days other friends children have been in hospital with it and one with dreadful scaring.

I opted to pay for the vaccine as we did for men B for my son who missed the cut off. Equally not everyone will have the cash

The reason I asked if the toddler was still in nappies was because both my daughters were when they had cp. One dd suffered horribly down there because of the nappies. I took her to ooh twice because it was so bad. I remember very well two nights were she would sleep for 10 mins and wake up again crying for an hour.
There was nothing that could be done to help her. This was 14 yrs ago though.

Yes Piriton worked brilliantly, also porridge oats in a tied stocking floating in the bath with them.

I cannot support in stronger terms what topbitch said. My DS was 1 and if I could go back I would have left him nappy free as much as possible after the first spot appeared. He had hundreds in the nappy area and not that many elsewhere. What an area to suffer in. DH could literally not look at it.

The cost of the chicken pox vaccination is roughly £180 over two doses. If you can afford it and your child has not yet had chicken pox please look into getting it for them (I understand that even if they’ve already been exposed to the virus then getting the vaccine within a few days of exposure can limit the severity of the infection or stop them getting it at all but I’ve no first hand experience of this.) It can be a miserable illness on one end of the spectrum, and life threatening at the other.

I've just paid £150 for the 2 doses at Boots. I'm so happy that dd will never get this illness, or shingles.

I've just discovered that my youngest can have the vaccine for free, as I have an immuno compromised child who is older.
The youngest is the only one who hasn't had it.
Your little one might not get it, my youngest has practically rubbed himself on people who have it!

Can I inquire to what "always one" mean? Just wondering.

Just hear to say I didn’t read all of the title but now have hit me with your rhythm stick stuck in my head.

Vaccinate your child, for goodness sake! If you cannot afford the vaccine you will hardly be able to afford the possible weeks out of work caused by likely compications of the chickenpox itself, or the long-term medical issues of the unlucky children who end up with encephalitis as a result of chickenpox. And you may live to watch the suffering your older child will go through when they have the shingles. All easily prevented by two doses of safe, world-wide tested vaccine. I honestly despair with the human race sometimes.

So many people get loans to buy the latest computer or mobile phone... but getting one for health reasons does not even cross their mind?

I’ve paid for my toddler to be vaccinated but in the OP’s case I’m not sure I would. Have I read it wrong or is she about to go on holiday? It’s a live vaccine and there is a (very small) chance that the child will be contagious post vaccination. My pharmacist warned me to keep my daughter away from people with poor immune systems in case they caught it from her. So a child who has had this vaccination recently on an aeroplane where the same air is pumped around may not be a good idea.