To keep my daughter off nursery this month?

[StudentMummy19]

Sounds a bit silly I know, but her chicken pox is spreading round her nursery like wildfire. We are due to go to Australia at the start of April, so if I keep her off she would get it and crust over before go. If keep her going to nursery then she may not catch it from this child but the next or the next one....

What you would you guys do?

@DesLynamsMoustache just a bit worried about it being a pointless vaccine and if there are any complications if she gets a dose whilst incubating after exposure? I will speak to a nurse today.

OP you’re getting it very harsh on here, this is one of those treads where I highly suspect some posters are just being argumentative for the sake of it.
If you can have her at home I would just do that, for more reasons than the chickenpox, I suspect you may not want to travel to australia come April too but that’s another thread...

@myself2020 how long after exposure?

Vaccinate. My dd caught pox off a kid at the airport once I'm fairly sure.

@Hellbentwellwent thanks, I only wanted an idea of what others would do! The most common idea is vaccinating. I know, chicken pox is probably not what will stop me going 😂

MMR has too low a take-up without them adding another jab, and chickenpox causes complications for fewer children (not none, but far fewer than measles for example). It may be added in future; NHS concern is that more anti-vaxxer kids would then get chickenpox as adults with even more complications and my view is that I care about effects on my DS more than I care the general herd even taken all together, others may decide they feel differently.

@StudentMummy19 i don’t know exactly, but the first child in the setting was absent with chickenpox on a tuesday, our vaccine had been booked (months before!) for the friday. he was the only child in the setting not catching it

@MRex good points there. I am going to speak to a nurse today about it and if she assures me it will likely be beneficial I will vaccinate.

My DD was vaccinated after exposure (not knowingly).
She did get CP but to a very mild degree, she wasn’t in a great deal of pain and didn’t get a load of spots. It did however still take 10 days for the last ones to scab over and still necessitated over a week out of school.

If she doesn't need to be at nursery, i.e. there is someone available to look after her, then YANBU. It's up to you, it's not compulsory to attend nursery.

i personally wouldnt vaccinate.
Im not anti vaccinations at all, I just dont think for the vast majority its a requirement to add yet another injection to the list.

@pipnchops I agree that school would be a different story.

Good.

While we're talking, please ensure you get bloody good insurance for your flight, check the terms and conditions specifically that it covers various scenarios of being unable to go, unable to return and healthcare while you're there. The cheapest don't necessarily pay out for certain costs for major events such as pandemic, be sure that you're covered.

I’m going to say vaccinate anyway. I got sick of worrying every time there was a bout of it just before we had big plans. DD2 got it (visibly to is) three weeks after the first vaccination but only a few tiny spots on her chest and tummy and they were gone within a few days.

Keep her off. I wouldn’t pay £140 for a vaccination that wasn’t mandatory. I had NO clue there was such thing before I read this post. I’ve had chicken pox, my sister has had chicken pox, my brothers has had chicken pox, my mother has had chicken pox, my own children have had chicken pox..... what I’m trying to say is EVERYONE I know has had chicken pox and no one has had complications from it. It’s chicken pox not the fucking plague and it’s very common.

@PrettyLittleLiar20 both my cousins had chickenpox. both are disfigured for life. doesn’t count as a serious consequence though, as its only scars. side effects of diseases don’t need to be serious to be life changing
i thankfully never caught them and got vaccinated as an adult.

Of course you can keep her off, none of mine even went. it isn't compulsory.
I'd be more bothered about not being allowed back into the country after travelling tbh, or quarantined somewhere awful.

I would because of the cost involved and her age.

It's just different opinions, really. I happily paid for the chicken pox vaccine as that money was worth far less to me than dealing with a week of an unwell child, potentially cancelled trips and events and also the risk of complications, even mild ones such as scarring. Avoiding those things is well worth £150 IMO (although ours was only £110) and I'm grateful we could afford it.

@myself2020 I have a chicken pox scar on my forehead. I’m disfigured for life also. I wouldn’t even pay £140 to get rid of it. It happens. Many many people have chicken pox scars.

@Devlesko well of course coronavirus may stop me going anyway. I'll just mighty miffed if something as common and inconvenient prevents us going.

@MRex excellent insurance policy, I've gone through it with a fine toothed comb.

I have booked her in for Wednesday, earliest I could get.

Could you ask the family who would provide the alternative childcare for a loan for the vaccine?

They would probably prefer than than provide childcare for a month.

@PrettyLittleLiar20 so you wouldn’t pay £140 for a vaccination to stop your child getting chickken pox, but you would pay out for two lots of childcare fees in one month so they do t get exposed to chicken pox? (Which is what the op is going to have to do if she takes your advice).

We paid for dd to have the vaccination. We would have lost more than the £130 cost of the jab if one of us had to take a week (or more depending) off work.

I also work in childcare and find that more parents are choosing to vaccinate against cp. it’s hard enough covering childcare for the inevitable stomach bugs/viral infections etc without needing a week for chicken pox.

I have no idea what I would do in your situation though op. Speak to a medical person and find out how long it takes to have some immunity from the vaccine and take it from there. You might find you only need to be absent from nursery for a week or two, meaning double childcare fees won’t be needed for the entire month.

@Maryann1975 That’s exactly why we had DD done - it was far cheaper than lost wages for 2 weeks minimum if she caught it. Plus if she didn’t catch it as a child we didn’t want to worry about her catching it as an adult/pregnant woman and it possibly causing more issues.

Oh and I spoke to my GP about it - he said his son was hospitalised with it so as soon as his daughter turned 1 he’d be having her done.