Chicken pox

[berryhead2013]

Hi I am ready to be told I was unreasonable and I feel so guilty as it is but
My youngest had chicken pox three weeks ago I kept him off nursery until he had fully scabbed up 7 days then sent him back then five days later his older sister came out in spots at school so I brought her home as soon as the school phoned now there are two or three in the class with chicken pox and I feel so guilty
Was I unreasonable to keep sending my daughter to school even though she was well or should I have kept her off because her brother had chicken pox she would have missed nearly four weeks of school
I feel so bad these kids have got it so near Christmas and have had a comment from another mum that didn't help

I kept my daughter off until she was fully scabbed up too which took her 11 days

You didn't do it on purpose, you didn't know she was brewing it until she came put in spots, and its not unexpected that children will catch chickenpox at some point unless vaccinated against it or naturally immune.

One of my DC had chickenpox twice and somehow didn't pass it on to my other DC. One of my other DC caught it a few years later and passed it on to all of them, including the one who had already had it twice.

In amongst all the COVID worries I've forgotten advice/guidance for chicken pox (and my children are now at looking for their very first mortgages age rather than nursery anyway). But I have a memory of it being seven days after the rash scabbed over, twenty years ago. Sounds like you did the right thing OP and the comment from another mum was probably born of frustration.

They’re infectious for two weeks prior to spots aren’t they? So it’s very difficult to prevent transmission.

If it were me, i’d be grateful 😂. They are best getting it young, and at least now it means no time off school, work, arranging childcare etc. They may feel a bit rough over Christmas but at least they have lots of food and christmas telly.

If they are really upset about their kids getting CP they should have had then vaccinated.

They’re infectious for two weeks prior to spots aren’t they? So it’s very difficult to prevent transmission.

No, its contagious 24-48 hours before the spots appear and remains contagious until all of the spots are scabbed over. There is usually a second wave of spots on day 3-4 and these are normally the last to scab over. Most kids will be scabbed over by around day 7 and can go back to school, the scabs just fall off naturally over the course of a week or two. Unless you're my oldest DC who took two weeks to scab over, got an infection needing two rounds of oral antibiotics and an antibiotic cream, got spots inside his ears requiring a hearing test once they'd healed, and still has some scars several years later.

Thank you I just didn't see the point in the well child missing all that school she has missed a fair whack this year as it is

The incubation period is 10-21 days so you couldn't have predicted if and when your other child would get it. They are contagious for 1-2 days before spots appear and until they scab over which is normally within about a week.

Don't worry you didn't do it on purpose ! These things happen. My 6 year old still hasn't had it !