To be worried about/not want my dc to get chickenpox

[Dowhatdowullywup]

So I went to a party today where a child very obviously had chickenpox.

The mum said they had crusted over but the spots were still there and very red.

I have 2 dc 2 yrs old and 4 months old.

Firstly, AIBU to think these sores still looked active?

Secondly, AIBU to not want my kids to be around it if can be helped and them potentially getting very ill or is it always quite mild in children? Mostly worried about my 4 month old

The US has been vaccinating since 1995 so the first babies to receive it will now be 28 (presuming they were 1 at time of vaccinating)! So if there was a problem with waining immunity I’d like to think we’d know by now. The vaccine is now mandatory in most states for daycare and school attendance so since we lived there at the time there was no choice for us to make, DD just had to have it. She’s survived 2 class pox outbreaks since we moved back to the U.K. though so far so good.

Both my children have just had it. It is luck how unwell they get, we were fortunate that it looked much worse than it was for both.
Lots of spots, very angry looking and 24-48 hours of discomfort. Nothing worse and both only missed 3 days of school after which they had scabbed over.

If you don't want your children to get it, you really need to vaccinate them sooner. It's circulating widely and most contagious before you even know they are about to get a rash. Chances are that child was not contagious and they did have scabs but it is so likely your child will encounter someone else who is unknowingly passing it on

For most children I know it’s mild, but 2 sets of our friends children had it really badly, one had to go to hospital. We decided to vaccinate ours, we went to a local pharmacy. It’s great to know that’s one we’ll avoid, we had hand foot and mouth last year and that was horrible for everyone!

It’ll still work within 3-5 days of exposure. If you can afford it and can get an appointment in time.

I'm the opposite OP my nearly 8 year old hasn't had them yet and I'd prefer for him to get it now rather then later as can get quite poorly if they're older. When my younger 2 kids had it together ds was 7, dd was 3 my ds had it way way worse bless him.

Rather now than later in life. Had it at 19, I was extremely sick with virus itself and the spots were hell. Better to get it as a child

They stay red for ages. My daughter had it about 2 months ago and still has lots of red marks. Children don't tend to get ill with it really. They might be unwell for a day or two but it's usually mild. Vaccination doesn't always prevent them getting it and is a waste of money imo. It can also give them the same sort of reaction as getting it naturally.

It's going round at the moment. I'm sure this parent didn't do anything wrong if they were crusted over.

I had the vaccine on the NHS but I still caught it a couple of years later so it's not that effective in my experience.

No, crusted over is after they burst, they still look extremely red and angry for some time after they are no longer active.

@Babyvenusplant
You don't catch shingles from chicken pox though?
You can catch chicken pox from shingles, not the other way around.
You can develop shingles at any point if you have had chicken pox previously, but there's no guarantee you will, and you are still "protected" as you haven't actually got chicken pox again.

These were my dc when scabbed over and not active, she was covered and they lasted for ages. Took ages for them to fade.

Why, if it's not helpful?

I had chickenpox as a child, no immunity to it as an adult, so got vaccinated. My mum got it 3 times as a child. It's very rare now here, I don't know any children that have had chickenpox. It's on the free child vaccination schedule here.

Ds got then at 15 months, was very crabby all day & was sick in his car seat, had one spot on the back of his neck, mil said it was a heat spot but when I undressed him he was covered. Luckily it was really warm & he spent loads of time in his paddling pool which I put bicarbonate of soda in to stop the itching, I gave him calpol & piriton for a few days until he felt better but he wasn't as poorly as I expected.

I caught them when I was 12 off my little brother, I was covered & passed them on to my 39 year old mum, we were both really poorly & then I caught measles & mumps straight after, I was off school nearly a full term.

The time my almost 2 yr old, 9 mth old and DH had chickenpox is still one of the worst periods of my parenting life. They all caught it off my older child who was ill but not too bad. The 2 yr old was miserable but okish. The 9 mth old? Heartbreaking! Spots all over his body, including his genitals and inside his mouth and nose. Had to keep taking him to be monitored. He was beside himself.
My ex-dh was incredibly ill at the same time. Really, really sick.

I had a 4th child who was vaccinated as soon as it was possible. I know, from experience that it isn't always bad, but I also know, from experience, just how bad it can be. I was not going to take the chance again.

Sadly no they're not protected for life. I've had it twice and my DD has also had it twice, although it's quite unusual.
I got it at 3 and 16 but it was worse when I was 16. The younger they catch it the better. Catching it as an adult especially for the first time can make you really unwell whereas most kids bounce back quickly

Arrhhh, won’t help you but we have chickenpox vax for kids on our National immunisation starting at 12 or 18 months from memory.

I'm assuming that the people banging on here about how great it is to get chickenpox young and skipping the vaccine for chickenpox know nothing about the horror of shingles. One of my children was exposed to chicken pox just before the vaccine and got it. My youngest got the vaccine in time. Both my oldest and I have had shingles which is deeply unpleasant at best.

My daughter had them recently, they stayed red for a while after they had scabbed over, if they had scabbed over they are fine to mix with other people.
Its definitely better for them to have it as a child than an adult.

Both my children were vaccinated as soon as they were one. Most developed countries vaccinate as standard against it.

Sorry that's not true, they can get it again, rarely they can get it more then twice and as an adult it can come back as shingles.

The chicken pox vaccine has only been given on population levels since about the mid 90s so we don't really know for sure yet. There's no significant waning in immunity based on the data we have afaik though, and obviously it's possible for natural immunity to wane. Fwiw I had chicken pox myself as a kid and the DC are vaccinated.

Probably lying wasn't contagious. The spots take an eternity to fade. Once crusted they are no longer contagious

DS2 got it when he was about 4 months. It was so mild that we only realised what it was when DS1 got it the next week. I think DS2 had 2 or 3 spots and was a wee bit crankier than usual but we were in the throws of having allergies diagnosed so just thought it was something to do with that. He did get it again when he started school but it was again very mild, much more so than DS1 who had it at the same age but neither of the boys were particularly unwell at all.
Best of luck OP, its very likely to be just fine.