To keep DD off pre school

[Purtyburty]

A child at DD’s pre school got chicken pox last week and stayed off nursery from Thursday. Came back in on the following Tuesday. I only found out on the Tuesday and am now worried about DD catching it mainly because we are going on holiday to Lanzarote on 22nd June. I have kept her off since I found out - we really want to go on this holiday and have saved a lot of money to be able to book it. Would you keep her off next week too in the lead up to it? Praying we don’t catch it.

@Decafcoff no I am in Mat leave with my 11 month old

If I had a holiday booked then I would keep my child off too. It’s a small amount of time and she’s young so won’t be missing out on vital learning. A family holiday will be way more important developmentally than a few days at school

However if there was no holiday then I would send her in, I wouldn’t shy away from the chicken pox’s because it’s much less risky to get it as a child than as an adult

I mean, it's preschool. She isn't compulsory school age. You're home already. What's the problem? You can do what you like.

But unless you're wrapping her in a bubble I can't see it helping much. Kids are germ pools. Literally any baby/toddler place you take her yourself will be just as much, if not more of a risk. At least at preschool it's the same approx 10 kids every day, they've already shared most of their germs. If you take her to softplay, the park or even just the cinema she'll be touching stuff used by a heck of a lot more people that have been more different places that can be carrying more things.

Yes I am also wondering if keeping her off will reduce then chance of catching it as she is already been in at the same time as the other child

The vaccine costs less than potential losses from a cancelled holiday or missing work. There's no guarantee the same situation won't come up again in a year or two and it's less economical to stay home all the time trying to dodge the virus.

The most contagious time is the 2 days before the spots came out and when the spots first come out before they crust over

if the child is back then not sure there is anything to catch?

the incubation period is 10 days to 3 weeks so she could have already caught it and you wouldn’t know

you just have to crack on. But at the end of the day if you’re on Mat leave and the child isn’t school compulsory age why does it even matter? Do what you want

I think because of the incubation period she’ll have already been exposed. But this might help if she didn’t catch it and someone else did who is already incubating.

Sounds like a low effort way of a little extra precaution.

Well if she was around the child before the spots came out it could be too late, however, other children could be contagious so if you could keep her off then I would.

It's impossible to predict. Someone I know did keep their kid off from childcare because they had a holiday coming up for a family wedding. Kept off for a whole week beforehand. Took them to the park because they were climbing the walls and was nice out a couple of days before the flight and bam D&V day before flight. They just thought they'd get on with it as vomiting stopped before flight, hopped on plane, all the rest of them came down with it in the hotel the first night. Spread around more of the guests too.

I’d probably keep her off to be honest. It may be shutting the door after Th e horse has bolted with regards to that one particular girl but if your daughter hadn’t caught it off her, she might off another kid and seeing as you’re home around anyway, it’s not really any skin off your nose to do so. Fingers crossed she hasn’t caught it!

I would keep her off, you will probably find others are doing the same, it’s like a pack of cards falling down, one gets it, passes it on, the next couple of days another child gets it and passes it on.

Keeping her off is probably wise, do the nursery know why I know attendance isn't important but they might be wondering where she is ?

Have you considered the vaccine?

@Coffeeishot I think it’s too late for that now

Well not too late in general if she doesn’t contract it but too late for our holiday

Ah fair enough, fingers crossed she or the baby doesn't get it, I remember one of mine it totally missed her until she caught it from her school work experience placement when she was 16!

Getting the vaccine now would offer her some protection against chickenpox, even after an exposure, but it offers much more protection against future exposures