to ask at what age your child had Chicken Pox?

[goldilocksandmylittlebear]

So that I can decide when to give my DS the vaccine, choice of at the same time as MMR or over 4 weeks afterwards.

When my older dd 5 caught it first, the GP said that my ds 2 is almost certainly incubating the pox. I waited and waited and practically gave up. Then finally my ds' spots appeared 23 days after dd's. He was right.

If it is true that younger children need higher exposure to catch chicken pox, I assume that exposure would in a lot of cases come from an older sibling. I read a lot of younger siblings on this thread catching it from older ones.

dd got it at 9, caught it from dn who was 16 months at the time... ds had it about 6 months ago when he was 2 3/4

Why is this in the AIBU topic?

should be in general health

tut tut tut

PCF - were you fully breastfeeding? Has DS2 had it since. They usually get it again if they have it that early don't they?

my dt's were 8 months - dt 1 ended up in hosp as he got a chest infection (spots on the INSIDE had weakened his chest apparently and is quiet common in littlies), but they are now 'immune' for free...ok ok i know they can get it again, but chances are slimmer when they had it once already as far as i know.....

quiet common? quite common

dd1 - 18 months
dd2 - 5 yrs

The Dd's were 6 and 4. They both had them one after the other in February this year.

dd1 was 4.5 and dd2 was 2 when they had it.

Micku5 did your dotor not want to do it before the MMR? Can understand reasons for not all at once, although US and Canada do it all together. What would they have done if yur little one had have caught it?

Neeerly3 - horrible story but does highlight how nasty Pox can be.

nappyaddict - no ds2 caught it from a totally separate little lad. we had gone for playdate at their house and ds1 was toilet training. all the kids were ds1's age (2.1 at the time) or a bit older. they weren't really that interested in ds2 until i took ds1 to the loo and ds2 started yelling! so they were all hugging him, patting him, calming him down (with their mum's supervision they weren't mauling him ), so he really had no chance of not catching it once the other boys spots came out that afternoon after we had left!

the bummer is that i nearly didn't go because ds2 had been up 4 times in the night and i was shattered

at least the vaccine for ds1 held up though!

ds was just 3 and dd coming up 4. Both got it from contact at preschool.

Nappyaddict - sorry, I'm not set up to send CAT yet, so I'll post this here and hope you see it

My 5 month dd old caught it from her 17 month old brother, who had turn caught it from his cousin so it was totally within the family.

DD had the chickenpox really badly (I bf but had never had it myself) but I'm hoping she is now immune (have heard having it under 1 doesn't necessarily mean immunity) but her nursery had an ourbreak recently and she was fine so fingers crossed

dd1 was 2.10 and dd2 was 8 months.

The pox was pretty awful for dd2 due to her eczema and her torso is riddled with pox scars.

dd has it now. Nearly 3. She will still have it on her birthday

Goldilocks - she had to have a full run of blood tests and boosters to test her immune levels to see how she coped with the inactive vaccines. They came back 'near normal' so the plan was to go ahead with MMR first (measles far more serious for her).

IF she had caught chicken pox then she would be given the varicella antibodies... if I remember rightly but it was something that the hospital could have treated.

Ds has it at 20 months
dd is nearly 6 and has never had it despite coming into contact with it numerous times. Neither have i (nearly 42)

I was under impression that chickenpox is severe if caught after the age of 13, but mild when caught age 13 and under. I imagine I will look into vax for DSs at age 14+ if they haven't had CP by then (I have tried to get them exposed, get it 'over' with).

DS1-2 had it as 4months and 2yo, and it was extremely mild (both were immune in subsequent outbreaks).

lljk - who caught it first?

From what I have read, when it is introduced on the NHS it will be aimed at 13year olds who have not had it lljkk.

ds & dd caught it at the same time (from a suspiciously spotty looking child at a soft play centre I think) despite having been definitely exposed several times before at nursery. They were 11months and 28months when they succumbed. I was told that as dd was under a year old there was a possibility she would catch it again later as the immune system isn't always fully developed. This makes me wonder if there's much point in vaccinating before that age?

Dh had it in his 20's and was very poorly for about 3 weeks. The risk of complications is much higher if you catch it as an adult.

snorkle - you can't vaccinate before 12months and it lasts at least 25 years.

ds1 was almost 6
ds2 was 3.5