Chicken pox in the mouth, 22 month DS, any tips?

[madaboutcows]

Hi all
My son has chicken pox, not too bad in itself, but unfortunately most blisters are around and in the mouth - he's obvously starving hungry as has not eaten properly in a week, but screams as soon as he tries to take any milk or food - it obviously stings/hurts, he's now not sleeping, probably due to hunger, and it's a bit of a Catch 22. Any tips on how I can help him, or what I can give him? Would teething gel help or could that make it worse? All advice much appreciated.
Kindest regards
Sarah

My 2 are just getting over chicken pox and had blisters in and around their mouths

at their worst, they ate things like porridge, yogurt (with porridge oats in it), cream cheese sandwiches, risotto, ice cream and plenty of water and non-acidic juices

Basically I gave them anything soft, bland and more or less inoffensive

he will not starve, the worst of it is over in a few days, and then the blisters scab over

it is awful though, dd had it particularly badly, I wouldn't wish it on anyone

I found that ice chips or ice in drinks helped. If you're giving Calpol, I'd do it before trying to offer food - it might provide a bit of pain relief.

My dd fortunately only got one blister on her tongue when she had chicken pox - but I don't know if you can do this, but what about putting something like bonjela on the blisters in the mouth before he eats? I know it will sting him for a few seconds, but they will be covered enough to numb them long enough for him to eat some soft foods described above.
Don't really want to recommend doing this as I never tried it myself with dd, but perhaps give it a go if he is really not eating anything?
The blisters should only last for a few days, hopefully he will recover quickly from this and will be eating and drinking again in no time xx

We gave our DS (1 and 2) ice lollies and ice cream as this seemed to help. We made our own lollies and bought good ice cream so we felt they were getting at least a little bit of goodness!

Have you tried piriton - it helps with any itching but also helps with sleep. DS1 hated the taste so we mixed it with a bit of ice cream!

Chicken pox is a nightmare but at least you have got it out of the way. It can be awful when they are older.

Thank you so much for all your advice. I'm glad to hear it doesn't last long. I'll keep trying him on bland foods after a shot of calpol. I am also going to try piriton and ice cream for sure - and that's just for me :)