Am I making DS immune to chicken pox by bf-ing him?

[policywonk]

I keep putting DS (3) in a room with other chidren with CP and rubbing them together in the hope DS will contract CP before he starts school, but no luck so far. I was talking to some friends last night, and they all thought that he'd never catch CP while I'm feeding him. Is this right? Should I give up on the deliberate infection campaign until he's weaned?

I think BF is meant to offer quite alot of protection against CP. Its not fool proof, he may get it, but its unlikely.

Its not guaranteed, didn't work for dd. (she got cp that is)

DS was exposed to CP several times while I was bf-ing him (stopped just before 2 yrs), including really close contact with next door's little girl, and he didn't get it. Did wonder about the immunity thing at the time...

Thanks

Stpuidly , after posting I remembered that DS1 contracted CP while still being fed (although he did get it pretty mildly).

Wine, eh?

Nope. I bf all mine. Ds1 was exposed loads of times and did not get it. I honestly thought he was immune. However, he finally got it when he was 6 (along with ds2 who was 3).

DD1 never had it, DD2 has had it, both bf.

DS2 got CP badly at 8 months while he was BF. boo didn't work for us

all the people I spoke to (Gp,homoeopath etc)said that BF gives very little ,if any,protection against chicken pox.My baby had it at 12m while fully breast fed,she caught it from her sister and so had a horrendous dose ( it is worse when caught from prolonged exposure).Maybe your Ds did get it but very mildly with only a couple of spots,or maybe he will get it later!

i gather that some children get it with few symptoms. 20%? anyway ds (also 3) has been thoroughly exposed many times and no spots so i reckon he has had the quiet version. also not weaned so we could see how it is in 5 years some months time as an experiment together pw.

Thanks again for the responses

Helly, yes I do wonder sometimes whether he has had a very mild dose and I've missed it! As I said below, his brother had a very mild one (about three spots), but he was quite poorly and v. high temperature for about 24hrs, so couldn't have missed that.

righto fishie

Five years looking pretty optimistic at this end...

BF'd DD2 caught CP from DD1 when she was 8 weeks old but I only realised it was CP about a week later when the spots had scabbed over in that way that CP spots only do IYSWIM. She didn't get ill at all, no temp or grizzles - I would have missed it entirely if I hadn't noticed the spots.

Don't think she had a strong enough dose to not get it again though but there has been CP at nursery for 8 months now and she still hasn't had it.