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Children's health

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Original poster

Should I take nearly 4 year old dd to chicken pox party?

34 replies

happenedagain · 28/04/2011 21:26

My dd is nearly 4, my friends little one has chicken pox, I'm wondering if I should take her to catch them? Or just wait untill she naturally catches them at school?

OP posts:

sneezecakesmum · 28/04/2011 21:31

Thats a difficult question! Its inevitable she will get CP eventually and better off to get younger as nasty as an adult or pg lady.

But what if she got really sick and had pneumonia (a serious side effect) you would feel so guilty. Maybe she will be better off getting it when she's older. If you have never had it maybe she should catch it now so that when/if you get pg you wont have complications. tbh bit of a [cbiscuit] if I think about it!!

RambleOn · 28/04/2011 21:35

I would, if it was more convenient to have a sick child now than later.

However, my DD had it a couple of weeks ago, and even though she was bathed with DS every day, it took him another fortnight to actually catch it. So I'm not convinced it's that easy to catch iyswim.

wasabipeanut · 28/04/2011 21:37

I'm not keen on the idea of deliberately exposing children to things like CP. What will be will be. Your DD will get it eventually in her own good time!

paulapantsdown · 28/04/2011 21:40

yes do it ... get it over and done with if possible

crispface · 29/04/2011 20:17

I had CP as an adult and was incredibly ill. Three weeks in bed, no food, little drink, almost hospitalised - the doc prescribed me tablets (HUUUGE TABLETS) to take 4 times a day to prevent any more spots coming as i was so poorly, and i scarred badly. It also took a long time for me to recover once i got out of bed.

You know where this is going don't you?

Take her to the party, my dd had CP aged 3 and was spotty and a bit under the weather, but nothing anywhere near as ill as I was.

MissBetsyTrotwood · 29/04/2011 20:30

I wouldn't, personally. She's only 4 and has a fair amount of time left to get it before it becomes an issue. Have you looked at the other threads on this? There are a lot out there, from what I remember with most posters advising against it. Complications are rare of course, but could you live with it if you had intentionally exposed her? There is a poster out there who tells an awful story of her sister in law I think who took her DD to a ch pox 'party' - the child got sick and eventually died I think, with the mum becoming an alcoholic .

It will go around when she starts school. I'd wait.

HumphreyCobbler · 29/04/2011 20:32

I would not do this because of the risk of serious complications. I agree with MissBetsyTrotwood.

chocolatelover1234 · 30/04/2011 20:45

I always had a bit of a running joke with SIL which ever of our children got CP first we'd have a party. My DD got it 1st aged 3 over a month ago and was so so poorly. We had to go to hospital back and forth it was incredibly scary. Dr did say it was an unusual extreme case though.

Whilst she's over it now (although spots are still visible scabbed over) i'd say to any parent yes it's better to catch it young but i wouldn't encourage it.

Hope that helps.

CharlieBoo · 30/04/2011 20:55

No way, I wouldn't purposefully put my kids through that... as other posters have said it can be very nasty.

Agree, I have know someone who had it as an adult and were hospitalised. (sp). However my MIL is 65 and never had it....

EustaciaVye · 01/05/2011 16:13

No. If there were complications you would never forgive yourself.

I say this as an adult who had chicken pox at 26. I thought I was going to die, seriously.

I decided if my kids hadnt caught it naturally by 10 then I would get them vaccinated. But I would not specifically set out to infect them. Some people get very ill from chicken pox.

Michaelahpurple · 04/05/2011 12:50

It is an odd issue, isn't it. We all believe better to get it over with, and ideally before school starts, but there is a fear of taunting the fates by getting it on purpose. In the USA of course one cannot start school without being innnoculated.

maxybrown · 06/05/2011 10:44

My Grandma is 84 and never had it in fact she has had NO childhood illness! oh and no vaccines either, not even flu jab.

schmee · 06/05/2011 10:47

Please don't - it can be really really nasty. Have you thought about getting her inoculated privately?

EldonAve · 06/05/2011 11:09

Yes I would
Best to get it out of the way

I wouldn't vaccinate as they will most likely need boosters later

tink123 · 08/05/2011 20:00

This is a difficult one - My dh almost died of CP a few years ago, so I would have said yes. But when I think about it deeply, I always wonder what if you take a child and they catch a really serious case of it.

QOD · 08/05/2011 20:04

The store about the pox party, the neice and the alcoholic SIL is mine, except my neice is still alive, aged 20 and very very disabled mentally and physically.

She was 2.5 yrs old and perfect and my SILS purposely got them together so she'd catch it with her brother

Both suffer horribly with the guily

nethunsreject · 08/05/2011 20:11

No.

There are rare but severe complications associated with cp. Yep, most kids are fine, but if, God forbid, your wee one was to become very ill, it would be your fault.

nethunsreject · 08/05/2011 20:12

btw, I had it as a pregnant adult and still feel no.

MrsRigby · 08/05/2011 20:25

For fucks sake, this kind of mentality really fucking annoys me.

No.

My 2 DS's aged 2 years and 7 months have both just had it. It was no fun for them, myself or my husband.

Please don't do it, your daughter doesn't deserve it - TRUST ME.

caughtinanet · 08/05/2011 20:32

MrsRigby - unless you are going to vaccinate your children will catch CP at some time, maybe it will be a mild case maybe not there's nothing you can do to influence that so might it not be better to know when its coming and be able to plan for it.

Personally I'd be happy to expose my DCs to CP and have never gone out of my way to avoid it.

tilbatilba · 08/05/2011 20:38

Why don't you vaccinate instead ? CP is horrid.

mousymouse · 08/05/2011 20:40

no, get her vaccinated instead.
dd had her jab a couple of weeks ago, no side effects at all.
a child in my dc nursery had pox in her lungs and was hospitalised for a week.

ravenAK · 08/05/2011 20:42

Isn't there some suggestion that getting a 'heavy' dose through deliberate close exposure can be worse than being 'lightly' infected by a random sneeze etc...?

Ds gave it to my best mate (never occurred to me that an adult in late 30s might not have had it; she literally crashed overnight after a boozy evening & wasn't even in the same room as him).

She was VERY ill.

I'm glad mine have now had it but I'd not feel comfortable tempting fate with it...

flyingintheattic · 09/05/2011 13:52

There is a risk of serious complications even death, and think how you would feel if you had deliberate exposed her.

If you are that worried go private and get the vaccine, it is commonplace in the US to vaccinate all kids for CP due to the serious complications that can arise.

bubbleymummy · 09/05/2011 21:53

Flyingintheattic - you do know there is a risk of serious complications and even death from vaccines too, yes? plus the vaccine doesn't guarantee immunity and requires boosters which are less effective as they get older so you could end up with it as an adult.

Chickenpox is very rarely serious in children - I would much rather mine caught it in childhood and got it over with. Saying that, I don't think I would deliberately expose them at this stage because I think they still have plenty of time to catch it naturally although I do understand the argument of being able to 'choose' a more convenient time for them to have them. No doubt mine will wait until we're supposed to be heading off on holiday!

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