Chicken pox with cold/cough symptoms

[LittleWaveyLines]

So she got a very snotty cold last week, which had practically cleared up by this week - then all of a sudden 2 days ago it gets much worse and she's obviously feeling properly ill with it, yesterday she started a cough, and today she has chicken pox blisters on her face and body... :(

Does she have a cough/cold on top of chicken pox, or can they be symptoms of the chicken pox?

Oh and tell me how to keep her comfortable please - poor little thing :(

(she's 9 months)

Really common to have cough / cold before and during cpox.

Calpol / nurofen should help.

The thing which really helped dd (14m) was bicarbanate of soda baths.

Thanks for replying :)

How much bicarb do you think in a baby bath? A level teaspoon?

Calamine aqueous cream really helped our 2 when they had chicken pox, and piriton but check if she's old enough for that.

in the same boat got a 5 year old with cold and chicken pox, phoned doc today as nothing seems to be easing the itch and she is getting so distressed, they cant do anything just keep up with the bicarb baths, calamine and piriton and sleepless nights :( feel so damn useless....you can not use piriton for under 1 year olds it says on the bottle x

No sleep for us tonight it seems - she's just too itchy! I've put socks on her hands, and a bicarb bath, but it doesn't seem to be helping.

It also doesnt help that she normally doesnt sleep well anyway, so I'm starting out sleep deprived and I think I'm starting to hallucinate a bit - kept seeing a doorhandle on the ceiling, and DP is out :(

Ah well, DD is enjoying watching my laptop screen anyway! :)

Hope your DC gets better soon threekids...

Oh no poor you. Will she sleep on you? Could you prop yourself up safely?

She;s on me now and I'm rocking amd humming but shes not getting sleepier!

WE cosleep normally anyway = inly way I can cope with every night hour or 2 hourly wakenings - she's never slept more than 2 hours in a row from birth apart from on a handful pccasions when I had a 3 hour stretch!

Oh I remember it so well. Ds was a horrendous non sleeper. At 18m he got so much better and by 3 he was / is brilliant. Hence why our dd is 3y9m younger ;) I didn't do anything to make him sleep better, he just did it.

Dd (normally excellent sleeper) didn't sleep much the first night of the pox but things improved after that. You'll get through this and touch wood a million times at least she'll have had it and not catch it again.

When is your dh home?? I remember hallucinating, I remember wondering if it was actually possible to die from exhaustion or if it was just a phrase. I felt like I came pretty close a few times!

Oooh hope for the future! Thanks :)

Not sure when he'll be home, he;s on a fairly infrequent if badly timed night out with mates....

Oh it now looks like she's getting a spot on her actual eyeball!

... half on the white, half on the cornea....

Porridge baths are brill. Old sock or tights filled with porridge oats, run the bath through the sock and then use it as a sponge. Squeeze it and use the 'juice' to wash. Then slap on aqueous calamine when finished.

Will give porridge bath a go later, thanks

last night was the worse night ever...no sleep for anyone dd1 throwing herself around the bed screaming and crying her ear hurt....checked it out and her ear is full of bloody chicken pox...kept the piriton calpol and calamine going all through the night and have to say we all looked like death warmed up very slightly this morning, today not too bad think maybe were are over the worse of it i hope she has had them since last sunday....really hope your dd gets over it soon littlewaveylines xxx

Oh poor threekids family! Hope you all have a better night tonight.

I must have had 3 hours sleep last night so I know how you feel! DD was thrashing around as well. She's exhausted poor thing, and fallen asleep on me now - was too tired for dinner :(

Well she's had a porridge bath, calamine aqueous cream on the more obvious ones, and ibuprofen - I'm a bit wary of the cream on her face though, as it has all sorts of warnings on the label about if you accidently swallow it - but the worst spots are on her chin!

Just twigged that your DD has had it since sunday, and is still having awful nights!

...OMG how will we cope!

oh no dont worry she has not been like this since sunday spots started sunday and its only been the last 2 days/nights she has been bad sorry didnt mean to scare you lol ......calamine is fine on her face dd is plastered in it right now even all round her mouth, i will just say i had aqueous for her dry skin and i used some on my face and i tell ya it stung like mad, no wonder she didnt like me putting it on her love her little heart xxx

If she has one on her eyeball you need to seek medical advice. I was told this by the pharmacist as apparently it can cause scarring which may lead to some kind of visual problem.

Hope not to worry you. Just maybe ring the doc and ask.

Oh crikey and don't use ibuprofen. I know it gets the fever down much better than paracetamol/calpol but it says on various websites that it can increase the risk of complications/secondary infections.

I had to tell the pharmacist this myself as she had no idea. I used it with both of mine till I read about it on here/google.

Too late about the ibuprofen! One dose wont hurt surely? I thought as it was more anti inflammatory than paracetamol.....

Argh panicking now re ibuprofen..... pharmacist suggested it and so did the NHS chickenpox website!

The eyeball is just a red spot atm - DP says its just because she's tired, and is not a chickenpox spot! (I have a tendency to worry/over react so I'm trusting him on this, but will keep checking it)

No please don't panic, both mine were given it by me on pharmacy advice (I actually rang to ask after noticing a thread about it on here) and then I found a few medical websites that said it has shown to contribute to a slightly higher incidence of secondary infections. I'm sure it's a very, very low risk and I'm sure a dose of it tonight will do no harm but just, might want to stick to calpol from now. Just in case.

Sorry can't confirm validity of this info. I just was quite cross that the pharmacist in Boots didn't know.

OK, I'll calm down, thank you... I normally try not to google, but have just done so, and it seems it's the American websites mainly that don't like ibuprofen.... will stick to calpol from now on though - which is a shame as she's a bugger to swallow calpol, but loves the neurofen!

American link

I'm sure this is very rare. Don't worry.