Bring out your best chicken pox remedies!

[queenofthepirates]

First time mum with a first time sick baby (1yo DD), hoping you seasoned MNers will share your best remedies for chicken pox?

Home made soup?
lettuce leaves down her nappy?
Eye of newt and leg of toad?

Or just a lot of calpol?

Enough of the ?, begging your wisdom my favoured friends.

Oh and don't dose up with calpol, it's better to allow a high fever as this will kill the virus quicker. They don't feel ill for long, it's more the discomfort from the itching. My DS has eczema too so I didn't want his spots to linger for fear of them becoming infected. I'm sure the tea tree really did work wonders, he was covered with say 100-200 spots easily whereas my DD only had around 20-50.

We had the pox recently(had to cancel our holiday!) and we did bicarbonate baths, virasoothe gel, aloe vera gel and I couldn't get calamine. Ream but found a tube of kamillosan cream in my medicine cupboard and used that as I thought the Chammomile might be soothing. It worked well.

Porridge oat baths and calamine lotion here although I'm intrigued by the neem leaves idea! I did put tea tree oil on the few bigger, redder spots. Both boys were completely fine in themselves apart from being a bit itchy (ESP at night).

I second what butterfingerz said about not dosing up with Calpol. Apparently the spots take longer to heal.

DS had a nasty dose recently and paediatrician in hospital told me that the best advice he gives is not to bath the child for the first couple of days. He said the quicker that you dry the spots out the less likely they will get infected. Just make sure nails are cut short and hands are kept clean. Keep applying calamine to dry the spots up. Used this principle when my dd got the pox 2 weeks later and worked a treat. Also top up with piriton but remember never give nurofen as this can apparently cause complications

Herbal (NOT HOMEOPATHIC) calendula cream is the best thing ever for chickenpox. Check the label- it needs to be at least 40% calendula. It's fantastic- soothing and healing.