Chicken Pox progression

[kipsy]

My 4 yr old DD has the chicken pox... first spot appeared yesterday morning, and by this afternoon she is almost covered in them, except for lower legs. She has a high fever, ulcers inside mouth, even has spots inside her labia.

They say it lasts about a week - what exactly does that mean?
Is that how long does it take from first spot to last new spot? When is itching worse - in the beginning or when they are drying up? How long before all the crusts fall off?

How do I help with the spots in her privates? Very worried about these as she is holding her wee now...

Any recommendations for helping her with the itching? She is incredibly itchy (have tried Virasoothe, PoxClin, E45 to no effect, in fact she screams if I try putting them on). Piriton seems to be not working either.

In our culture, we do not bathe the child till the spots start scabbing over - so no bicarb/oat/peroxide baths for her...

Thank you very much!

*Is that how long it takes...

Perhaps you should override cultural differences and try oat baths. They are very soothing and you have tried pretty much everything else

Forgot. Spots come out over about 5 days and take around 4 days to scab over

You do not need to bathe her in oats. Just put some oats in tights or muslin. Soak in warm water then squeeze and a paste will ooze out of the mesh.
Use this paste on the spots.

antihistamine (Piriton) is a must. Shower is working better for my son than bath. he had them all over his bum the night before last and was in agony, a warm shower for about half an hour calmed him down. No more spots coming now on day 6, but I think he's had it very bad as now on antibiotics. By the way, call the doctor if you get red around the spots as this is an infection and needs antibiotics.

Thank you for the advice!

bruffin: that's a great idea.... will try it out. Hopefully that will help.

sneezecakes: I agree, it's just that sometimes, it's hard to take a risk and do something you are specifically warned against, IYSWIM.

urban: you are right, I can see a huge difference with Piriton now. More so than the first 2 days. Only problem is it seems to be causing or worsening mouth ulcers. thanks for telling me what to watch out for. Hope your little one's all better soon!

As far as progression goes, I'll probably update myself after it's all over. I guess when I posted my OP I was just desperate for it all to be over!