Should I expose my 7 month of DS to chickenpox

[Gumgardener321]

Hi,
My nephew has chickenpox and wondering if I should expose my DS to him in the hope of him catching them. I've heard it's best for children to have chicken pox early but this early?
Any advice will be appreciated

I was just about to post a similar question, but i think it may have been answered. Chicken pox seems to be going around in our area, and on sat we saw some friends whose baby has just come out in spots. So the chances are that my 2.5 year old has caught it. That would be fine, but we're going on holiday on 22nd June. We're supposed to see the same family on Sunday and I was considering exposing my dd to it, just in case she didn't catch it on sat to try and make sure she's got it over with by the time we go. Is this a bad idea?
X

Deliberately? No.

It's the deliberate bit, if they're exposed, whatever, what will be will be. Deciding to expose and something goes wrong? You'll never ever ever forgive yourself ... Or your SIL. (My SILs have a very very bitter relationship now)

yes, the deliberate exposure is the nub. I would say don't.

I couldn't do it myself, despite knowing that it's 'better' to get it over with younger (not at 7 months though!). I wouldn't be able to cope with the guilt of helping them get it if it were a mild case, let alone one with complications.

At the moment, my two are riding it out and it is bloody horrible. My older child looks like he has a tropical disease, covered in sores and blisters. Some of them are infected. My younger son has one eye swollen shut. I wish to hell I'd vaccinated, even though I was really concerned about exposing them at a more vunerable, older age. What do you do??

Oh, and my GP evidently hasn't heard about the 'no nurofen' guidance with CP - he gave me the eyebrow when we went in for antibiotics for infected spots. Wish I'd remembered that one of the many places I'd read that was the NHS website!

Can a breastfed toddler get CP? DD is nearly 18m, and I'm expecting her to have caught it from her big brother, but am just stressing about how long it is taking, as she needs to be free in time for some doctors' appointnents in June...

I wouldn't - it's better if they get it older than 12 months really because otherwise they may not get immunity. Mine were 2, 15 months and 15 months when they had it and they have appeared to be immune when exposed to it again.

QOD - what a terrible thing to have happened

No, don't do it.

RenterNomad, yes bf toddlers can get it but there is a 10-21 day incubation period between exposure and the spots appearing. I have heard of very young bf babies getting it too so bf doesn't offer full protection.

Thanks, ilovepowerhoop. That sounds a bit longer of an incubation period than normal, though, which would be rather bad news for our planning... if I may be arrogant enough to talk of plans in the context of children...

it was around 2 weeks between dd and ds getting it but it can be up to 3 weeks. The children are always getting in the way of my plans too!

Bastard, that would be a dreadful incubation period! DD needs an ultrasound, so we can't go around possibly infecting pregnant women!