Are these chicken pox?

[marmitemonkey]

First time mum so not sure! Appeared very quickly yesterday evening as tiny (not red) pearly spots. Some seem to have popped over night and got a bit redder. They are all on forehead or in hair at the moment (about 10 of them) but seem a bit small from what I remember of chicken pox when I had it many years ago.

Ds is 16mo and has been a bit grumpy for the last couple of days but no temp and eating/drinking ok. Have molars coming through so had put it down to that.

Might be hand, foot and mouth?

My Ds2 had something similar and I thought he had chicken pox but they didn't really scab over in the same way and turned out it was this

Spots aren't just on their hands/feet/mouth area either!

All three of mine started with small spots like that, they grew and blistered in about 12-14 hours and more came over the next few days. I think you will need to wait and see.

Thanks they have turned out to be chicken pox they have multiplied massively today so one very grumpy boy!

We are on day two here :-(

It is a nasty illness from my experience. Ds1 got it first and I thought he had loads of spots, but that was nothing compared to ds2 when he came out with. Dd had far less spots But hers are infecte around her shoulder area and she is in a lot of discomfort. Ds2 has gone back to School today as he is totally scanned over, but still itchy. I hope your little ones get away with it more lightly.

Oh no golden, did you have to see the GP about the infected ones?

We are actually on holiday :-( fortunately in the uk. Means lots of mountain walks with DD in the back pack well away from anyone else!

She has a big one on the back of her scalp which has a yellow crust and matted in with her hair, is that normal or should I be concerned about it?

Hope your DC get better soon

The ones in the hair do get quite matted in the hair, all three have them on the scalp. Dd's main infection was not so much the spot but the skin from under her arm around her back was bright red, hard to touch and very swollen. She couldn't move that arm and we still can't pick her up under the arms without it being painful. Other spots had a pussy looking ring around the scabs. Yes we had to go to the dr's which was fun as I had both infected ds2 and dd with me so we had to wait outside.

It can be a very mild illness, or really nasty, or somewhere in between. Be aware that the pox can grow into any orifice on the body and can be very itchy - lots of soaking in the bath is good, so is piriton, not least because it makes you sleepy as well as taking the edge off the itching. I had them down my throat which was horrid. Had to make jelly with grapes chopped up in it, so that the grapes "itched" the spots for me as they went down. Couldn't face anything else more solid.

Hope she gets a mild version. The spots come in three waves, approximately three days apart, and usually go to a new area each time.

How long are we looking at from first seeing spots (for us was last Friday) until new ones stop appearing and they start to go away?

I am using vira soothe which is hopefully helping, Piriton liquid, calpol and bicarb baths. DD is 20 months

Our spots are multiplying at an alarming rate mostly over face and scalp. So very itchy I feel so sorry for ds. Have been using piriton, paracrtamol and poxclin - expensive but good seems to stop the itching long enough for a doze. Also bi carb and poridge oats baths. Temp is staying down with calpol but can't get hands and feet warm at all.

The ones all round the genitals are especially nasty, all blistered. Poor DD keeps humping up against me when I pick her up :-(

The time between first and last eruption of spots varies. With ds1 the first spots started on the Thursday we think and last eruption (and the biggest one) was Saturday night to Sunday morning. Dd's first spot came on the Wednesday and last spot came the following Wednesday, ds2 started on the Thursday and last spots arrived on the Tuesday. Ds2 now has an infection in his, but this was expected due to his problems with skin infections.

How can you tell if they have an infection, sorry if silly question.

DD also has many mollescum just to add into the spotty mix. They are also evil, although harmless

Ds2 finished in October last year with molluscum, just as dd started with it, although she only has a few at the moment. Ds2's molluscum frequently became infected too (he is under a paediatrician for skin infections). With dd she was screaming in pain when we touched her, she has a red, hard, swollen area around the back of her arm and others on her back had red rings going round and a creamy (puss coloured) ring around the scab. With ds2 it is one on the top of his foot/ankle. It was very red around it, raised up in a lump and basically looked ready to burst. Will attempt to upload a picture of his one on my phone.

Not the clearest of pictures and doesn't show how red and swollen the lump is but gives an idea.

Thanks golden. That doesn't look nice at all :-(

DD has an especially nasty looking one on her neck. It isn't red and lumpy underneath but does look angry and a little bit pussy underneath, really hope she doesn't scratch it as it has a crust on it. Will need to keep an eye on it.

DS had mollescum really badly, all over his torso and face :-( it took over a year to get rid of it and that was using thuja pills from a homeopathic GP at the health centre and dabbing with lemon myrtle oil and Manuka honey cream. They all left very small scars.

Unfortunately he passed it onto DD who has a huge one on the side of her face which looks angry and red, and lots on the backs of her legs. GAH.

I don't think we had any new spots appear today so hopefully they will start crusting over, just in time for us to go home from hols on Saturday! She has had a high temp throughout and very red cheeks. I am hoping the body will fight the mollescum as well as the pox but that might be wishful thinking!

Ds2 was lucky in that he only had 1 small one on his face, the rest were mainly behind his limbs (particularly behind his knees but also random places on his legs and arms). Dd I think has one on her face appearing , others are under her arms, on her legs and her breast area. We just let them take their course with ds2, but as I said once he started with the boils and styes, about 6 months into the time of him having the MC, many of them became infected too and they have scarred. So far only one has gone on dd and at the moment she has a small number but we are only 6ish months in.
Hopefully, you are over the worst. I have to say I have not found it to be a 'mild' illness with mine, they have had it bad and it has been a nightmare almost 4 weeks. I am praying the meds work on the infections and we can leave it all behind us!

I hope you can soon pit it behind you too! It is a really horrible illness. I don't understand why some people are so keen for their kids to get it so it is out of the way!!

We are on hols in the Scottish highlands so have been out in the cold air a lot which has stopped DD from scratching too much.

None of my friends have experienced mollescum, or even heard of it! I stupidly squeezed one on DDs tummy that was looking angry, wish I hadn't!

Let's hope this time next week we are all in a better place!