Chicken pox help please

[FrozenMargarita17]

Hi

My nearly 11 month old has chicken pox and is really suffering. The spots are in her mouth, her eyes, her nappy and she is absolutely miserable. (And consequently, so am I!). She won't let me put her down even just get her some food without sobbing. She won't have anything other than milk now.

Is there anything anyone can suggest to help her? I've got some poxclin which helps momentarily and I'm giving her lukewarm baths/showers (she loves a shower so it distracts her for a bit).

We've been stuck in the house for 3 days now and more spots are still coming out and I don't know how much more I can cope with! We're both barely sleeping and it's not helping either.

Sorry that might be really garbled. I'm absolutely shattered from last night!

Have you tried virasoothe? It was very good. Also sucking on lollies. Antihistamine stops itching too-piriton. It does get better quite quickly, just as you think more spots can’t possibly come out!

It’s awful isn’t it. My 2.5 year old had them a month or so ago and she got them so bad.

For the mouth try give her some ice pops. She will probably like the coldness of them it’s soothing.

Calmine lotion is ok for during the day for the itchiness.

You can also add a teaspoon of baking soda to the baths - this helps dry the spots up.

My dd took about a week to be her normal self but the red marks from the spots have only just and so disappeared. She had loads though you couldn’t see the top half of her body for spots. It’s just awful 😩.

Oh I almost forgot syrup her to her nappy and get her out in the sun. Just in the back garden because that will help the spots clear too

Strip her to her nappy not bloody syrup stupid phone

Try bicarb in the baths. It's very soothing. Keep an eye on the spots in case they become infected. I presume you're giving Calpol? I had CP at 15 and remember spots in my mouth. I didn't want to eat either - it was so painful. Try and keep fluids up.

Don't put her in the sun at this time of year! Sunburn on top of spots would not be good, and I don't think sun cream and spots would be a good mix either.

Oat sock baths. Put oats inside an old sock, tie in and put is under the tap when you run it and then use the sock to wash with. If she enjoys it then she can have more than one bath a day.

Paracetamol.

Viral sooth.

ICe lollies and ice cream.

Portion

Ceebies

I would give milk shake and juice if you think she needs to up her liquid in take.

I second all the advice above. You have my sympathies, we also have chickenpox in the house for the second time. New spots still appearing after two weeks, I've had enough!!

Thank you all so much for replying. She's so little and it's so awful watching her suffer. She naps and wakes up sobbing and it breaks my heart. She's so uncomfortable. In particular the ones in her eyes and ears are getting very sore. I am keeping an eye out for infection.

I've had CBeebies on for 3 days straight and I think if I see another go jetters repeat I might cry haha.

I'll definitely try the bicarbonate/oats. I've been taking her in the garden when I hang some washing up just to get a tiny bit of sun too

Every time I offer her something to eat she just bats it away and cries. I tried to offer frozen yoghurt yesterday but she wouldn't have it.

I'm giving as much calpol as I am allowed. Her temperature keeps spiking in between which doesn't help.

I just cant believe more are popping up - it feels never ending

Her temp on waking from her nap was 40c. It's since gone down to 38.7 after calpol. She's screaming at the calamine lotion :( this is absolutely terrible

I would maybe get a doc appt or ring 111 chicken pox can need medical attention if its at the bad end of the scale

Stop the calamine - it makes things more itchy.

I think maybe she needs to see a GP - a temp that high might mean a secondary infection. Ring the surgery and try and get an emergency appointment. They should be able to find somewhere separate for you to wait rather than risk infecting others in the waiting room.

Don't give ibuprofen as it can cause problems with chicken pox.

Oh the poor thing!

Yes to oat baths, DD was worst round her genitals and on the worst days she had 4 oat baths! It was the only thing that helped. Let her suck on ice cubes or ice pops if that helps. Milk will be providing most of her nutrition anyway so don’t worry too much about her not eating. If you’re really concerned you could ask for a GP telephone consultation to discuss things or as pp said, get an appointment but wait in a separate room.

If her temp is spiking still after three days, and you think some of the spots are looking sore, I'd seek further medical advice. DD got infected spots and ended up on IV antibiotics in hospital.

DS2 had it a few weeks ago. What helped the most, it seemed, was regular Piriton to stop the itching (made him sleep well too which helped!), calpol, Poxclin and a LOT of time in the bath with the old oats in a sock method. He was lucky though as he didn't seem too miserable with it unless the piriton wore off.

DS1 was 13m old and miserable as hell when he had it. Virasoothe seemed to work better than Poxclin for him.

Definitely no ibuprofen, it is contraindicated with chickenpox. And no exposure to the sun, the pharmacist told me this would make things worse and make scarring worse.

I've called the GP and they've left a message for the duty doctor to call back. They will let me know if I should take her in. She's so unhappy, poor girl. Some of the spots look very sore.

Seconding the oat bath! I put plain porridge oats in the door if some old tights tied round the bath tap and let the water run through it as it filled up.

I then let DS play with it while he was in there, it's kind of like slime consistency and he was quite happy rubbing it all over himself, worked wonders for taking the itch out (and distracted him!)

Foot of some old tights ffs lol

Thank you all for the suggestions. Dh is bringing home oatmeal for me to use later on. Hoping the GP calls soon.

Piriton is for over 1yr olds but doc may suggest it for her if she's very bad as she's not far off the 12 months, it will help her sleep as well as help the itch because it's drowsy version. Virasoothe really helps, can get it in boots/super drug etc. And the oats in a sock/pair of tights in the bath every night. My lb had them quite bad at 2yrs old and I remember the suffering and sleepless nights well, one night I only had 1hr 20 mins sleep and had to go to work the next day!

Agree with oat bath.
We used a foot of some old tights and after bath was run I tied a know and gently used it over her skin, the bath was the only place she was happy! I hope your dd will be ok, I just kept reminding myself it’s a virus that does pass (hopefully GP will check her out soon too)

GP checked her out and said it was just chicken pox and to basically deal with it :( he did say that some of them looked very sore and red so he did say that I was right to be worried about infection.

Screaming baby it is - I really hope this is the worst of it because she's really suffering.

Advocate to vaccinate. Too late for this little one but should you have subsequent children do consider it.

I absolutely would vaccinate - I didn't expect it this young. We're not having any more children though.