Chicken Pox Nightmare. Due to go on holiday

[yaaarrrp]

Hi all.

So my 9 year old DD has woken up today and is covered in chicken pox. She was ill on Thursday with a fever and feeling run down which cleared up by Saturday and then today the spots appeared.

The problem is we are due to fly on a 4 week travelling holiday of a lifetime next Monday, so 8 days time. I also have a 8 month old baby who will inevitably catch it. Do you think it might be too late to get the baby vacinated at this point? Will the airplane company let us fly if shes covered in spots? Ahhh such a nightmare and not sure what to do. Advice needed please 🙏

First child will prob be ok. In all likelihood though your youngest will have caught it already. My 2 had it this year and it took just under 2 weeks in between one and two. Hope your 9 year old is OK as my eldest was 9 and she really suffered, think it was day 3 and 4 that were the absolute worst, she was covered poor thing. She had about a week off school I think but spots still very evident when she went back.

Oh OP I feel your pain. We had a month long trip to New Zealand and my 18m old caught chicken pox a week before we were flying. I took him to the drs and got a fit to fly certificate the day before we left. Our back up plan was I stayed behind with my son and flew out once it had cleared up. He was head to toe covered in scabs and we received a fair few looks but all worked out well. I've got everything crossed your daughter daughter doesn't catch it before you fly

Thankyou everyone for all your advice really appreciate it. I think I'm just going to wait and see how it pans out in the next few days and reassess the situation then.

Your eldest will be okay to fly as the spots will have scabbed over and she won’t be infectious. If the baby is ebf it’s unlikely they will get it or they will have it very mildly. The incubation for chickenpox is two weeks. The same thing happened to my niece in America. They were resigned to stay longer and contacted their insurance who required a doctors certificate. When they saw the dr he said the child was fit to fly!

On the last day of our holiday my DC came out in a few spots, they felt absolutely fine but my first instinct was chickenpox, went to the hotel doctor who said it was heat spots, I asked about chickenpox and they said it wasn't that. Knowing we were meant to be flying the next day I decided to get a 2nd opinion as didn't want take the risk, the next doctor said heat rash, def not chickenpox. No more spots appeared the next day and they still felt fine so we flew home as planned to find out when we got home that half their class had chickenpox.
Even now 14 years later I still get that sick feeling in my stomach when I think we could have put others at risk.

If this was recent then you can claim the taxes back. If you let an airline know you won’t be travelling they refund you that bit and then the rest you claim on insurance. Insurance won’t pay you the taxes as the airlines have to pay you.

I think this is sensible. I wouldn’t knee jerk cancel as there’s a good chance your eldest will be scabbed over by then and the youngest might not even catch it. You will have to see how bad a case it is and how things are looking towards the end of the week.

@yaaarrrp what happened in the end? Hope you got your holiday!

Hello yes just an update.

So my DDs chicken pox had all scabbed over in time for our flight so we made it. There was no sign of the baby getting it until this morning where she woke up covered in loads of spots. Luckily she doesnt seem to be suffering too much so far. At least we made it to japan and hopefully she'll recover quickly

Luckily we are staying in an apartment so just going to stay in until all her spots have scabbed over. Its mad they took just over 2 weeks to come

Thrilled for you. Have the best time!

(Yes incubation period is 10-21 days! And they are most infectious before the spots come hence why I think it’s daft they are banned from school 🤷‍♀️)

I'm so glad you made it! Hope your baby has a very mild case. Enjoy the holiday, it sounds absolutely amazing.

You’ll get a load of flack now no doubt about exposing people these past few days before the spots arrived, but I am glad you’ve got on your dream holiday and hope the wee one scabs over soon- also easier to keep a small baby contained so they can go out and about in a buggy or even better a carrier without posing any real threat to anyone- pretty sure you won’t be visiting any vulnerable people or old folks homes etc!
Id still enjoy the outdoors even for the next few days.
But put on your armour for the onslaught of the masses saying you have spread the plague!! 😆

Oh no. I guess you can take it in turns to take your eldest out so you don’t miss too much of the holiday

People always bang on about vaccination, but my DC was vaccinated and he still got CP! Not only that, but he got a far worse case than my baby, who wasn't vaccinated, but was protected by my antibodies because he was still breastfeeding. Older DC had about 200 spots and was very unwell for a few days. TBH, for him, the vaccine did bugger all.

OP are you still breastfeeding your baby? If so, that might protect your baby.

Hi op what a worry well I think you’ve probably got the best outcome with timings in the end.

baby will only be ill for a short time and is likely to recover quickly so you can soon enjoy your holiday and not worry about the journey home.
enjoy Japan, wonderful place

Just saw your update. Glad you got your trip. Hopefully your baby will be okay. Keep breastfeeding because your antibodies will help him/her to fight it.

I ruined my parents holiday to the Bahamas as a small child by getting chickenpox. I had to get a doctors letter to fly back to the UK and was completely covered in spots but no longer contagious. Fingers crossed the timings work out for you!

I would just get advice from an experienced travel GP - we have twins and despite sharing bathtime they didn't regularly (to my surprise) catch each other's illnesses - even once by son had hand foot and mouth disease and my daughter didn't come out in it. Kids immune systems are different and maybe because your baby was breast fed they might be OK.

thanks for update hope baby is OK and you enjoy your trip

They have to be at least 12 months to get the vaccine. Really feel for you OP x

Ah just seen your up- date, didn't realise it was an old post. Glad you made it. Hope baby is ok x

Excellent news and it sounds like neither was / will be contagious on flights. Fingers crossed baby isn’t too poorly with it!

If you're breastfeeding, you can treat the spots with your milk and it seems to stop the itch/speed up healing. If not, an oat or milk bath might help?