Chicken pox

[Lauren2103]

Hi, hoping for some advice from
this group as anything online i have found quite conflicting and doesn’t give me full information its all very basic. I’m a FTM so not had to deal with this before.

For context, on 20th April my 13 month old was around a family member, 3 days later on 23rd April that family member has came out in chicken pox.

Everything online says it is only contagious 1-2 days before the spots appeared, so going from this would this mean my son is unlikely to catch it?

I’m due back to work after my maternity leave 28th April and my son was meant to be at the childminders, but would I send him or keep him off? This will be 1 week that will have passed since the initial contact with child who later came out in the spots.

My partner seems to think it’s okay to send him still as the incubation period says it can be anything from 10-21 days before spots appear but it’s not contagious till a couple days before, however I can’t help but think that’s not the right thing to do?

With the incubation period being up to 21 days, this seems too long to keep him off for as a ‘just Incase’ as he may not even have caught it? Any time off work is unpaid for both me and my partner, and we still have to pay the child minder even if my son doesn’t go so really stuck on what to do?

If anyone is clued up on chicken pox some help would be appreciated!

TIA

Send him unless he develops a fever or spots in that time. Childminders and nurseries give you a list of when they can come in and when they can’t. There’s no need to keep them off for ‘potential’ illnesses. If he does get spots in the meantime, keep him off until the spots scab over (usually around 5 days after the spots appear).

It’s contiagious until the spots have crusted over.

It’s fine to send him unless he develops a temperature or comes out in spots. At the moment he is well so he can go to nursery.

We've just been through the pox with my 8 year old. My other two never caught it despite the 2 year old climbing on his brother and the 5 year old sharing a bed. You just never know.

Get the vaccine. If your baby has dodged it this time, you can avoid this situation in future. Boots and Superdrug do it, £75. It's going to be added to the national schedule eventually but there's no date on the horizon. I paid for the first dose at 9 months, getting the second at 15 months.