3 day old exposed to chicken pox

[Hopeful1992]

We came home from hospital with our 3 day old DD, our DS spent a couple of hours with her after nursery and then before nursery the next day, no signs of spots etc. he was then sent home late afternoon with suspected chicken pox which have since come out by the dozen.
We’ve now kept them apart as advised by the doctor and midwife which is devastating and hard but of course for the best. We’re handwashing etc but I’m terrified of our newborn catching it. Has anyone else had experience with this

Have you had chickenpox? If so your baby will have maternal antibodies which will have passed to your baby through the placenta via pregnancy.

Yes I had it as a child and I’m breastfeeding so really hoping this has given her some immunity

My daughter was 6 months old when she got chicken pox from her older brother. She was really sick and ended up in hospital. The doctors at the hospital said she would have been better off getting it earlier due to having immunity from me, or later obviously. Hopefully with your little one being so new, and also breastfeeding, she will be protected better. X

I was about 3 years old and my newborn baby sister was about 3 days when i got CP.

My newborn baby sister had no symptoms to suggest she has it, but 42 years later she still has never had CP.
(My Dad also had it twice while we were small, and living in the same house, seperately to me)

Baby should have immunity from you. Hope your little doesn’t suffer too much. Discuss it with the midwife.

DS1 was one week old when he caught CP from his older brother. I was bf so he had it very mildly. Now 21 and never had it again.

My DS caught chicken pox from his sister when he was 6 weeks old - he had one singular spot and no other apparent ill effects. As the other posters have said, your DD will hopefully be well protected with your immunity. I remember what a worrying time it was though (and difficult looking after a poorly grumpy toddler and a newborn).

If she had your colostrum she would have had a nice big dose of your antibodies!

We were exactly in this situation in May last year. I took my 2 yr old grandson to meet his not yet day old brother in the hospital. He came out with CP that night! She rang her HV who told the maternity unit.
Who had to alert the other 3 women in the same room.
Bristol Children's Hospital rang my daughter and told her EXACTLY what to do if the baby had any symptoms. We were advised that the baby couldn't have the vaccine because it's only offered over one year old.
We were advised that keeping a 2 year old apart from his parents could be detrimental to him and had to weigh up the risk of psychological damage to him against the risk to the baby. Myself and the other grandparents who all have a very close bond with him took him out regularly. But he remained in the home.
Baby got CP on day 10 and apart from very very very spotty (pickled!) wasn't too unwell. My DD had CP herself as a child and was fully breastfeeding.
She was in touch with the children's hospital daily and advised what to do if he got more unwell. Luckily both of the grandsons didn't get seriously unwell and recovered quickly.
We have been advised that baby could get CP again or even shingles as a child so we were warned to watch out for this. Overall it was a very worrying time for our DD but turned out not too serious.

Thanks everyone , your replies have all settled me a bit. My poor DS is covered in spots and they’ve got to the itchy stage. I’m trying to keep them apart, DH has been with DS downstairs while I’ve stayed upstairs with DD today, but this doesn’t feel sustainable for another few days. I feel so guilty when my little boy needs me as well as our newborn but I’m trying to reduce going in between them :(

As long as you have had CP and you wash your hands and maybe change clothes after being with him I would not avoid him. He will need his mummy and won't understand why he can't see you?