How long should she be off preschool after chicken pox?

[cilitbang]

DD (3.5) came down with Chicken pox last week, the spots appeared on Weds and they are drying now. I was planning on keeping her off all this week and have her start preschool again on Monday, just because I think she should be properly recovered by then and the spots should have started to disappear a bit. Is this about the right amount of time to keep them off preschool after chicken pox?

My dd (4) got chicken pox last sat and i kept her off all week, she is going back tomorrow. I think they say that as long as all the spots are dry, then the child is ok to go back to nursery or school. BTW she could have gone back today but she only goes 3 days a week.

you only need to keep her off for 5 days after the spots appear. No need to wait until they have all crusted over, and certainly not until they disappear

if she is feeling unwell, then keep her off, obviously, but if she is feeling up to it, then five days after the first spot appears.

hth

5 days after the spots appear

your pre-school may tell you to keep them off until all the spots have scabbed over whether that is 5 days or longer so I would check with them first.

NHS direct says this:

If your child has chickenpox, you should inform your child's school or nursery of the situation. The Health Protection Agency recommends that children can return to school or nursery once the blisters have fully crusted over, and this usually happens 5-7 days after the first blister appears. After the last blister has burst and crusted over, children are no longer considered infectious. However, they are still infectious up until this time.

link to hpa guidance for childcare settings

Check whether your pre-school has a policy on this. At ours, the children can go back after 7 full days from the first spot. Bit confusing that it is different in diff places - my doc said that they are not infectious once all the spots have crusted over and that that can take more or less than 7 days.