Chicken pox - how long until we know?

[CherryChoc]

My DS is 5 months old and may have been exposed to chicken pox. As I don't know whether or not he will get it and I have heard it is infectious before the rash shows I have not been seeing any of my NCT friends (as they have babies of similar age) but just wondered how long we need to stay "in quarantine" for?

AFAIK it can take up to 2 weesk for rash to appear after exposure.

I think it is up to 21 days. You dont need to stay 'in quarantine'. Obviously its polite to mention if you are going to be seeing anyone who could be pregnant or immunosuppressed, but chicken pox isnt that infectious, and realistically if you stay in for 21 days every time you may have been exposed to it you will never go out.

up to 3 weeks. We only kept away becasue it was holiday season and didn't want to be responsible for anyone's being affected.

3 weeks?? Oh and I've already told them all that is why we didn't go last week. It's just because the babies are under a year I thought it was probably best.

My ds has got chicken pox at the moment & I was told he would have been most contagious 7-10 days before the spots started to appear & is still contagious until he stops getting new spots. The contagious time before the spots is uaually signified by a cough or cold. The incubation period can be as long as 21 days. I don't think it's worth staying away from people on the off chance you might have come into contact with chicken pox. It's pretty difficult to avoid.

My dcs were exposed to chicken pox four or five times before they finally got it. I put us in isolation a lot and now I really, really wish I hadn't bothered.

It's out there. At every baby group you go to there will be kids who have been exposed. Unless you are planning to see someone who you know will be at particular risk, I would carry on as normal.

Incidentally, it's a great relief that the dcs have finally had chicken pox and we never have to worry about the will "they / won't they get it" ever again.

As far as I understand it the incubation period is about 2-3 weeks, but you are only infectious about 2-3 days before the spots appear until about 6 days after they have appeared. If your ds was in contact with someone with cp a day or so before their spots appeared then there is a fair chance he'll get it - although as he's under 6 months he may have some immunity from you (not by any means guaranteed.) But your ds won't be infectious until about 10 days after exposure - so you didn't need to quarantine him last week. (Sorry!) I think it's fair to let your friends know then if any of them don't want to take the risk fair enough, but I don't think keeping your baby quarantined for three weeks on the off chance is necessary.

NHS link here talks about incubation period and has a good piccy of what the spots look like early on:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/Chickenpox/Pages/Introduction.aspx?url=Pages/what-is-it.aspx