3yr old with suspected chicken pox - not worried about her, but AM worried about 7 wk old

[imoverhere]

Hi, my 3 yrs old looks like she's got chicken pox. Fine, its one of those childhood things and she'll cope.

However, I have a 7 wk old too. Showing no signs, but should I be worried if he gets it? He is totally BF

Advice please for not panicking but little bit concerned mum.

He might still get it. I know of a friend who has a ds who was less than 3 months, fully breastfed (including nights) who did get it.

He was fine, but was a rotten time for her.

My ds2 got CP at 12 weeks, all fine, and i bet the BF will help fend it off anyway

Thanks. Looks like I'll just have to keep my eye on him and hope he doesn't get it.

My twins caught it at 4 months old from one of their cousins. was a really mild case, literally a couple of spots each, as apparently they stiil had some of my immunity according to the HV (even though they weren't fully breastfed. Hope you'll be OK.

It can be really dangerous in neonates....I think that this is under 2wks though (although there is a possiblity of it being 6wks). If you are worried give your HV a call.

Thanks everyone. HV due tomorrow so shall be questioning her closely.

Although it can happen, I think it's pretty unusual in newborns, provided that you have had it and passed on your immunity. My ds1 had it when ds2 was a few weeks old (can't remember exactly, but younger than your 7 wo anyway) and ds2 didn't catch it.

DD got chicken pox when she was 6 weeks old (and fully breastfed). I was worried when DS got it when she was 4 weeks, and despite being told that it was very very unlikely she would get it, she did.

She was pretty spotty, but not really unwell - she was just sleepier than usual (which was a good thing ).

I took her to the GP when I realised she had it, and he said it can be very dangerous if they get it within the first month. He told me what to look out for to show its severity (can't remember what now) but did stress it was unlikely to happen.

DS2 got it when he was about 9 weeks old (DS1 had it at the same time)- you wouldn't have even known there was anything wrong with him if it wasn't for the spots - no other symptoms at all.

The HV was surprised when I told her he had had it as she thought there should have been some immunity passed from me to him even though he is bottle-fed.

The younger they get it, the milder it is (but if they are under 1, they apparently don't gain immunity).

That seems a tad unfair - not to gain immunity from it cause you get it before your 1. Here's hoping he's got enough immunity from me (via bf) not to get it this time.

My DD was about 8 weeks when DS had chicken pox. She was fully BF and didn't get it. He did pass it on to my 27yr old friend though! He was not pleased, it was a really bad case and he looked like he had the plague

imoverhere: if you have had chickenpox in the past, then the new baby will have your maternal antibodies transferred during the last 2-3 months of the pregnancy. These last a few months and provide protection from severe disease (but may not be enough to stop some spots). All in all it's a good thing, but the baby's own immune system sometimes doesn't get fully stimulated and so it is possible they may get a mild second episode of chickenpox again later.

BF will also help of course, but the main protection is from the maternal antibodies.

In the general chickenpox discussions: severe chickenpox in neonates occurs when mum gets primary chickenpox a few days either side of the time of birth. In these circumstances the baby gets an intense exposure without the protective maternal antibodies. That's when it's very bad news, and urgent that baby gets VZIG prophylaxis plus acyclovir if spots still appear.

i know couple of people with new baby did not have chicken pox from older siblings, so he might not get it, fingers crossed for you.

Musukebba - you sound as if you have professional knowledge - is it true that they don't get immunity if they get it before the age of 1? Friend's fully bf dd had a very severe dose recently at about 5 or 6 months. Could she get it again then?

It went round my dds creche when she was 5 months, and still exclusive bf, and she didn't get it, despite sharing a room with 5 other children who did. I know the GP of one of the mums whose child did get it was told the same about if they get it young it doesn't necessariliy confer immunity.

Hi midnightexpress: It's sort of true about the age of getting chickenpox being related to a lack of subsequent immunity, but all these things are not black and white. As clinical virologists we tend to think along the following lines:

The thing that might prevent babies developing full immunity after getting chickenpox in the first year of life is the presence of maternal antibody passively acquired from the mum; via placenta rather than the general immunity factors passed on by BF. Whilst providing a really valuable protection of the baby from severe effects of chickenpox - probably by neutralising the virus in blood and stopping it spreading widely to the skin - maternal antibody also tends to shield the baby's own active immune system from seeing the full range of viral antigens that it must react against to get full immunity. So young babies can only get a partial immunity to chickenpox that can be overcome during a subsequent high-intensity exposure: for instance later in a family setting when being exposed to an infectious brother/sister.

For the example of your friend's DD, I would expect that after a severe case of chickenpox she is not likely to get it again. Maternal antibodies start to wane after a few months, and if the mum's own antibodies weren't that high to start with, the baby gets correspondingly less and they can be gone by six months of age. Also of course the mum may not have had chickenpox before and so there were no specific VZV antibodies transferred. It is very difficult to say without knowing the mum's VZV status, but it sounds like her DD had chickenpox without the protection of maternal antibody and therefore baby's own immunity will have been pretty well-stimulated.

Hi - my 3 yo got it when dd2 was nine days old and exclusively bf - she didn;t get it. Neither of them got it at creche while they were still being pt bf either - only once they were out getting their own nutrients!! I called the dr at the time, because I was worried like you, and she was very relaxed about it, said even if dd2 got it it would be mild, but chances were she wouldn't - of course proved right.