Newborn baby - DS1 has just come out in chickenpox

[Wilkiepedia]

DS2 is 4 days old and nursery have just rung to ask me to pick up DS1 as he is covered in chickenpox since me dropping him off the morning.

Am freaking out. Is DS2 in danger? He is being BF so I know he has some immunity. Is it safe to have DS1 around him???

Please advise urgently, rang GP but no one available at the moment

don't panic. DS1 had chickenpox when DS2 was 13 days old. He was being exclusively breastfed (a lot at that time!) and because of this he did not catch it. He had my immunity from the feeding.

oh yes, I didn't exactly keep the boys in separate rooms but asked DS1 to stop kissing his baby brother for a while!

I was (almost) in the same situation - dd2 2wo and dh had mumps.

I was told that my immunity would pass to dd2. DH kept away from her though we were told it was fine for him to hold her - he just didn't want to to be on the safe side.

Very scary but I am sure your ds2 will be fine.

Congratualtions by the way!

please don;t panic......tis not nice for them if they do catch it as newborn, but not as dangerous as if they are born with it (if that makes sense).

have you had chicken pox yourself?? if so, then your baby will have the best protection anyway (he will still be carrying your immunity), plus if you are BF, then your antibodies will be giving protection too, as your antibodies will have kicked in to fight the chickenpox it already recognises.

speak to your MW tho, as she can give you more info.......I know a lot as I never had chicken pox, my DD2 had it badly (was in hospital with it) when I was 38wks pregnant and then because I had no immunity (and even tho they gave me a vaccination to help me fight it), DD3 was born with it......and then I caught it, making us both very ill.

DD1 had it a few moths ago when DD2 was about 8-9 months. I was still BF and she didn't get it .

also, don;t forget that altho baby is only 4 days old (congratualtions BYT), chicken pox takes 14 - 21 days to process in the body and then come out, so baby, altho still newborn, it a couple weeks older again IYGWIM......gives a bit extra time for the antibodies to kick in from you hopefully

Thank you all for messages. Have calmed down a bit - absolutely typical isn't it, just as I was enjoying being a second time mother

rotten timing I agree!

have you got some bicarb of soda in?? I found it invaluable in the bath for my children (my two boys got it when they were 6mths and 2.8yrs).......helpled the itching, and helped the spots dry a lot quicker......especially good for DS1 as his poor willy was very badly infected with the spots.

oh, and piriton for the itching, (helps them sleep too), and eurax cream for the spots rather than calamine lotion, and it isn;t chalky either wcich is a big plus.

My ds1 had it when dd was 4 months old. She was exc b/f.

She did catch it from him but it was extremely mild, she had a few very small spots and was hardly unwell at all. I put that down to antibodies transferred through my milk.

I was worried though that she would not have built up enough immunity, but when ds2 caught it about 3 years later she was a bit under the weather for a day or 2 but didnt actually come down with it.

DS2 had it at 6 weeks old (but he was bottlefed) when DS1 got it - I assumed DS1 caught it from nursery but DS2 came out in spots only 3 days after DS2 did so they must have caught it from the same place (still no idea where that was!)

As another poster said, it was really mild - lots of spots but he didn't suffer at all with it.