DS has chicken pox.. how long before DD gets it?

[OmicronPersei8]

DS has chicken pox, it's taking it's time (first spot on Sunday, still only 3 on his face but new 'crops' appearing on his torso). DD hasn't got it yet, I was wondering how long people have found it took for siblings to develop chicken pox after the first gets it. Is there a norm? How long did it take with your DCs?

DS was quite ill last week (pneumonia, hospital, antibiotics etc) and I'm just trying to figure out how long I'm going to be stuck at home for - obviously it will be longer depending on when DD's spots come up. I'm into my second week of illness(es), in one way less stressful than last week but I'd love to have an idea of when it will all end.

DS is happy and cheerful, poor love, if a little worn out.

Thanks!

Very about the errant apostrophe in the 'its' in my OP. Oh well.

it was around 15 days between my 2 lo's. The incubation period is 10-21 days though so you wont know for a few weeks as to whether your dd is going to get it.

14 days here between dc1 getting spots and dc2 getting them.

1st spot on Sunday so infectious from about Friday then - I found with mine that it went Monday week one - spots appear, Monday week 2 spots dried up all ok, Monday week 3 spots appear on second child. That was also how it went with the kids at dd3's nursery - she came out with it, had it and had been back a week before the next lot started. So I think you can go out and about a bit next week though avoid very close contact with anyone you know is vulnerable at the end of the week. CP is infectious through close contact - so being in the same room as an infectious person for 15 minutes or more. Don't worry too much about that though because you don't know if she will definately have it and whilst I've found 14 days to be the period for us it can be up to 21 - so you could avoid people when you think it's unsafe and start to relax just when she's infectious. The world is full of chicken pox incubating kids - especially in the Spring. Avoid friends or relatives who are immuno-suppressed or pregnant and haven't had it but I think that's all you need to do. I didn't even do that as we didn't know dd3 had been exposed. It was a total surprise when she exploded with it!

3 weeks here,the second child usually has a worse dose due to prolonged exposure,certainly was true for us,so stock up on oats etc! Hope your dcs are better soon.

Might not at all. Both my sons got chicken pox, one caught it from the other but my daughter didn't get it at all. There was only a few days or so (possibly a week) between my sons though.

Same here with ds1 being worse (as the second child) than dd. Though might also have been worse because he was younger and just found it so much harder to deal with.

2 weeks between dd and ds1.

Between 10 and 21 days. DD took about 12 days after DS came home from school with some spots so had been infectious a few days before.

10-14 days ish

It took 15 days from DD1's first spot to DD2's first spot.
Unfortunately the second one got it much worse than the first.
Bicarb in the bath was the best thing (DD2 was only 5mo)

Thanks for all the responses. So I'm looking at a 1-3week gap then. If I get a break in-between (and DS can finally start pre-school) that might help me cope.

DD is older than DS so hopefully will be able to cope a bit better - or maybe not, I don't know. She does know what 'don't scratch' means though, DS though is an itchy eczema-type anyway so unfortunately likes a good scratch.

What should I do about DD and nursery next week then? If I send her in and she's infectious, that's not really fair although it's probably where DS picked it up from in the first place... If I don't send her in I may well go mad.

Another question: what's the best/worst age for a child to be to get chicken pox? Just wondering. DD is 4, DS is 2.

Ditto the bicarb. The oats in a muslin was also a brilliant tip - fantastic for the skin and did really seem to soothe.

Calamine aqueous cream rather than lotion.

Piriton for over 2s.

I'd say you definitely have more than a week, because the incubation period is 2 to 3 weeks.

I would send a child into nursery who does not have spots. There are thousands of children unwittingly incubating the pox all over the country. One more or less in a nursery won't make much difference.

Still waiting for DD(7) to get it though I'm giving up hope as DS(4) has been clear for well over 4 weeks. Obviously waiting for a MUCH more inconvenient time

DS was 18 months. DD was 3.5. She coped much better.

I would send your non-poxy child to nursery. Until the spots appear, then there's no absolute certainty (though is most likely) that she'll get it. I do have a friend though who has a ds who has never had it, despite having two older siblings who had chicken pox.

Well I adopt a robust attitude to these things and would send her (having established there are no immuno-compromised children there) You don't know she will get it and anyway as your ds was no doubt there whilst 'secretly' infectious the virus is well spread about already and she won't be the only one incubating it. I would still have sent dd3 even if I'd known she had been exposed because you don't know what's going to happen and you cannot stay in or away from work for three weeks on the off chance.It's a pain but pre-school is the best time for kids to get it and few are seriously unwell. Dd3 managed to give it to 25 children at nursery across the 2 days she was there and 'secretly' infectious. A further 10 then caught it from one another. 36 cases - their biggest outbreak ever

So far I've been giving him Piriton and the oats in a muslin thing. Will try bicarb and get some calamine. Thanks for the tips.

Ok, to nursery she goes! Thank goodness. I know they had signs up before the Easter break saying that there was chicken pox in the nursery, so I won't be able to take all the credit like NorthernLurker..

It would be lovely to have a break between poxy children. And DS can start his pre-school while DD is ill, so only one to deal with.

Thanks again for the responses. Very reassuring.

Oh yes I was so proud! In no way did I slink in out of nursery praying that no other parent asked me accusingly - 'your daughter had CP very early on didn't she? Did she catch it here too?' They never did of course and nursery staff all said the afflicted parents were delighted to 'get it over with'

DD is just getting over CP - she is 14 months. Would def second the oats & bicarb in a bath and the calamine cream & piriton.

I'm afraid I had a sense-of-humour breakdown when the spots appeared on Sunday. I seem to have regained my calm again now though.

So 2-3 weeks before DD gets spotty (unless she doesn't get it at all) and as for the chicken pox itself, new spots for 1 week, drying spots for 2nd week, then no longer infectious? Are they no longer infectious after last spot has scabbed and fallen off?

The way it went for us was...

Day 1- a few spots
Day 2- a few more and first ones starting to crust over
Day 3 - lots of spots (in our case with a fever)
Day 4 - a few less spots appearing and most of the old ones crusty
Day 5- hardly any new ones, 90% crusty

And by day 7 - all spots scabby.

Once they are all scabby you are free to go out again. Don't wait for them to fall off, you could wait forever (especially the scabs in the hair - they stick around for weeks).