Chicken pox ?

[Bekki]

I have exclusively breastfed my 3 month old, thinking that it would protect my baby from infections and colds that my 3 year old brings home from playgroup. But since day one he has suffered with awful colds and he has just gotten over what I thought was chicken pox. Ds1 was covered with chicken pox and I was told that ds2 wouldn't get it as he was protected because I have already had it and he was breastfed. But just after ds1 recovered, ds2 started showing the same symptoms. After to days he had just two blisters and I thought it might just be a mild case, but once they had scabbed over other blisters started appearing everywhere, but mainly on neck and face. We went for our post-natel check-up and my (female) gp said that it was definatley chicken pox without any hesitation. Four days later he became very grumpy and wouldn't stop crying, a rash appeared all over his face and I took him down to the walk-in-centre to be told by (male) gp that it was unheard of for a baby so young who was breastfed to catch chicken pox. He then diagnosed not chicken pox but an infection of milk spots. I didn't quite believe a word of it but I didn't want to risk anything so I gave my baby the full course of anti-biotics. He seems fine now apart from another cold bot thankfully milder than the one that he was suffering with beforehand.
Sorry that was very long winded but my questions are - was it chicken pox?
how rare is it exactly for a case of chicken pox to appear in a 9 week old?
why is my milk not protecting him from all of this, I feel like I must be doing something wrong?

If you had chickenpox then most protection would have been passed from the placenta- rather than the milk- so yes your baby should have been protected, even if you weren't breastfeeding. However I don't think its unheard of for people to get chickenpox more than once- so maybe you didn't have a very good antibody response. If so you wouldn;t have had any antibodies to pass. Alternatively were you given any drugs during your bout of chickenpox- If you had been given acyclovir then that can interfere with the fomration of antibodies (it's not usually given for chickenpox). My ds1 had chickenpox when ds was about 8 months and ds1's paediatrician said ds2 "should" still be protected- he was.

Chickenpox can occasionally be hard to diagnose. DS1 had eczema herpeticum at 11 months (eczema infected with herpes) which was misdiagnosed by the GP as severe chicknpox (to be honest it was such a mess it was hard to tell- in the end the consultant dermatologist diagnosed it and only because he had classic e herpeticum spots on his legs by the time she saw him). I doubt your baby has e herpeticum but he may have had an infected eczema.

You won't be able to rpvide your baby with that much protection against colds as the viruses mutate all the time- so you won't have the up to date antibodies iyswim.

Thanks Jimjams. I caught chicken pox when I was 8 and it was a pretty bad case, I remember the trauma well. Although I wasn't taking any medication at the time.

The second gp looked at the new flat rash on his face and said that it was infected milk spots. He then saw the scabs on his neck and said that that the white part of the scab showed an infection. To my untrained eyes it looked like any other scab I've ever seen. The 'new' rash disapperared within 12 hours. I'm none the wiser. But really what are the chances of ds2 getting 'infected milk spots' that look identical to chicken spots days after ds1's chicken pox start to scab over?

If it was infected milk spots wouldn't there have been lots of obvious milk spots where the blisters and scabs turned up? Because his skin was perfectly clear beforehand. If it was eczema wouldn't he also have had an obvious eczema rash?

when ds1 had his eczema herpeticum- which also consisted of "normal" infected eczema it started with a series of blisters- very like chickenpox. A GP friend saw it at the time - right at the beginning- and said he thought it was infected eczema. Within a couple of days it was a total mess and by now looked like severe chickenpox (except to the dermatologist) so guess they can look very similar.

I don't really know about the milk spots (although have a seach on google- there are lots of medical pictures out there- of you look at eczema herpeticum for example you will see it is similar to chickenpox- I don't think your baby had this btw as they tend to be ill with it!). I remember ds1 had some infected spots behind his knee when he was a baby and they were like blisters.

I would think that if you had a bad case of chickenpox it is very very unlikely that such a young baby would get it- the protection will have been passed across the placenta so should still be in full swing iyswim. Also I think when such young babies get chickepox they do tend to be ill from it and it doesn't sound as if your son was.

It's definitely not unheard of for a breastfed young baby to get chicken pox because I know of a case from another list.

My friends dd got c'pox aged about 3/4 months when she was exclusively bfed. In your case does the timing fit ? You say ds2's came out as ds1's scabbed but the incubation period is 2-3weeks so it seems odd to me that they either didn't catch it at the same time (ie had same exposure to the infection) or that there wasn't a longer time lag between the 2 if one caught it from the other. If your ds2 has had it, don't assume he won't catch it in the future as small babies don't always make the long term antibodies.

ds has just had a persistent cold/cough that aggravated his skin and he then got impetigo with it so it is possible that the colds have just triggered a susceptibility to a form of eczema.

hope he feels better soon

O.k I'll have to assume that I may have to go through another chicken pox outbreak in a couple of years. I had really hoped that after going through all that for 3 weeks that I had finished with the calamine lotion, nevermind.

Jimjams I have really tried to guess before showing mumsnet the full extent of my ignorance but for the life of me I can't work out what 'iyswim' means.

Thanks Lizs. He is already back to his normal self, apart from some scars on his chin and eyelids. Fingers crossed that they will go as quickly as they came.

if you see what I mean

One of mine had chicken pox at 10 weeks.

Had you had chickenpox yourself lou? I think if you hadn't then it would be quite likely that the baby would get it as they wouldn't have any antibodies. Although it is possible to get chickenpox more than once (although rare- maybe there are slightly different strains? Or maybe the antibodies only given partial protection in some cases?)

Can't help with the chickenpox Bekki but just wanted to add that my DS2 got every cold DS1 had despite being b/fed until 16 months however he seemed to get over them quickly and didn't get ill, just snottery IYKWIM (if you know what I mean ), and I always put that down to the breastmilk. If nothing else it's easier than bottles especially when they are ill.

My completely breastfed 3 week old son caught chicken pox from his 2 year old sister, even though I had had chicken pox myself as a 15 year old.

DSs chicken pox was very mild - only 4 or so spots and I was told by GP that he would probably catch it again. However, at 18 months old he suffered from shingles!

I am due with baby no.3 today and dd1 is due to break out with chicken pox some time this week (her best friend had it a couple of weeks ago and they're a bit of a kissy/cuddly pair) so I asked my GP about it... he said that the protection comes from the placenta and wears off after a month or so. Also know of other b/f babies who got chicken pox.

Sorry to say this, 2under2, but there was a local baby who had CP at 2 weeks old; protection from the placenta isn't infallible. The baby was ok, though. I think the main thing if CP hits a newborn is to watch out for high fever.

DD (breastfed!) had CP at 3 months old. RElatively mild case.

aah zebra, don't tell me that. Well, not a lot I can do other than wait and hope for the best.

Is it possible that the baby's mother wasn't immune, zebra? (trying hard to make 2under2 feel better!)

2under2 - don't worry I had an exposure to cp rught at the end of pregnancy with ds1. Major panic as I had never had cp- they tested me and I had antibodies anyway (must have had a subclinical infection).

ds2 was exposed to cp when he was around 6 monthsidh (ds1 had it). He didn't get it- so he must have had antibodies from me- either via placenta or breast milk.

My uncle was supposedly born with cp spots- but have no idea whether thats a family fairy tale or even whether its possible- my grandmother has demetia so I can't ask her- my mum swears its true but may just be a fairy tale.

I don't know enuf about the local 2 week old who got CP... but I didn't hear "and the mother has it, too!" as part of the story, so I imagine she was immune herself.

Thing to remember, is, the 2 week old was ok by all accounts. Just watch for fever if yours does get CP.