Chicken Pox - please give me your best remedies for stopping the itching!!

[MordecaiAliVanAllenOShea]

My dd age 3 is being tormented by hundreds of these sopts, especially in and around her 'bits' and near her eyes. My ds has had it but not like this.

Please could you tell me how to stop the itching. We have calamine and piriton. She hates the former and I force her to have the latter.

What works? Also how long before she feels better? TIA.

Calamine can be too drying for the skin. Lacto-calamine is good, or you can use Benadryl cream - I found that worked a treat for dd.

Bicarb in the bath works, as does an oat bath - put some oats in the foot of a pair of tights, tie it up and swish in the water.

Keep up with the Piriton because it really does help.

Ah yes, thank you - we tried that this morning and evening. Baths seem to work but only for a short time.

You could try Eurax cream - I have seen it recommended for CP itching although I didn't know of it till after we had CP. I have used it on normal dry itchy skin though and it works amazingly well. Wish I'd known about it when I had CP, I found none of the usual suggestions really worked.

Thanks WWB. Where do I get Benadryl from? Is it available over the counter? Also do I use porridge oats or do they have to be some other sort?

Great to have some things to try, thank you. I will buy up the chemist tomorrow. It's her down below bits which seem to get her screaming.

Oatmeal bath

Eurax also does a lotion, which is miles easier to put on if there are loads of spots. Much faster as well, although you'd probably want the cream for near the eyes. We used it on DS's cp and it was brilliant! Esp with the piriton.

DS had a few days - three I think - of complete torment, and then he started to feel better. But he was only 18 mo and I really think that the younger they have it (12 mo+, though), the faster they get over it. He was never poorly, just in torment.

That's a good way of putting it - torment. I will get the Eurax lotion asap. DH is away skiing so it will have to be tomorrow.

Ds (2.11) erupted in literally hundreds of spots on Boxing Day - with huge clusters around his bum, willy and testicles (I think it's classic for chicken pox to gather in the groin area .

He hasn't got any scars, so I'm assuming our non-itch startegies worked.

Firstly he was dosed up on piriton or medised most of the time, which helped keep the itching at bay. He had twice daily luke warm baths with 4 tablespoons of bicarb and a sock filled with porridge oats squeezed into the water. And we got some aqueous calamine cream (just a huge cheap generic pot from the pharmacy in Tescos) which we smothered him in twice a day. It doesn't dry the skin out like lotion does, but still has the soothing properties. He helped us put it on, and was keen to do this once he knew he was allowed the anoint my face as well.....We also left him pants free for a few days to keep everything cool and aired. He stopped getting new spots about 4 days after the first ones appeared, and they were scabbing over by day 6.

Hope this helps and {{hugs}} to your poor dd.

Yes, the no pants thing. She is normally in a nappy at night, but it looks like an enforced night training exercise because a nappy is unbearable. Thanks for all your thoughts.