urgent chicken pox question

[workstostaysane]

do all children need to get chicken pox at some point? my friend's 5r yr old has chicken pox and is still infectious. we are planning on going to see them tomorrow. dd is 8 months. (still bf, if that makes any difference).. am i being crazy exposing her to it or is it just as well she get it now as any other time?

Depends how brave you are feeling, if your friends child has spots it is unlikely that it will still be contagious. If you do go stock up on calamine, bicarb, tea tree, calpol & Piriton (check that it is safe for under 12 months first)

They don't need to get chicken pox. It is a nasty thing to have. My ds currently has it and no doubt dd1 & 2 will follow, but it is nasty. However, if you don't catch it as a child and get it later in life it is even worse.

It's better for them to get it when they are children than when older. But I know people who've never ever had it in their life.

My dd's just had it aged 4.5 and it was very unpleasant. I wouldn't want an 8 month old to get it if I were you.

My GP said they are infectious only until the last of the spots has appeared, after that they aren't. They are most infectious in the 2-3 days leading up to the appearance of the spots.

Most children will get Chicken Pox, my DS and DD both had it over Christmas and they were fine. They say the younger the child gets it the better it is, not sure how true this is though.

During DS infectious periods, we had lots of friends and family over but no-one caught it from him.

my dd is only 10 months & had chickenpox recently. The choice is yours...my GP said if babies are breastfed they should be ok.(I was concerned about friends twins who where only 5 weeks old at the time) It was horrible but now its over & done with I am glad.

My DD's both had it at the end of last year. The two year old was much worse than the 8 month old who pretty much sailed through it all. She seemed to be reasonably spotty though mild in comparrison to her older sister, but in herself she was ok. Personally I am glad she had it so young. She was only breastfed for a few weeks but I really dont know how much difference that would have made to her immunity and her response by that point.
I had chickenpox when I was 14 and I remember feeling really bad with 2 weeks of school etc.
Good luck whatever your choice.