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Original poster

chicken pox - sorry, another question!

14 replies

poxy · 27/12/2007 20:07

I am supposed to be going, with my dd, to stay with my sister on saturday for nearly a week, but her dd has come down with chicken pox. I dont have a major issue with my dd catching it; she has escaped the last twice it has gone round at nursery.but i am unsure whether it would be wrong of me to send dd back to nursery when we come back, knowing she'd been in contact with it, and also, travelling when she may have the virus in its incubation period.

am i right that even if she later gets it, she would not be infectious while travelling as it would be too close to exposure? we have 2 short flights to do.

what would you do? i wont see my family till the summer if i dont go now, i suppose, but dont want to put anyone at risk.

OP posts:

paulaplumpbottom · 27/12/2007 20:08

You know you should let her catch it. If she gets it in adulthood it can be very dangerous

Original poster

poxy · 27/12/2007 20:12

I am quite happy () for her to catch it, just not sure whether the nursery would be annoyed that i had sent her in after exposure to it. presumably, if she caught it, she would come down with it after the incubation period and would have been back at nursery for at least a week.

OP posts:

Original poster

poxy · 27/12/2007 20:13

i really want to see my folks and want them to see dd - she'll be so different in 8 months time, which would be the next time i could go.

OP posts:

annoyingdevil · 27/12/2007 21:08

Yes, let her catch it. I have it now and it's awful.

ladymuckingitup · 27/12/2007 21:12

You are very moral to worry about sending her in after exposing her to the pox. I wouldn't worry... after all she may very well not catch it. And on the whole most people don't know when their children have been exposed and so send them in to nursery anyhow. And won't those other nursery children get it at some point one way or another? Am I awful?

Meeely2 · 27/12/2007 21:15

no one seems to be answering your question! Although you are perfectly happy for your DD to catch it there may be some parents who would be mortified, so IF you go (and i think you should) you should tell your nursery and keep your DD off until she comes down with it. they are infectious days before spots show. My twins had it 2 weeks apart and I actually sent the other twin back to nursery after 2 weeks of his bro having it thinking (naively) that he hadn't caught it - I got a call at lunchtime to say the spots had started. So all in all i was 'off' work for a month with both of them.

sandyballs · 27/12/2007 21:17

I wouldn't knowingly put my child at risk of catching it, not after seeing my DD1 with it. I had no idea how ill a child could be with chicken pox, having only experienced it very mildly as a child, but DD1 was very very poorly and I wouldn't knowingly put a child through that.

Sam100 · 27/12/2007 21:21

If you are going saturday chances are that yr niece is past her most infectious anyway - its most infectious in the run up to the spots appearing by droplets (coughs, sneezes etc) and then when spots are weepy (first couple of days) by transference (scratching and touching others) until they have dried up. If yr niece already has visible spots then she is well on her way to being uninfectious - school advice to us was that they can go back into school 3 days after last spots appeared (usually 5 to 6 days from first spots appearing). As it was christmas hols by then did not apply to us. Also incubation is a good 2 to 3 weeks, so if you are travelling in the next week or so i don't think she would be infectious until at least 2 weeks from exposure. They have the cold thing for a couple of days before the spots come out. I would go and see your family.

Original poster

poxy · 27/12/2007 21:42

thanks for all your thoughts on this. At the moment, i am proposing to go but stay elsewhere till monday, then stay with my sister, hoping her dd has settled down a bit. there is no question of me keeping dd off nursery and staying off work with her, just in case, i just cant. I do feel guilty at deliberately exposing her and i am aware of how bad it can be - my nephew had a horrible time with it, i had to go with my BIL to hospital with him. but i would also feel guilty if she didnt see her family as well.
I will tell the nursery that she has been exposed, in the same way as they tell us if they've had a case of it.i know others whose dcs have been exposed and they have mentioned it and had the wait and see approach. it did the rounds twice i think last term.
annoying devil, hope you start to feel better soon.

OP posts:

Heated · 27/12/2007 21:50

Children are infectious 10 days before the spots appear, so actually children are exposed to it all the time without parents being able to prevent it. I wouldn't worry.

starfish2 · 27/12/2007 22:01

There are lots of messages about the pox right now... Is this a usual time of the year for chicken pox? Or is this a 'wave'?

coby · 27/12/2007 22:23

The usual time is spring / summer apparently but it seems to have not noticed the time and stayed late this year (not that I'm sure these 'seasons' for 'pox' are particularly accurate

Poxy - I think you are doing the honourable thing telling the nursery of the exposure. I would think they would still be happy to take your DD back regardless - some children are repeatedly exposed and just don't seem to get it until years later. The average incubation period is about 17 days i.e between 14-21 days so not much chance on infecting everyone on the plane

Current advice to schools and nurseries is that children should be kept off until all the spots have scabbed over and no new ones are appearing - I therefore assume that your neice will be considered infective until she has reached this stage.

tbh you just can't control when your DCs get CP from my experience. Have a good time with your family and don't worry about something you don't really have much control over (HA! if only I could follow my own advice )

Original poster

poxy · 28/12/2007 12:21

thanks guys. we are definitely now going, stying with someone else for a couple of days then spending the rest of the time with my sister. i have been reminding myself that my dd mixes with all sorts of children at different places and any one of them could be infectious. my neice has no new spots today and seems to be on good form so hopefully will be fine by the time we see her.I can't wait!

please be nice to me if/when i'm back on here in a few weeks asking for advice on the relieving pox symptoms!!

OP posts:

LIZS · 28/12/2007 12:39

Heated, sorry, you're wrong. They can incubate it for 10 days to 3 weeks before coming out in it but they are only contagious a day or so beforehand not 10 days then for about 5 spotty days. Poxy, by the time you get there she may not even still be contagious anyway.

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