how soon / often do new chicken pox spots appear and blister?

[poxy]

I think my dd may have chicken pox - her cousin had it and we saw them 10 days ago; if I'm right, that's the minimum incubation time?
i noticed a rash on her bum when i was bathing her; didnt look as agressive as when she has nappy rash, more spotty. will i know by morning if its CP? will they be blistery by then, and will new ones appear?

otherwise, is there a way i can tell if its CP and not just a rash? obvioudly, dont want to send her to nursery if it is, but can't really afford to take time off if its not, as i've used up a lot of my 'family days' already.
sorry to waffle!

Hi.
The incubation period is normally about 20 days - this means that the spots don't normally appear until this time but I suppose that your DD might have been in contact with her cousin 20 days before their spots broke out so there is a chance she could have it. CP usually starts on the neck. There is one mother spot which is the biggest and they they appear on other parts of the body. The spots usually start off small and then turn into blisters within a few hours so you should easily be able to tell if she does have it by the morning. Good luck!!

oh, thank you -seems it might be too early as she didnt see her before new year's eve.the info i'd read said between 10 and 21 days so i feared the worst! i didnt notice one spot bigger than the others but will keep an eye on them. thanks clouisewood

my dd's have both had chicken pox in the last few weeks, dd1 appeared 14days after we saw a friend whose lo had c.pox. dd2 appeared exctly 14days after dd1 first spot (dd1 had over xmas and dd2 just getting over them now but was smothered at the weekend when it was her 1st bday )

Both times I noticed a couple of spots in the evening and dd1 was mild but had around 20 spots in the morning probably had 40 spots in total after 36hours, started drying/crusting within 72hours and mainly all gone within 10 days (still have 2 left in her hair 3.5 weeks later)

dd2 had them everywhere, in her bits, ears, up her nose, on her eyelids etc etc started thursday night, few more on friday and probably 150-200 spots by saturday. Her face and nappy area were the worse and we did have to get cream as they got infected in the nappy area. Today she looks so much better all dried up and literally dissapearing by the hour.

I dont know how old your dd is, if over 3 eurax cream is great for stopping the itching (and piriton syrup) not recommended under 3. For dd2 we used aquaeous calmine cream as normal calamine lotion ca be quite drying and make itching worse.

Both times the girls were fine in the day but we did have 2 bad nights wuth each of them and they were the nights the spots were very active

thanks eandh - by active, do you mean appearing or crusting? my dd is 16 months so i think i can use piriton (got some in when CP went round nursery last time!) but not the eurax. if it is, will get some clalmine cream, thanks for that tip, she has very dry skin anyway.
your poor dd2 on her birthday and at the spots absolutely everywhere!
i guess i'll just have to wait till morning- typical that DH is away all week

by active it was the nights the spots were out in force (so for both of them it was the saturday and sunday nights) as both showed signs of spots of the friday. So in theory if your dd has got them tomorrow and friday nights may be 'interesting'

I forgot to say piriton great for dd1 but actually made dd2 a bit hyper she'd sleep for 30minutes and then be awake rubbing herself on her bed sheets for 3-4hours so resorted to medised for her for both of them I didnt put vests on at bedtime just the lightest cotton pj's to keep them cool and for dd2 I would reapply the aqueous calamine cream every 4 ours or so to try and stop the itching before it started. Also left her nappy off for a few hours in the day to get some air around her bits (dd1 found it hghly amusing when dd2 poo'd on the kitchen floor )

my dd often wees on the bathroom floor and has poo-ed on my bedroom carpet! interesting about piriton, but i have medised in as well.
hopefull,y DH will be back on Friday night. now i suppose i have to just watch and wait! she's escaped them twice at nursery so i am convinved that this time she'll get it! thanks.

they seem to be doing the rounds everywhere at the mo (well from the number of threads on MN about them lately) I unwittingly went to soft play with them last thursday when she was most contagious so probably infected some kids there

ds's spots first appeared on Saturday, few more on Sunday and that has been it. The crusting is pretty clear when it happens - goes from being a blister to being a leedle scab. Calamine lotion will help if they itch, but they won't necessarily do that.

Interesting point about the mother spot as ds has one almighty one too!

I disagree with the 'CP usually starts on the neck' remark. It usually starts on the torso or back.

My dd had one spot for about 36 hours before any more appeared. We then noticed a number of teeny tiny ones on her body just before bed, but they weren't clear enough for us to be sure that it was CP. The following morning they were no bigger. In fact we thought at first that they had disappeared altogether! Over the course of that day they became more obvious, and more apppeared.

I think this was a pretty slow onset, but worth adding in case you (possibly wrongly) rule it out if it still isn't obvious by morning.

Oh, and if it is, give her baths with lots of bicarb of soda in. Helps the itching lots.