yesterday i exposed the dsses to chicken pox - how long before they are likely to show symptoms if they have caught it? and will they definitely get it?

[Tutter]

[medical dunce]

I remember sitting on the sofa with dd1 or 2 and going to make breakfast and when I came back her face had gone from clear to spotty

I think we have to accept that everyone will deal with this differently, and Tutter has made her own choice. Which I presume she made responsibly and with full knowledge of both the likely and the possible consequences. It may not be the choice for everyone. I come from a country where this is not how its done. In fact when DD developed CP while we were there for a holiday she was used as a medical case specialty and doctors were called from far and wide to see what was in fact the first chicken pox case they had ever seen.

i had CP when i was 20 and I actually saw the spots appearing on my legs

scary

i know what would be a great idea

one of you could do a search on google images

then post links here

that would be great

i'd feel much better

So if a child catches CP under the age of 1, could they get it again? DD had it when she was 5 months old and was really ill with it. I hate the thought of going through that again

Btw, DS (16 months at the time) and I caught it at the same time as DD. He was ok, just a bit itchy and spotty. I however, thought I was dying! I looked like I had the plague or something.

Apparantly when I was at nursery it was closed down for a few days as there were so many children who had it, but I managed to escape unscathed. It would have been much better if I had caught it then.

here, quite horrific....

Really no guarantee at all that they'll catch it. My friend's ds had chicken pox twice over a month or two and we spend a lot of time with them. I thought, yes great, ds will catch it early and it'll be over and done with, but he never did get it, despite having TWO opportunities as it were.

MMJ - Austraaayylia.

Just waiting for dd1 and I to come down with it as DD2 has had it this last week.

IME it is "better" to expose your children if you get the chance(apart from them being below a year,but 11 mths would be ok IMO)

If you can calculate the time when they might develop it and then be clear of it ie.When the last spot crusts over not disappears,you can attempt to avoid important things,and holidays etc.

No guarantees though,as My two DDs both had it 16 days apart and we mixed with eldest daughters "baby Group" and no-one caught it at all.That was prolonged exposure,use of each others cups,toys that have been handled/sucked etc.

It seems mean to "deliberately" make you DC's ill,but in some ways if you can plan it,you can reduce further risks for them,if they had it eg. when they were quite sick from some other virus etc. and obviously disappointment when visits/holidays/birthday parties etc.have to be postponed or cancelled.

better to have it young when it is usually a minor illness than as an adult when it can be fatal and is always very severe.

I'm with tmmj here, but putting that aside, with my children, the incubation period was 13 days (ie ds1 got it first and ds2 and dd got it 13 days later). Also, dd was only 11 months old at the time and apart from waking once in one night presumably because of the itchiness, she did not seem to be any worse than ds2, so I think 11 months is not too bad a time to get it.

Mine were like that too tmmj. Ds1 had about 50 spots and I naively thought that was what CP was like. But ds2 and dd had 50 spots on the back of their necks alone! They too had them in the most unexpected places, though I am glad to say none of them scarred.

Ds3 has yet to have it although I know it did the rounds of playgroup when he was there. I am not looking forward to it happening really.

10-24 days, according to the BBC website, but most say 10-21.

dd1 was exposed (not deliberately ) dozens of times, and only just got it at 4.5 a few weeks ago.

I knew it was going around her pre-school, and was worried about dd2 getting it worse (GPs say siblings often do, due to exposure to high viral load) as she is littler and has laryngomalacia. I did think about exposing her deliberately, so it would be milder than if she caught it from her sister, and honestly didn't know what to do for the best. Pre-dd2, I wouldn't have considered deliberate infection.

One of my MN pals helped me decide not to, so I didnt'. I then spent days worrying about how badly she was bound to have it (her sister had it fairly badly), due to imossibility of quarantining 4.5 yr old from 18 mo old, thinking I'd done the wrong thing, and guess what: she hasn't caught it at all

I'm glad, tbh, I'd rather she was a bit older or am even thinking about immunization, in her case, but the whole thing made me less black/white about whether or not to deliberately expose.

CP is a dodgy little beast, IME, unpredictable. And sometimes uncatchable.

aDad

I gulped for weeks, no pox. Good luck.

I have never had chicken pox. Even though all three of my brothers had it and my two elder dd's had it (before dd3 was born).
Personally I wish they hadn't had it. Chnaging nappies full of crusty spots and begging a three year old not to scratch a they would scar(and she did) was hard work and not fun.
I would definitely not deliberately send dd3 out to catch it.

i discovered ds had cp in the paddling pool on hampstead heath -- spots were appearing before my eyes. we beat a hasty retreat. i was 37 weeks pg with dd at the time. she's now 3 & hasn't had it, despite being exposed numerous times. it's been round nursery loads of times but she's escaped so far. ho hum. i too want(ed) mine to have it young, so have no qualms about keeping on exposing dd.