Chickenpox - my 3 month old was exposed and might have passed it on...

[gooeycake]

I'm feeling wracked with guilt. I had a friend and her son over on Tues, and he came down with pox on Thursday. My baby is 3 months and exclusively breastfed and was obviously exposed to it. I assumed he wouldn't get it as was being BF, so I unthinkingly went to my usual baby massage class on Friday. I'm suddenly paranoid he's going to get pox and have transmitted it to other babies. I know there's nothing I can do now, but am I right to feel guilty? Can't stop thinking about it...

too late to worry now. it could happen, but then chicken pox incubation is about a couple of weeks I think and they are infectious for some of that time before any symptoms show - so it's a cunning little virus which is why everyone ends up with it at some stage.

it might have been better if you didn't go, but there are far far worse crimes. a bit later on you may find yourself taking dc to a chicken pox party so he can get it at a time that's convenient to you!

You don't need to worry!!!

Your baby could not have been contagious as the MINIMUM incubation period is 10 days, so even if your son was exposed on Tuesday, he won't be infectious until at least 10 days after that which is 1-2 days before the spots appear. The average incubation period is 16 days (according to my GP) so you could expect your son to be possibly infectious from about day 13 or 14 onwards. That's even if he was exposed.

Don't worry it's not possible that he could be infectious that quickly. But keep an eye on him in two weeks time to see if any spots appear. As you're still BF it will probably be a mild case anyway as he's still receiving your antibodies.