Nursery has chickenpox, cant send 9 week old - how long do i leave it?

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Hi,

Unfortunately i have had to go back to work after a very short maternity leave and am having to put my 9 week old DS and 21 month old DD into nursery one day a week (sobs). This was all organised and we were to do their settling in sessions this coming tuesday and wednesday with the aim of starting them on thursday for a full day. They are going to be with my mom the other days im working.

The nursery rang me yesterday and said they have chickenpox in quite a few children in my DDs room. They are just telling me for information but i am in panic mode and cant possibly send my 9 week old now in case he gets it. Hes only just got over bronchilitus and i dont want him ill again.

Im planning on sorting a childminder now for both of them, ive spoken to one and explained the chickenpox situation and she is happy to accomodate me one day a week until the nursery is up and running (nursery is very close to work and i really like it) but i want to be honest with her and tell her exactly how long it will be.

I have no experience of these things so does anyone know how long i should leave it before sending them? I was thinking say, a month?

Thanks

It could be around for ages. Given the incubation period is about 10 days if you want to avoid it then you would need to wait 2 weeks after the last case really.

Problem is though in any childcare setting you will have bugs flying around which you can't possibly avoid.

The thing with chicken pox is its contagious before the spots even show so there isn't a way of sto

Stopping your children being exposed to it I don't think. I run a nursery room and we just advise parents when their is a case going around and I think that's mainly on case we have any pregnant mums. Chicken pox is just one of those things that children get and it's really difficult to stop them catching it. They might come out in it anyway if they have already been around it before the spots came out in other children.

I understand your worried about your baby getting it and hope he d

Doesn't but I'm not sure keeping them off a month will help. What if a child at the childminder gets it? Could you speak to your gp and find out if its likely to badly affect your baby if they get it after having bronchitis? Sometimes children just get spots and a cold and it's not too bad.

Thanks for your replies.
I think i will speak to my health visitor then, a friend at work said that her DS got it at 21 months and was really poorly so i am concerned about how badly it will affect DS. DD has kidney disease so although i dont think it will affect that im also concerned about her.
I wish i could take time off work but im so busy its just impossible.

How does it affect most children??

Can't comment on the nursery issue but just to say that DD had CP at 6 months and was fine - just a bit poorly for a few days plus of course the spots. If I were you I wouldn't be too concerned about your 21 month old (unless your doctor advises otherwise due to underlying health issues) as most toddlers will come into contact with it at some point.

CP in most children is not serious. In babies under the age of one it can be more serious. I would be very wary of exposing a nine week old baby to it.

Could you afford a nanny , I would have thought it may work out about the same as nursery for two , and in my opinion one of the biggest advantages is that your childcare is not disrupted when the children are ill, and in my experience the first few months at nursery mean that your child will be ill at least 30% of the time which makes life very stressful for both them and you .Its just the nature of group care to be honest .

I liked the fact that I didn't have to worry in the morning if a child was a bit peaky about whether they were well enough to go and then spend all day worrying if they were Ok and then worrying if I was going to have to take the next day off because one was ill .If they were ill they would be at home with my lively nanny snuggling and being cared for in the way I would want . Plus no hassle or rush I the morning.

Sorry should have said lovely nanny !

I'd do absolutely anything to avoid little ones coming into contact with it. As others have said, they are likely to get it at some point, but if you can avoid it for as long as you can, that would be best imo. My 11 month old got it and was really poorly with it, didn't sleep properly or eat for the best part of a week, was really distressed. Had 2 x 4yr olds too who also got it, and they were covered in spots but weren't too bad. We have very good friends whose son (at 18 months) had a very bad strain of chicken pox and had a stroke as a side effect with it, he's still having physio 2 years later - I know this is a very exceptional episode (I'm not trying to alarm you) but it really isn't some harmless cold-like illness. I'd use a childminder for at least a couple of months and ask them regularly whether they're getting new cases. Only when they say they're not having new cases would I send my children there.

Is there not a private vaccine you can get against chicken pox? Pretty sure most american kids are vaccinated against it?

YOu can't possibly avid people with chicken pox. The most infectous period is before the spots appear and the incubation period is up to 3 weeks.
We have had chicken pox in our nursery since christmas.