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Original poster

13MO with chicken pox won’t breastfeed or sleep - help!

35 replies

MintGreenLife · 15/08/2022 17:29

He’s not had a feed since about 4am, and I’ve no idea why! He will eat food, but won’t have any milk and doesn’t drink cows milk/isn’t brilliant with drinking water. He’s just latching on and straight back off again, but not responding in a way that would suggest he’s in pain. Any idea what’s going on here?!

He’s also not slept since 1am 😳 I’ve tried feeding him to sleep (obviously not working), rocking, the pram, the car…nothing is working! We couldn’t get any gel or lotion for the chicken pox locally and nowhere had any, all we could get was Piriton, but I’m reluctant to give that unless we absolutely have to!

Any advice/tips would be much appreciated x

OP posts:
Arthursmom · 16/08/2022 08:33

I hope you've been seen and things are a bit better/everyone has had some sleep.
A 1 ml syringe is easy to skip in the corner of their mouth. Little and often

Original poster
MintGreenLife · 16/08/2022 13:16

@Arthursmom @MissSmiley @Polkadotpjs thanks all! So we finally got out of A&E at 4am after almost 4hrs waiting. He was crying for the first hour and a half but DH persevered with rocking him and eventually he fell asleep, thank god! He was up almost 24hrs in total 😖 he slept then right up until the doctor came, and literally 10 mins before they came he woke briefly so I told DH to pass him to me and I managed to feed him! He had a whole day’s worth of milk in about 10 mins and I was worried he would be sick, but he was fine and he fell back asleep feeding. As he had slept and finally fed, the doctor just gave us very basic advice to treat his chickenpox at home, so it was fairly pointless going in…but of course we didn’t know he would eventually go to sleep and feed again.

He’s continued to feed well today and he’s napping in his cot now, and when we got back last night I managed to get him to sleep and put him down in his cot where he slept for 3hrs, so we all got a bit of sleep.

He does however have an awful lot of blisters on his bum/in his groin, it’s near enough covering his whole bum and top of his thighs, looks very red and angry, so I have sent photos to the GP and am waiting a telephone consultation. The NHS will probably be absolutely sick of me, but he does seem to have a particularly nasty case and is quite unwell with it!

OP posts:
Arthursmom · 16/08/2022 14:00

Gosh that is grim and, as you say, sounds a very severe case. Hopefully no scarring. Wonderful he's feeding again as should also help him fight it better. Hope things continue to improve.

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Seeline · 16/08/2022 14:12

Poor little thing! My DD had it really badly when she was 2. We ended up having several tepid bicarb baths every day. It was the only thing that seemed to help. If you are somewhere that is having the heatwave, your DS must be really uncomfortable - the heat makes the itching much worse. Few clothes and lots of cool baths might help. Hope he is on the mend soon.

allboysherebutme · 16/08/2022 22:31

Would you try him with some formula. ? X

allboysherebutme · 16/08/2022 22:38

Sorry ignore my post, just saw he's fed great news. X

allboysherebutme · 16/08/2022 22:40

I also gave mine herbal medicine Rhus Tox. It was great helped clear up spots quickly. X

TokenGinger · 16/08/2022 23:01

This advice is too late forOP, but if anybody else reads, it might help. My friend is a nurse in a GP surgery and her speciality is dermatology. When DS has chickenpox, she told me not to bathe him. She said it's outdated advice, and whilst it does soothe them whilst in the bath, it makes it much worse. She said the herpes virus is very infectious and spreads easily, and the warm water allows the blisters to weep, infecting the water, which is then used to bathe their skin, spreading it further. She said it makes it especially bad on their groin/bottom/leg areas as they are submerged in the bath for the duration.

She advised us to use Poxclin mousse and piriton and just to baby wipe down his areas in the meantime. He was all crusted over in 5 days and back to nursery.

Original poster
MintGreenLife · 17/08/2022 11:53

@TokenGinger that’s very interesting! In my head I thought bathing was a good idea as keeps it all clean and maybe reduces the risk of infection 🤔 he’s been having an oat bath twice a day, but maybe that’s not such a good idea. May try avoiding the bath for a day or two and see if it helps.

I’ve not seen chickenpox before, but I do think he was a truly horrendous case! His bum, groin, legs, hands and feet are completely covered, and he had a scattering on his arms, neck, underarms and face. Amazingly he slept ok last night! He was up 3hrs in the middle of the night, but apart from that he just woke once for a feed and so DH and I finally got a decent bit of sleep too! He had a heavy nappy this morning, so that was a relief and feel we are back on top of his fluids now.

OP posts:
TokenGinger · 17/08/2022 17:37

MintGreenLife · 17/08/2022 11:53

@TokenGinger that’s very interesting! In my head I thought bathing was a good idea as keeps it all clean and maybe reduces the risk of infection 🤔 he’s been having an oat bath twice a day, but maybe that’s not such a good idea. May try avoiding the bath for a day or two and see if it helps.

I’ve not seen chickenpox before, but I do think he was a truly horrendous case! His bum, groin, legs, hands and feet are completely covered, and he had a scattering on his arms, neck, underarms and face. Amazingly he slept ok last night! He was up 3hrs in the middle of the night, but apart from that he just woke once for a feed and so DH and I finally got a decent bit of sleep too! He had a heavy nappy this morning, so that was a relief and feel we are back on top of his fluids now.

I'm so glad he's taking fluids. Fingers crossed he's on the mend, the poor little dot. It's such an uncomfortable thing for them to have. It's awful watching them struggle with it. I hope he's back to full health soon 💕

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