Scared of chickenpox when ttc

[blessedmammy]

I'm ttc my third child but scared because my two other children still have not had chickenpox. I have had chickenpox myself when I was young but have read that it's still a risk to contract when pregnant. Have others gone on to have more children with that risk being there?

I know children can be vaccinated but that's not something I want to do really!

My ds had chicken pox when I was pregnant. Midwife said not to worry since I have had it as a child.

Why don't you want to vaccinate them? Other than cost of course, but if you're TTC a third child that's probably not an issue.

If they're vaccinated they're unlikely to get it.

If you've had it as a child then there is little risk to you during pregnancy. You might be able to get tested to see if you have antibodies

You will have immunity from childhood. It’s actually not even something I thought about when TTC. The risk is only in adults who have not had it and there is also some concern about those who have been vaccinated where immunity wears off in adulthood, which is quite common (I had to have my MMR re-done as an adult because I had no measles immunity). Since you had a natural infection, you will almost certainly have immunity. That said, my youngest has been in FT nursery, then in school, and he still has never gotten it yet at 6. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've researched the vaccine and if children get it who have not had chicken pox previously it can affect them later in life as the vaccine's protection will decrease and they are more likely to contract shingles which could be very nasty for an adult.

That’s not true about it wearing off - no signs of this in the aging population in Australia who have had the vaccine. If you are that concerned you can get them a booster at uni age.

You can only get shingles if you've had chickenpox as it's a reactivation of the CP virus so you are confusing things here. If they haven't had CP then they can't develop shingles.

I dont know if having the vaccine itself means you can get shingles; you'd need to research that

You can still get shingles but it's much less common than in people who've had chickenpox. So if you're trying to avoid shingles, getting vaccinated against chickenpox is sensible.

Many large countries have had the vaccine on their schedule for many years with no sign of immunity waning. However, you can encourage your children to get boosters when they're older if you're concerned about that.

I have a lot of colleagues in the US and they were horrified that chickenpox is a normal part of childhood here. To them it's a very old-fashioned, preventable disease.

You need to educate yourself on chicken pox.

1 If you are pregnant and YOU have had chicken pox, the baby is fine

2 Shingles only occurs in people who have previously had chickenpox.

re the vaccine - I think I've heard that about the efficacy but I haven't researched it. iw ould imagine that research would quicklt tell you if it's true or not, and if it is true, what the solution is (most likely a booster as a young adult).

It's not true about the vaccine wearing off. It's more likely to give lifelong immunity than getting chickenpox because you can't control the dose of chickenpox- someone who had a mild dose as a baby will likely have lost their immunity by the time they're in their 60s.
Loads of countries vaccinate for chickenpox routinely, the only reason we don't is money.

As for the risk, if you've had it there's no risk to the baby if you got pregnant. If you're concerned you could ask your midwife if you can get tested for antibodies

Why not just get them vaccinated? Is it the cost?

I am pregnant with twins. It’s my third pregnancy. I had chicken pox as a child. However, I am getting both my 5yo and 18mo vaccinated this week as they still haven’t caught it (despite oldest being in full time childcare/school for over a year). I don’t want the stress of two potentially premature babies contracting chickenpox as they are due in peak winter virus season as it is.

It’s not cheap though.

I meant over four years… not just one!

I think you’re getting things confused.

Shingles is less common in those that have been vaccinated vs. those that have had chickenpox, there’s also a vaccine for shingles (commonly given to the elderly since they’re more at risk) and we can pretty sure immunity doesn’t wane over time because the US has had it on their schedule since the mid 1990s so the first recipients are now approaching their 30s, many with kids of their own. In fact immunity from having caught it ‘in the wild’ is the greater risk because you can’t control the dose you get, hence why some people are the rare few that get it twice.

Also, the JCVI has recommended it now for the UK, the NHS just doesn’t work that quickly, and there won’t be a catch up programme so it whilst it won’t apply to your elder 2 it’s very possible thought that a baby conceived now will be offered it with their routine 12 month vaccine.

If you can afford it then just do it for your older kids. You’re unlikely to be at risk having had it in childhood but a newborn would be very vulnerable if their siblings brought it home. Not to mention that it’s just a nasty disease and if can avoid that suffering for your older ones then why wouldn’t you?

If you have caught chickenpox then the virus stays within your body. When your immunity is reduced (for instance as you get older) the virus can reactivate causing shingles.

There is some debate about whether the protection to chicken pox wanes over time but if it's a concern boosters can be given.

We don't vaccinated in this country - partly for monetary reasons but also additional vaccines being added to the current regime fuels concerns about 'overloading' the immune systems of children. Finally having the virus circulating in the population boosts the immunity of older people helping to avoid shingles. However as said above the balance has shifted.