Is it irresponsible to take a child with chicken pox out?

[thatsnotmymonster]

DS (3) has just come out in a few spots. 2 others from nursery are also off with chicken pox. He is not going and is missing his Christmas Fayre today.

I have 2 other younger children at home and a million things to do (I have no food in and need to go to the supermarket for a start).

Would you go?

sorry rubberduck, that must have been awful. Do you know how you were exposed?

It is not only the spots which are infectious, chicken pox is airborne - even once the spots are out.

Yep, eldest son had it - we're not sure where he'd got it from though as no-one in the nursery had had it in the weeks leading up to it. So potentially from somewhere out and about.

My mum took me out when I was 3 or so with cpox to do the school run etc and I was just in the buggy.

As long as you stay clear of children I don't see the harm.

Could you do an online shop for your food, or get dp/dh to do the shopping perhaps?

You have to do what you have to do.

You were presumably out and about with him in the 2 days before his spots appear (as is everyone else) and assuming they have not been exposed at nursery as well, you are right about the others - this is your window of opportunity in a lot of ways (I didn't know those numbers).

I know CP can be scary to those badly affected, but DC who have yet to produce spots are way more infectious than the spotty ones, and no-one would castigate someone for taking a child who was about to produce spots to a supermarket because you have no way of knowing.

As you say - get what you need (including piriton and calpol!) as quickly as you can and internet-shop the rest. And then cancel your plans for a week or so

monster, you know from this thread that it is not just pregnant women who are at risk from chickenpox. Go out if you want but don't try to pretend it's safe.

good idea 2.4 kids but I don't have a suitable pram! I use the car seat on the buggy for dd2 and the proper buggy seat was eaten by mice in our garage 3 weeks ago (was meant to be collecting new one today but won't be doing that now) and we are selling our double mountain buggy on ebay so don't think it would be sensible to use that!

I will just leave them in the car while I nip in and get bread.

I would go if you have to.

It is an airborne virus so don't let him cough, sneeze or breath over anybody. If you are feeling very guilty I would give the trolley a wipe with disinfectant wipes when you have finished. It might help.

I had to take DS2 out a few times when he had it, just to get DS1 from school. He was in the pushchair with the raincover over a few times - his own little bubble. I don't suppose you can do that with two other smaller children though - presumably they need the pushchair.

Leaving them in the car sounds like a decent compromise.

Sorry but some people need to get the fuck over themselves. There is always the possiblity of infection from people who are incubating a disease (and therefore wildly infectious but no one knows this). To the majority of people one may walk past, a child with chickenpox is not a major risk (they've either had it already or, if they are small children of normal health, getting it will be no big deal).
While taking a child with chickenpox (ie within the first few days of spots appearing) to a toddler group where there will be lots of smaller children and possibly PG women as well would be a bit undesirable (higher statistical risk of someone actually suffering harm and it's not that necessary to go if your child is ill), suffering a shortage of essential food/household items because of a low statistical risk of doing serious harm is silly.
Go out quick and get your shopping and don't worry about it.

it is a pita isnt it? dd had chicken pox two weeks ago and has scabbed over for a week now, yesterday ds (8 months) came out in spots, i noticed one on his neck on the way to playgroup, i had to turn round and go home as there are tiny babies there for a weigh in hv clinic, but i did explain this to a two year old and went home

as we were already out, i bought milk and fruit on way home but last time when dd was ill i shopped online and managed till it arrived

most pregnant women will be fine but there are some who won't, my sil caught chicken pox when her kids got it, she is foreign, the pox she had as a child was a different one (something she didnt realise till then!)
three weeks later she was pg, so very lucky

nowadays we are lucky enough to have the technology to cure many illnesses but this does mean there are more immunorepressed people living normal lives and more likely to be in sainsburys

you quoted the nhs site corerectly in saying shingles isnt caught from cp, it also states:
You are infectious from about two days before the rash appears until roughly five days after. Therefore you or your child should stay at home until all of the blisters have fully crusted over, and this usually happens five to seven days after the first blister appears. After the last blister has burst and crusted over, you are no longer infectious.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chickenpox/Pages/Introduction.aspx?url=Pages/what-is-it. aspx

solidgold, can you really not see the difference between going out and about with a child who is apparently healthy, and deliberately exposing other people to infection once you KNOW your child has CP?

Please, please don't take them to the supermarket. Drive to a small shop or petrol station - however crap or far away - that you can park outside. Leave them in the car and grab essentials, even if it is just milk, bread and jam.

I bag on about this all the time but feel very strongly about it: ds1 was born with cp even though I had had it as a child and so would have assumed I was immune. I wasn't even aware of having come into contact with anyone with cp. He was very ill and nearly died. Wouldn't like anyone else to go through what we did in the first week of his life.

If you have to go then you have to go. It's all very well people on here saying you mustn't, but if you need food you need food.

I had to take dd2 out with CP in her buggy because I had to get dd1 to school. Where possible I asked other people to take and fetch her, but they couldn't always do it. Was I supposed to keep dd1 off school then ?

Yes it's irresponsible.

(And i get called irresponsible for not vaccinating my younger children- but I don't expose them to everyone else when they're ill).

I think the apparently healthy children are more of a risk. At least with a child you know has chickenpox you can do something to reduce the risks and to keep them out of the way as much as possible. The healthy ones are more of a problem.

It goes round nurseries/schools so fast not because people are bringing their children in when they have spots but because their apparently healthy but incubating children have it.

I agree with ohdear. That's what I do during school holidays if I run out of something and can't get to the supermarket because I have ds1 (severely disabled) and his brothers home. You can get enough to see you through at a garage until you get a chance to go out or for someone to get some shopping for you.

And get dh to do a proper shop on the way home so you don't have to take the kids anywhere near the supermarket for the next week (at least, depending on whether your other children come out in spots).

I know it is inconvenient, been there, got the T-shirt. What helped ds and me with the cabin fever was going round to play at friends' houses where the family had all had CP.

Edam: it's a risk-analysis thing. Chickenpox is not bubonic plague. The chances of the OP's child passing by someone who is severely at risk on a quick run to the shops is extremely low.
Society cannot run as though everyone is at terrible lethal risk from every little cough, sneeze or minor illness, or nothing would ever get done.

Not everyone can drive either so can't just leave child in car and nip into petrol station or corner shop. Also not everyone has a corner shop near.

My nearest shop is a small supermarket.

We aren't talking about coughs and colds, we are talking about a specific infectious disease that can cause severe illness in many different groups of people who are vulnerable.

There is no point in pretending that knowingly exposing innocent passers by to chickenpox is anything other than highly irresponsible.

The OP has a dh, it's not as if she or her kids are going to starve to death with no-one to help.

There's viruses and bacteria everywhere. in the air, on door handles. If you feel at risk, stay indoors.

Most bugs are passed on before symptoms appear.

and no-one can do anything about that, but you CAN keep a child you know to be infectious at home for a few days.

Do you REALLY expect all pregnant women to stay indoors? All people who have received organ transplants? Or who are having chemotherapy? Just in case some irresponsible person decides chickenpox isn't a big deal?

Have you read ohdear's post?

Edam: well it;s up to the vulnerable people to stay indoors then. ARe you seriously suggesting that a sick child should have to wait several hours for medicine because of a hypothetical risk of crossing paths with some high-risk individual?

Usually there is an illness during the infectious stage even if there is no rash. I knew when each of my kids was getting chilckenpox! Was right each time.