Share your tips for coping when your children have chickenpox with PoxClin

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Though most children will get it at some stage, chickenpox is an illness that can be difficult for all involved. With that in mind, PoxClin would like to hear the tips you have for when children get chickenpox.

Here’s what PoxClin has to say: “It’s never easy when your children are ill and it’s natural for parents to worry about the itching and discomfort chickenpox can cause. 46% of parents say that stopping children from scratching is the most important thing for them when their child has chickenpox and 34% also worry about longer-term effects like scarring. These issues, combined with children being at home and unable to attend school or nursery until the spots have crusted over can put everyone to the test, with children being restless and parents feeling anxious and stressed from juggling work and unexpected childcare. It’s at times like this that support and advice from other parents can be so valuable. So, if you have some amazing parenting “hacks” to share, we want to hear from you!”

Do you have any tips for dealing with being housebound while your child is contagious? Perhaps you know of remedies that help with relieving the itching and scratching that accompanies chickenpox? Maybe you have tips for dealing with more than one child getting chickenpox at the same time?

All who post below sharing their tips will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

*An online survey was conducted by Atomik Research among 1,300 UK adults aged 18+. The research fieldwork took place on 8th – 12th April 2019. Atomik Research is an independent creative market research agency that employs MRS-certified researchers and abides to MRS code

Both of my children have just had chickenpox having avoided it for years and years!

PoxClin was really good and so easy to apply. We also used oat baths, ice lollies and avoided ibuprofen.

Lots of film afternoons whilst they were off school and taking it easy really helped. Luckily aside from a temperature and the spots, it wasn't too bad for us, possibly as they are both older.

Don't take them out and about when they are contagious. It is selfish.

(Obviously I mean don't take them out once the spots are visible- before then you wouldn't know :) .)

soft clothes.
tickling over them softly when the itches got to madness stage.
also the act of putting a cooling lotion of aftersun could help.i think half of it was the actual headspace of them when they saw you doing something calmed the brain witch calmed the itch if that makes sense.
distraction.itching gets too much."come get a drink""whats on tv""did you see..." "daddy said this to me today do you think hes funny"
dab dont rub after getting showered or bathed.
tell them it will scar if they ithc.
soft cotton socks over hands.
sudocream for the sore ones.
remember chicken pox in the mouth!so soft foods and nothing acidic
blow on them as they go to sleep.very soothing on the face at night.

Calamine cream is brilliant.

Oat baths are a wonderful soothing treatment. I got my dc to relax in one daily - for as long as possible. .

When I had chickenpox at Christmas aged around 7 my dad created a game where he would roll some dice and join up the number of dots on them with calamine lotion! He made having chickenpox almost fun!

Cried when he saw a chicken because it reminded him he had chicken pox and was poorly.

My two had it over Christmas one year. We just bedded down in our pyjamas with books, movies, treats, regular baths and mountains of Poxclin!! Thankfully come Christmas Day they had crusted over so we were able to venture out for our much needed Christmas meal (and copious amounts of Prosecco!)

Calamine lotion or cream applied straight from the fridge helped a lot for my DC.
I also made sure that they were dressed in light cotton clothing and pyjamas getting warm/hot made the itching worse. Cool bath with was effective with one and made no difference to the other.

Lots of oaty baths!

Only my eldest (age 7) has had it so far and she had it extremely mild! Calomine lotion worked a treat. My youngest (4) hasn't had it yet!

Vaccination. I don't understand why the NHS doesn't offer it, it's given as standard with the MMR in the US and Australia. I'm so relieved my toddler isn't going to get it now, and it's the best I can do to protect my unborn baby once it's out until it's old enough for the jab.

30 odd years ago an old Irish woman advised a handful of salt in tepid baths. It seemed to stop the spots developing by drying them up. All 4 children didn't need calomine as they didn't itch much and only one of them has one scar.

My 3 all had it this year during the Christmas holidays,
Definitely recommend poxclin, it makes the spots dry quicker and very easy to use.

Oat baths and scratch mitts (depending on age)

When my two had it, we found that oats in a sock in the bath really helped sooth the itching. It created a lovely 'creamy' bath!

My DS had them when he was three, as did all of his room at nursery. He had spots everywhere, particularly all over his face. I found it pretty heartbreaking. My sister recommended PoxClin, which was easier to apply than the lotions we’d tried. We also tried warm baths, crisp cotton clothes and bedding and lots of rest. We kept him in for ages and when we did finally take him to the park, we were pretty paranoid. Sky Kids helped a lot too!

DS got them a week before his 1st birthday. Sobbed for days until the pharmacist agreed he could have Piriton - it was an absolute lifesaver! Meant we both got some sleep.

Oat baths, PoxClin and Piriton for us too.

Son was 7 and I've never seen him so poorly. Ate almost nothing for a week, had active spots for 10days.... Then two weeks later the husband came home spotty...

Oat baths, PoxClin and Piriton for him too!

Keeping nails trimmed really short is important, it lessens the damage they do when they eventually itch! My DC loved having cool baths with a sock/pair of tights full of porridge oats, he found rubbing that over his spots really soothing. We really rated Poxclin as the mousse style wasn’t too cold on their warm body - whereas some of the gels were really cold!

Top tips:
Paracetamol for discomfort
Sky movies
Warm bath and shower running.
No clothes.
Ice lollies if it’s in the mouth
Sudocrem if it’s in the genital area.
Cuddles.
Fluids, lots of fluids

Best thing of all, get down toy boxes long forgotten and let them delve! Hours passed by with toys that haven’t been played with for ages.

If any concerns or worries about them getting worse or unusual symptoms a check of NHS choices website has all the answers.
Would not be taking my child out to a GP surgery waiting room for something that can easily be looked up.
Wait it out. That’s it, just wait it out.

Another one for calamine lotion. Brought relief.

Tried an oat soak bath but just made a huge mess. Like bathing a toddler in porridge.

I did oats in the bath and used poxclin. We had a pretty easy time of it and he was only left with a couple of scars for it.

Oatmeal baths here. Plus I got calamine cream rather than lotion which was much easier to put on than the lotion.