Chicken Pox

[cole]

Originally Posted by sarahdavid

Chicken pox is only contagious until the spots scab over (although correct me if I'm wrong) and I think the incubation period is 10-14 days (ish) so don't expect her to fall ill with it straight away!

x

Thats what dr said to us its contagious till all spots scab over and th incubation period is up to 21 days!!

[mrsharvey]

makes me laugh "let them mingle" don't know why must just be me

Jess had chicken pox when she was 2 and a half but was fine it with it so if Liv does catch it maybe she will have a mild dose too xxx

[daisy duke]

Thanks everyone, decided to keep out the way! Its Liv's bday in a few weeks and we will be having a bit of a party and dont want the pox spoiling her birthday! Shame as i really want to get it out the way!

[cathyg]

Freddie hasn't had it yet, even though kids in his class at school have. i suppose i would prefer him to catch it before he gets too old (if its worse for older kids), but i'm not sure i would want to purposely expose him to it, i'd rather he catch it naturally (iykwim). xx

[Ellie H]

Ethan and Elodie both had it back in May/June. Elodie had it alot worse than Ethan, I expect because she was exposed to it for longer as Ethan had it first.

I'd rather let them catch it randomly than trying to catch it on purpose. Chicken pox isn't any fun for you or them. We were stuck at home for almost five weeks and Elodie has alot of scars .

[DrP]

I definitely don't see any need to purposely give your child something like chicken pox. If they catch it naturally then fine, deal with it then but I would never go out of my way to give it to Freddie. He might never catch it - I've never had it, despite my brother having it when I was little and my sister too when I was lots older. Loads of people I know have also never had them so there is every chance Freddie will never catch them too. If he does pick it up sometime then we'll deal with it then.

The other reason I'd rather avoid it if possible is that shingles is caused by the same virus and occurs in people who have had chicken pox - i.e. it's a reoccurrence of the viral attack from parts of the virus that remain in your system if you've had chicken pox. Given how nasty shingles can be I certainly won't be trying to ensure my son gets chicken pox now in case he'd get that in later life.