Chicken pox

Anyone been through it with a child over here, and with a child and a baby here? My 4 year old appears to have it and I am wondering will the baby get it. I had it as a child myself and am breastfeeding exclusively. I think the anti-bodies in the breastmilk will help the baby. Anyone else been through this here yet?

How old is the baby and has she/he been immunized?  Chicken Pox is highly contagious, the baby will probably get it; but it might not - only time will tell.  Let's hope the breast milk antibodies will protect him/her right now.

And, just because you've had it before doesn't mean you can't get it again.  I know; I have had it twice and I know of people who have had it even more than me. 

Break out the calamine lotion and call the doctor with any worries, and do a favour to all the pregnant mothers out there and don't take your children out and expose them to it; I have a feeling that that may be what happened to me.

My daughter has been quarantined to her room since she came home with the questionable rash. It's weird, as it looks like the start of chicken pox, but it's not quite there yet. We are going to the doctor tomorrow if the rash is still there and it's not progressed as chicken pox should. She's no fever and isn't listless or sick acting, but does have a cough which the doctor last week (pre-rash) said she had a throat infection and put her on anti-biotics. Two other children at her day camp have chicken pox this week, BTW.

I've checked a lot of places online and it seems that if you have 'chicken pox' twice, one of them was a mis-diagnose. There are two strains of the chicken pox virus but it is apparently rare for someone to get both of them. Either way, if you do get both viruses, once you have had them, that's it for them for you. Hence the vaccine for chicken pox.

Right now, daughter is on oatmeal baths and dream cream lotion from Lush, with socks on her hands (along with the anti biotics and tixylix at night because her cough is worse then and keeps her and the rest of us up).

Anyway I would not take my kids out anywhere if they had chicken pox or I knew they were contagious in any way. That's a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, chicken pox is contagious BEFORE the rash comes out, so sometimes people can expose others without even realizing it.  Hope your daughter's better soon, Stella...

Modified to add - the rash COULD be a reaction to the antibiotics...

Oh, yeah, that's what sux about chicken pox, but once you know that's what it is, you can't let your kid spread it. And since her rash isn't doing what chicken pox is supposed to be doung, I'm thinking you're right, it's possibly hives in reaction to the anti-biotics.

Sorry to hear about your daughter...

I have a question though...when did things change?  I mean when did people decide not to expose their kids to it.  I remember when I was growing up - if a parent heard that another child had chicken pox they quickly herded up all the neighborhood kids so that all of the kids would get it.

So what happened?  Is that no longer PC?

I never heard that, though I suppose it would be handy, if you could plan for it. We had no idea anyone at her day camp had chicken pox until she came home with the rash, and I rang her supervisors today who told me that another girl had it and one of the other teachers just phoned in with it. As I have a baby at home I am not too sure I'd line her up for it at the moment, given the choice!

As I have a baby at home I am not too sure I'd line her up for it at the moment, given the choice!

No - a baby with chick pox would be really hard to cope with.

Maybe it's a southern thing....I got rounded up for chicken pox, mumps and measles...all my friends and my brother had them at the same time.

Well except for the chicken pox!  I didn't get them when all the other kids had them for some odd reason....didn't have them until my middle teens.  That sucked!

Chicken pox in kindergarten, and shoot, what was that called, the kissing thing, it would lay you up for about a week, with like a really bad flu, loads of us got it in high school. On the tip of my tongue (no pun intended!).

Chicken pox in kindergarten, and shoot, what was that called, the kissing thing, it would lay you up for about a week, with like a really bad flu, loads of us got it in high school. On the tip of my tongue (no pun intended!).

Ah, good old mono!!! 

That's the one!

It's called glandular fever here, not mononucleosis.

Go for the calamine creme over the lotion.  The aqueous creme also helps.

Icicle, how old are you?  I'm 34 and I had a triple jab - MMR - I didn't know anyone growing up who had measles, mumps or rubella.  In fact, my 38-year-old sister had an MMR jab as well.  My folks has all these diseases, but they're in their 60s. 

Never heard of deliberately exposing kids to it, either.  A classroom setting is usually enough to spread it around.

And you're right, Stella, it's extremely rare to get chicken pox twice.  What can happen to those who have had chicken pox is that they can get shingles.  This, however, normally happens to people w/compromised immune systems - such as the elderly or those with chronic illnesses, taking anti-rejection drugs, etc.

Am I the only person to always hear the Velvet Underground whenever I read or hear the words Calamine lotion?

I'm 38 and my brother is 40.

Don't know why we didn't get MMR but got the actual diseases. (I am assuming we didn't have MMR as we had the illnesses).

I don't have that scar thing on my arm either that most people my age have - is that what it's for - the scar I mean?