Thread: Chickenpox

We just discovered the first telltale bumps of the chicken pox on my youngest daughter. Using my experiences with my eldest daughter as a reference, I suspect I will have at max till tomorrow night, and then she will get the worst of it.

Unfortunately, if kids get it before the end of the first year, the immunity system does not fully take hold, and they will likely get it a second time...
We were going to have her vaccianted for it anyway when she turns 1, but it seems we have to live through the hard part again.

I walked back and forth through the living room with my oldest in my arms until 4 AM when she finally fell fast asleep. Hopefully this one will be less fussy

Sorry to hear that. Any loved one with a sickness is saddening, but kids are the worst. Hope it isn't as bad as your first.

Sorry to hear that Bruno. I hope she kicks it in no time!

As a parent of two, I know what it's like, Bruno. And I hope it doesn't get too bad.
Here's some good old advice, that worked great for us, when we went through the chicken pox with our girls. If the itching becomes so bad that they go berserk, a starch bad works great for relieve.
It's just a normal bad with warm water and a few tablespoons of good old starch (you know, what women used for ironing shirts in the old days). It's totally harmless, and somehow it seems very soothing for the unbearable itching that comes with the chicken pox. Learned it from my grandmother.

All the best,
Bart.

Fingers crossed for your family Bruno... it is of course entirely possible she may be hardly affected. My son had about 50 spots all over his body, but he had no fever, no discomfort, and certainly was acting as if nothing was wrong. In fact, it was galling to have to take the day off since he was clearly OK in every other respect, but of course you still can't let them mix with other kids in the nursery. Galling but a good thing since none of us like to see unhappy children.

Keeping my fingers crossed your youngest isn't too ill with it.

M.

It has begun...

sounds omnious eh ?

So far the dot count is not too bad. I'd guess a good 40 / 50. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Hald a dozen are near bursting. We paint them with iodine to keep them dry, and to have them make clean crusts if they should burst.
My oldest had it pretty bad, and at day 4 she was nearly completely red. As were me and my wife .
So far no fever, and not too much discomfort. She seems to do better than my oldest for now.

I am hoping she will have an easy night.

Originally Posted by majurey

it was galling to have to take the day off since he was clearly OK in every other respect, but of course you still can't let them mix with other kids in the nursery.

Over here the day care parents don't mind. They are free to go (well in truth it depends on the day care parents) if they are up to it.
Everybody over there has had the chicken pox over the last couple of weeks. It was bound to happen. Also, I was told that the infection is most contagious before you see the spots, so from an infection point of view, the damage was already done.

The concensus here among parents is that it is best to put them together with the rest if they are up to it, and let the infection spread.
That way the kids get it at a young age, and that way they have the least discomfort. If they get too old they are unlikely to get it because they don't have much contact with the kids who do. And then they can attract it as an adult, and get deathly ill. Having the chicken pox as an adult can kill you if you're unlucky.

All in all, the chickenpox are inconvenient, but at this age they are pretty harmless.

Hope this passes fast for you. My kids got it about 15 years ago... and guess what? I got it also. I had never been so ill in all my life. 35 was not a good age to get chicken pox. I wanted to die..... it was that bad.

Ok the spot count has exploded. She has several hundreds, and she is starting to look like we dipped her in iodine.
Tonight she woke up several times, once in a blind panic and it took over an hour to get her to sleep again.

I'm feeling a bit zombie like, but luckily I don't have to drive far to work. And then there is coffee of course.

I am just very grateful that she does not seem to be in much discomfort and that she doesn't have big spots in her face.

Ok forget all this crap about 'it's not too bad' because as of yesterday evening, she is covered in little blisters that are turning hard. the biggest spots are > 1/4".
She also had a lot of those things underneath her thick hairs. I am probably not overestimating when I say she has > 500 of the damn things over her entire little body.

We have abandoned the Q-tip approach to iodine, and instead use a piece of cloth soaked in iodine. She is now a complete redhead and most of her skin is now bright red. As are my hands, btw.

Last night was bad.
She woke up in a panic at 1 AM, and we had to take her into our bed. My wife and I had to touch her so she knew we were there, and I had to talk softly to her so that she heard me. Every 20 minutes she'd doze off,and then wake up after another 20 minutes.

She also kicked a lot with her feet and I had to pull her back under the covers because our bed doesn't have a headboard and I had to make prevent her from falling out. Needless to say, We didn't get much sleep.

A colleague of Sandra said 'Our Tom got the chicken pox as well. He had 8. I counted them..."

Sorry to hear Bruno. I'm dreading such moments already.