Chicken pox

[MORELLO]

My wife is on her way to pick my son up from nursery with suspected chicken pox - nice of them to tell us they'd had a recent outbreak - he's only 8 months old. Anyone elses child had them that young, and was it a rough ride...?!

[amonty1144]

My son had it at 4 months and it was quite horrible. The key is to keep them cool, keep up the fluids and try and make them comfortable when it starts to itch...calamine lotion didn't do it for my boy but a few drops of lavender oil in a tepid bath did the trick. Get used to the idea of sleepless nights becuase I don't think I slept for a fortnight. you can also give calpol to ease the aches and pains.
If they are very unsettled, in obvious pain or get a high fever, contact the GP, do not be fobbed off by NHS direct.
Good luck.

[MORELLO]

He's cutting his top teeth aswell. Happy days...

[cado]

i feel for your baby who will be itchy all over and cannot say he is itchy. i hope he's not in much discomfort and the cox go away soon.

[cado]

'cpox'

[Psychick]

My sister had chickenpox when she was just a few weeks old. She was smothered all over in spots. My mum thought she was going to go through hell but it was completely the opposite! My sister just slept and fed like any other newborn.

When my daughter had chickenpox, I would give here oat baths and it had an almost instant calming effect on the itching. Take a hand full of porridge oats and put them into a flannel, then hold the flannels four corners bundled together. Hold this under the tap as the bath is running. Another way is to swish the flannel bundled up around the bath once you have run the water.

Good luck and I hope he feels better soon.

[mumof3angels]

My son had them at 10 mths old, and luckily he didn't suffer with them as much as his 4 yr old sister. I found calamine cream, rather than lotion , was better as it didn't dry out like the lotion. Also, with my 4 yr old I used to give her bicarb of soda baths which really help soothe and dry the pox out-but check that that would be ok for an 8 mth old, but I can't see why not. Best of luck and also have you and your wife both had them, as I hadn't and I caught them 2 weeks later- boy, was I poorly!!!

[MORELLO]

Thanks for your well wishes and advice.

[Hellyon]

I think each child is different but often the younger they are the less spotty and the easier the ride. If your son has a temp, keep him cool (the temptation is to bundle him up because he's poorly) if they get too hot they can be sick so keep a close eye on him.

[joannie10]

my newphew had them around that age and was covered in spots but he did not seem too affected by it. Some time after that he was getting terrible bruising. Things like where you held his ankles when changing nappy or if he had a little tumble he would get this incredible bruise - marks were coming up on his face etc. My sister was of course worried what people were thinking she was doing to him but we were all guilty of bruising him at somepoint over a period of a couple of weeks. Anyway she took him to the docs and they had suggested some kind of leukemia I think it was but the test came back and seemingly it was just some virus that lingered from the chicken pox. Through it all he was neither up nor down - just the worry was for everyone else.

[Goodsoulette]

my son had it twice before he was ten months old. The first time was relatively mild and he was only 4 weeks old and the second time was a big outbreak and he was about 9 months old. It was much easier with him than with my other son who got it at three and to be honest even that wasnt bad.

[curiosity]

People actually have chicken pox "parties" for kids so they can be infected early. I caught it in my 30's and was really ill, 2 people of similar age died of a chest infection which is a complication when you are older. and I had strong antibiotic treatment I gave it to my kids who were 9 months and 2 at the time, the youngest was happy but had spots everywhere!! and the oldest had 3 spots, but felt poolier. Rather than calamine lotion. Piriton medicine will help the itching and causes drowisness so helps them get through the whole thing, your pharmacist will advise on what age they can have piriton. Hope he gets through it ok.

[Ice.Maiden]

The older you are when you first catch chicken pox, often the worse it is. I got them about 5 years ago, and felt really poorly before the blisters appeared. Wasn't too good afterwards, either. Best to get rid of the "childhood ailments" whilst they're young, even though it might make the children feel uncomfortable.