Chicken Pox..

Replies

• katstar

  Nov 7, 2008 5:11PM

  Ah bless, hope he is coping with it well.
  
  They are infectious until the last chicken pox spot dries out. Once they are all scabbed over they can mix with others and should be fine to go to school etc. This is different in every child but roughly 7-10 days (if you can stop him scratching it could be earlier!)
  
  Hope this helps,
  
  Katstar (also a paeds nurse!!!)
  
  [Modified by: katstar on November 07, 2008 09:12 PM]
  
  

  0
• Mum0f2

  Nov 7, 2008 5:20PM

  Oh thanks, that's really helpful.
  Do you know if the school are likely to set a minimum time? Because when Ollie was sick at school they said he couldn't return for 48 hours even though he was absolutely fine the next day so I'm just worried that they might turn around and say he can't go in for two weeks or something like that!!

  0
• katstar

  Nov 7, 2008 6:03PM

  All schools are different and can make life difficult sometimes. They should be aware that they are no longer infectious if pox have scabbed so theoretically it should be then...but who knows with some schools!!!
  
  Good luck
  
  p.s an old wives tale is to put camomile lotion on spots but from experience this can sometimes make the itching worse. It is really soothing when first on but as it dries it can irritate the skin...a nice bath normally does the trick during a scratching frenzy...distracting and soothing!!!

  0
• hayley_l

  Nov 8, 2008 9:17AM

  Hi, it depends on how the chickenpox scab, when Alice had it sheliterally got a spot one day and it was scabbed by the next she kept getting loads of spots over a 3 day period, she got them on Friday and was back at nursery on the Weds, they did say she could have gone back Tues as she was scabbed over by then but I kept her an extra day just to be sure, Isaac on the other hand was different, his spots came out over 7 days and styed blistered for 2-3 days before they scabbed so he was a good 10/11 days before he wasnt contagious anymore.
  
  Calamine lotion is good for drying up but does worsen the itching, I used aqueous calamine cream as this dried them up but didnt cause as much itching.

  0
• Mum0f2

  Nov 8, 2008 9:25AM

  he's got a few more this morning so this is definitley it!
  so how do i tell if they are spots, blistered or scabbed?
  he's got a few that look like little bubbles, a few pale red patches that I think might turn into spots and he's also got some that are small bright red dots that have a bit of skin hanging off like a cut??

  0
• hayley_l

  Nov 8, 2008 1:38PM

  The ones that look like bubbles are blistered, the flat red ones are ones that will blister in the next day or so, the ones with skin hanging off are probably ones that he has scratched and burst the blister, when they scab the look just like a cut that has a scab on it, it is quite obvious when they do, hope he feels better soon xx

  0
• Mum0f2

  Nov 8, 2008 5:53PM

  Thanks. He's not been scratching that much so far and he doesn't seem to be feeling unwell at all so that's good
  Thanks for all your help x

  0
• hedgie

  Nov 9, 2008 5:33AM

  Just another thought... if his itching gets really bad, which from sounds of thing it hasn't, fingers crossed, we gave my daughter 2.5 mls of Piriton (antihistamin (sp)) under the advice of our doctor right before bed to ease the itching so she didn't scratch so much at night. Might be worth looking into if he becomes terribly itchy. It's available over the counter.
  
  best wishes
  
  xx

  0
• hayley_l

  Nov 9, 2008 9:43AM

  I gave Alice piriton when she had chicken pox as she has eczema as well so the itching was terrible for her, although for some reason, unlike most children who fall asleep after piriton she went absolutely hyper, I have never seen anything like it

  0
• Mum0f2

  Nov 15, 2008 6:14PM

  Thanks for all your help girls, Ollie's doing great, he's all scabbed over and ready to go back to school on monday!! he didn't get nearly as many spots as i was expecting and he, luckily, hasn't been very itchy so all in all it's been quite a good week spending all this quality time with him while my youngest was at nursery (he didn't get it, YET!!)
  
  [Modified by: Mum0f2 on November 15, 2008 10:15 PM]
  
  

  0
• Mum0f2

  Nov 18, 2008 4:08PM

  So I spoke too soon and my 2yr old Jake now has the dreaded pox!!
  Sooo, another question! Does the camomile lotion hurt or sting when it's out on? I didn't use it with ollie but jake's already covered in huge itchy spots but he screams when i put the lotion on him??

  0