Chicken Pox

[londonblue]

My eldest (he's 3) has chicken pox and is in a lot of discomfort. Anyone got any tips to stop him itching?

Whilst you're at it, anyone got any tips to prevent my little one (2) catching it? (We go on holiday in a couple of weeks and it's now touch and go. We had to cancel last year's holiday because the doctor misdiagnosed a rash as chicken pox. The last thing I want to do is have two holidays cancelled because of this poxy - get it! - virus.)

 

[Cricko]

Calamine lotion used to help when my boy had it. It is very difficult to stop his sister catching it unless you keep her well away from him.

Edit: Type this into google, there are lots of suggestions that may help "chicken pox and calamine lotion"

 

[OldBlueLady]

As Cricko says, calamine is the best thing. An aloe vera type of lotion may also help - it's anything to soothe the irritation. Sitting in a cooler than normal bath is another good idea. Keep him in loose clothing made of natural fibres, anything synthetic rubs and causes further irritation. You can also give him paracetamol throughout the itchy stage to further help.

As to the other child, well, it's probably too late to hope they won't get it however there is no rhyme or reason as to who you catch chickenpox from and sometimes siblings don't catch it from each other. Of course, they usually do though! I don't see why it should prevent your holiday, unless the disease would be at it's most infectious period when you are due to travel. If you can give me an idea of what stage your eldest is at then it should be quite easy to work out when you could expect your younger child to show signs.

 

[steveo]

My eldest (he's 3) has chicken pox and is in a lot of discomfort. Anyone got any tips to stop him itching?

Whilst you're at it, anyone got any tips to prevent my little one (2) catching it? (We go on holiday in a couple of weeks and it's now touch and go. We had to cancel last year's holiday because the doctor misdiagnosed a rash as chicken pox. The last thing I want to do is have two holidays cancelled because of this poxy - get it! - virus.)

Didnt there used to be a school of thought that you might as well let all your kids get it at once and get it out of the way as it were. Is it one of these that you can only get once?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Didnt there used to be a school of thought that you might as well let all your kids get it at once and get it out of the way as it were. Is it one of these that you can only get once?

No, I've had it twice and I know others that have too. Chickenpox parties were quite common when I was young - in the 60s and 70s - but in more modern times every single disease seems to be treated as a much more serious threat. There was even talk about vaccinations for chickenpox a while back! They don't seem to understand that catching infectious diseases (within reason) seems to actually help strengthen your immune system!

 

[dashman]

Calpol
Puriton for itching
Calamine lotion for itching onto skin
(old wives tale of a bath with a couple of tea spoons of bicarb of soda?)

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

Just be grateful it's chicken pox. Thousands of locals had a terrible time with Ricketts just a year or two ago.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Dont want to sound like the prophet of doom and gloom, but remember theres a chance you can get shingles if one of your kids has chicken pox. I got that after my youngest had chicken pox when he was 1.

 

[Benfleet A1]

Calamine lotion and cool baths to ease the itching. I would also suggest mittens to stop your son scratching himself and causing scarring.

 

[londonblue]

Thanks to you all for your help. Just to update:

We tried Calamine. It took me ages to convince him to try - he didn't want anything touching his spots, but once he tried it, I was re-applying to various spots every 10 minutes or so. We also used a cooling gel that was recommended - don't know what it was called - which he quite liked.

I tried bathing him, but he wasn't having any of it. He simply didn't want to get in the bath at all, even for his usual night-time bath. I put him in, but he wouldn't sit down. Bicarb was therefore a non-starter, but is apparently not an old wives tale. (We were also told to try using a muslin ball of porridge oats in the bath, but that sounds like a load of rubbish. Either way, it was also a non-starter.)

We also used Calpol and Piriton. We spoke to a GP friend who told us to keep him drugged up on double doses of both, which we did. He's now dried out and due to go back to nursery tomorrow.

We have also kept him in loose clothing, and since most of his spots were on his groin and the upper part of this legs, we didn't put any pants on him. (My son is only three and he's already into free-balling!)

We invented a few things also: We played a game whereby we kept his spots covered with his pyjamas so he couldn't see them, and pretended that if we couldn't see them they weren't there. At times he quite liked that! My wife also came up with a novel one. She told him that if he itched he should scratch his head instead of the spot. Believe it or not, it worked quite well!

Worst case the younger one will sprout about 2 days before we're due to fly, so it really is touch and go.

 

[RobM]

Sympatyhyfrom me. My ex-wife contracted it as an adult - and that was bad enough.