Well we finally have it at last, Chickenpox!!! We have been to many other children s play dates trying to catch the darn stuff and failed i was beginning to think Sophie was immune. After spending a weekend at Grannies house we have come back with one extra Easter present. We are glad they have come now rather than later as the new baby is due in 9 weeks.
They popped up on the Monday just 1 spot and then 5 more on Tuesday and then Wednesday i took her to the Dr's and by Thursday we had a full explosion, luckily none seem to have hit her face as of yet. Friday and Saturday have been the worse days where they have been at their height of angry itching popping blister spots.
- Allerief relief from itchiness
- Calpol great for taking down temperatures
- Calamin lotion with soothes and cools itching
Here is one tip that we found gave instant relief and took Sophie's mind off the fact she was covered in spots, We made her a luke warm bath, then blended up some oats into a flour consistency and added a very generous amount to the water where she floated and soothed her skin in the milky oat waters. It was also good fun as the oat particles swelled up with the water and became soft and squishy and were great for making a body mask on the angry spots taking away a lot of the redness. Not only did the oat bath sooth it made the skin really soft to so a nice treat even if you don't have chickenpox. The effects of the oat bath seemed to last a good hour after she had it. Also i am really happy to be a soap maker as my oats, goats milk and honey soap also helped clean her skin gently and helped sooth some of the itching, i can see why i have a lot of people with eczema buying this soap from me. Now all we need to do is lots of distraction from itching and making sure she doesn't scratch to cause scaring and hopefully they will clear up in 5 days.
Also another great tip we found made life easy for Sophie was hydros ointment massages which can be got from the pharmacy and i gave Sophie a full body gentle massage for 45 min after the oatmeal bath ( after all the blister stage had finished of course ) and this sent her off to sleep for a good 3 hours so no irritation or scratching and if you read a previous blog post about massaging scarring tissue you know that we found that massaging really helps reduce scar tissue, but the hydros ointment was fantastic for soothing the scabby areas making them less itchy and we are sure this also helped with the healing process.
My Question to you
Now the next part i need some help with is a question to you reader. Sophie is due to go back to school next Tuesday and she still has a full body of scabs. I have had to cancel an appointment for a serial doppler at the antinatel this week as in talks with the micro biologist at the hospital they say that Sophie will still be infectious for 2 more weeks which means that a total of 4 weeks Sophie is considered infectious. How long was it before you took the red cross of your front doors and let your children see the light of day and re join school???
Aww little love! I hope they clear up soon x
ReplyDeleteThanks Steph it will be good to get back to normal again
ReplyDeleteBless her, least its out the way :) Perfect timing as she cannot pass it on to the new babe when it arrives x
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly, thank goodness ;)
ReplyDeleteOh poor little thing.... I hope she is on the mend! I can't believe you only have 9 weeks to go!!!
ReplyDeletei know this pregnancy has gone so fast
DeleteHi Helen,
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you only have 9 weeks to go - so exciting!! And great to be getting it out of the way, as you say. We've still not had it in our house, and I'm not sure what the reccommendations are regarding infectious periods. All I can say is that - as a former infant teacher - please please follow reccommendations! I had countless cases at school where parents sent children back in too soon with the attitude "well, they've all got to get it some time, don't they?" Thing is, there may be pregnant mums (only risky if they are not immune, I'm told) or very young babies near enough to be at risk. There may also be adults who - if not immune - would risk catching shingles, which is arguably worse.
So I don't mean to be a moaner, but just look at the big picture - a few more days at home (however stir crazy!) is not going to hurt.
There. Rant over!! I really hope Sophie feels better soon. At least it's all over with now... Looking forward to hearing all about your new arrival soon (but not too soon!!)
xxx
Thanks Sarah, good to here from you :) I dont mind keeping Sophie off school we are very close i just dont want to get a slap from the school or social services etc and not having gone through this before am unclear and the micro biologist saying that there is a 4 week period of potential infection sounded like a long time which surprised me.
DeleteLove a rant so dont worry about it and its always good to get advice especially from someone in the sector thanks so much for taking the time for feedback it really helps xx
Both of my children caught chickenpox last year so I know what you're going through. I kept mine at home until all the spots scabbed over and started getting very small. They hadn't disappeared completely but they lmost had. I can't quite remember how long it took but it definitely wsn't four weeks. I thought chickenpox stopped being infectious once the spots had scabbed over?
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my thinkings too, but after talking to the micro biologist they seem to think it longer to me 4 weeks sounds like a really long time !!! I dont want sophie to go infect her school buddies and i know there are a few pregnant mums and brand new babies around her school gates. It all sounds very confusing to me. Thanks for your input Laura.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to take the view that just because someone has a job title doesn't make them a world expert in everything. Maybe in some small respect there is a contagion somewhere in the body for up to 4 weeks, but I've worked in a nursery, as a Child-minder and have 5 children plus 2 step-children and in all my years I have never ever heard anything like that.
ReplyDeleteThe advice I've read and been told to give has not changed in 20 years. The infection is in the yellow goo in the blisters and once they've all crusted over your body has fought it off and you are no longer contagious. This can actually be as little as a week, but is generally around 9-12 days from the first spot.
Chicken Pox is only very rarely dangerous to a pregnant woman as the vast majority of people gained immunity as children - it's people with compromised immunity and new babies who are most likely to suffer, and if a baby is born with chicken pox it will usually be very poorly. That said, my 2nd one got it at 4 weeks and was fine! :)
Hi Brick Castle Thank you so much that is fab advice this really is a mine field to a first timer and you seem to have a great wealth of experience thank you for taking the time to share :)
ReplyDelete