How to Survive: Chicken pox.

Move out. Just joking - or am I? This article is totally experienced based and I have absolutely no medical background at all. I would urge you to seek medical attention if your baby or child gets chicken pox and you need advice. This is just one Shmum’s experience.

Firstly - shmum admission - with our first child, we were much more proactive and loving and went to get him the chicken pox vaccination (in the UK the chicken pox vaccination is something you have to seek privately and consists of 2 rounds of vaccination and costs roughly £60-100 per jab). With our second, we just never got round to doing it… firstly because we were not well researched (lots of rumours about how its not great for girls to get it, which in hindsight is silly because lots of countries make it mandatory for all children) and we were… to be quite blunt, busy! So when chicken pox only hit our youngest, the mum (and dad) guilt levels were at an all time high!

Our panic buy shopping list consisted of:

• Thermometer

• Calamine lotion

• Virasoothe

• Oats

• Paracetamol (note - no ibuprofen for chicken pox, it can cause infection)

• Antihistamine (always check with the pharmacist before using)

What we tested and tried were:

• Cool baths - do as many as you need to, these provide maximum relief!

• Oaty baths - not sure if this actually worked but it is an old wives tale and anything is worth a go. Put in regular porridge oats into a bath (but put them in tights to create a weird large tea bag, otherwise the oats will stick to the kid's skin and are nightmare to clean up).

• Temperatures - We tried to keep on top of temperatures and pain with paracetamol. There was a point when her temperature reached 40.5 Celsius. When we rang the doctor, he said that as long as she was well in herself that it was a positive sign that her immune system was fighting the virus. However, I would note that I would ALWAYS call if there is a temperature to be safe.

• Antihistamine - the pharmacist recommended giving her antihistamine (we used piriton) in the morning and before bed to help keep on top of the itching. They said save it for before bed because they will forget about the itchiness during the day when they are busy playing.

• Lotions and potions - we applied virasoothe which is a UK product, it is sort of like a cooling gel (she screamed to high hell when we applied it, as it can’t be nice to have a cold gel applied on you) and then applied calamine on top to dry out the blisters. She scabbed very quick (that is such a gross thing to say - parenting is pure glamour) and has not scarred from it at all.

Contagiousness

• You can spread chickenpox to other people from 2 days before your spots appear until they have all formed scabs – usually 5 days after your spots appeared.

• The spots start appearing around 1 to 3 weeks after you catch chickenpox.

• You can catch chickenpox by being in the same room as someone with it. It's also spread by touching things that have fluid from the blisters on them.

Our baby girl got through chicken pox mostly unscathed and unscarred. It was definitely a long week, and I feel for any parent who has to go through it. Just FYI, when your children have chicken pox, below are some great support articles that helped us. And when in doubt, call your pediatrician.

• UK - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox/

• US - https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/index.html

• Aus - https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/chickenpox-varicella