Dealing with Chicken Pox

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Dealing with Chicken Pox

15 March 2011 No Comment

Here are some great tips from Emma at Me, The Man & The Baby about the symptoms of chicken pox and how to help your little one cope with them.

I knew what had happened the moment I fetched Oli from his cot one morning to find him covered head to toe in spots. It was chicken pox. It was no surprise to me as his cousin who he had been interacting with just a couple of weeks before was getting over the chicken pox virus at that time. I was surprised however with how the spots just turned up, I expected some signs of fever/being ill before the spots appeared but there was nothing. Just goes to show that not every case is the same and that children react differently.

The mild flu symptoms which can appear before the onset of chicken pox are fever, headache, nausea, loss of appetite, aches and pains. If your child does get pain alongside the spots then the usual pain relief medicine you give to them should help. Oli became grotty in the evenings with it so we gave him some calpol just to take the edge off and help him settle.

The spots start off looking like little dots of rash and then develop into spots which become fluid filled, this is when they are at their most itchy. After a few days these spots scab over before they then vanish, hopefully with no trace of spots left on your child’s skin. Oli was lucky that he had quite a mild case of chicken pox, he barely had the urge to scratch them. Unfortunately he managed to get one on his eyelid and right under his eye that looked more nasty then it was. Something another blogger recommend which we never got round to doing was putting some bicarbonate of soda into the child’s bath which is another thing to help with the itchiness.

The first port of call was to a pharmacy where I bought calamine lotion to help soothe the itchy and sore spots. I also bought Piriton anti-histimine medicine which is safe from the age of 1 to use on young children to also help relieve itchiness. Keep little finger nails trimmed to stop them causing more harm. If there is scarring then how about trying cocoa butter which is soft to the skin and can do no harm other than to help fade the scars. Where possible let your child run around in a nappy, this stops clothes from irritating them and keeps them cool. Make sure they have a regular supply of fluids to avoid dehydration.

Keep them occupied and help take their mind off the scratching and the spots. You could read this post I wrote with some ideas about what to when stuck indoors, which might just help you both get through this incubation period.

No one knows your child like you do so follow your instincts, but if you need any kind of reassurance then don’t fret about ringing/seeing your doctor. For young babies who have been in contact with or are showing signs of chicken pox take them straight to the doctor just to get checked out.