Should I try and get my kids chicken pox?

[bluedaisyma]

I would.... And will you come have your kids breathe on mine please?

[ofthemoonsglow]

Originally Posted by bluedaisyma I would.... And will you come have your kids breathe on mine please?

Oh yes me too!

[3girlsallnaughty]

Originally Posted by HeatherM0529 I would! The vaccination doesn't prevent kids from getting it, it makes it so their cases are smaller.

I know this...but head to toe every inch of his body and in his mouth didn't really do much good. Besides...it takes a few weeks for the vaccination to take effect and if it's already going around it might be over with by the time the vaccine was useful but could be helpful in the future.

[Vivhop98]

Originally Posted by escapethevillage I wouldn't do it right now. I've heard the flu is so bad that the hospitals don't even have room...so, if your kids have chicken pox and it's worse than what you expected, I think you could be in for a long difficult winter. It will lower their immunity for the whole winter. I'd consider it in spring, but not the beginning of cold and flu season.

I agree with this. I had influenza this year and was sick for two weeks. It was about a month ago and I still feel weak and achy in my shoulders. I would consider it after flu season.

[mrspopo]

All 5 kids in my family got it at the same time when I was growing up. My little brother and I were 1 and 3... we had practically no symptoms and I don't even remember it. The others were 6, 9, and 13... they all got hit really hard. The oldest was out for weeks. Because of this I definitely think it's a good idea to get it early.

[Dmpmercury]

If you don't plan on getting the vaccine it is best to get them early.

with or without the shot, the majority of people get it sometime in their life and if its not pox then its shingles. as you get older, the scaring is more prevalent. little kids heal quickly w no scars typically

Not all vaccinated kids get chicken pox. It prevents then in 95% of children and the ones that get it have less severe cases. My pediatrician hasn't seen chicken pox in a long time. You only get shingles if you already have chicken pox. Shingles is reactivated chicken pox. Shingles is becoming more common because being around people with chicken pox is like an inoculation. Shingles is more common and severe in people who had chicken pox then in people who had the vaccine.

[ohgirlohboyohno]

My oldest (13) had 2 shots for pox and got them on her face and neck. I was really quick, and healed in about 5 days (enough to go to school). Then the baby (1 week before 12 months) got them on her legs and belly, she had no pox vaccine and she was healed up in about 2 weeks. She was young enough to not really know how to scratch or pick so it was rather nice. Luckily it wasn't a bad case for not having he vax. In between the 2 girls getting them DS had about 5 spots on his face (1 vaccine shot) and healed really fast too.

Soooo.....that's my only experience....for our family I am no longer giving anyone the pox vaccine, if it becomes an issue I will get everyone tested but I am pretty confident we are good to go.

[happysmileylady]

Originally Posted by escapethevillage I wouldn't do it right now. I've heard the flu is so bad that the hospitals don't even have room...so, if your kids have chicken pox and it's worse than what you expected, I think you could be in for a long difficult winter. It will lower their immunity for the whole winter. I'd consider it in spring, but not the beginning of cold and flu season.

I comportent agree with this. When my oldest was in kindergarten, she was exposed over Christmas break. My nephew had it but my sister didn't know because his pox didn't show up until 1/2 that year. My daughter' pox showed up the day after she started back to school.

Almost immediately after she was recovered, she caught a throat infection. And then a week after she was over that, another one. By April of that year, she had had like 5 or 6 of them. Her tonsils were so swollen they were touching because they didn't have time to shrink back between infections. By August and another 2 or 3 more infections later, my oldest was having her tonsils removed.

Now, there's no way to say that getting c-pox in the middle of winte caused all of that. But I don't think that she would have had the issues if she hadn't caught it then.

Besides, I think it's wrong to intentially try to make a kid sick.

[Kimmyann]

I wouldn't. I could never live with myself if there were complications and I knew I intentionally made my child ill or worse.

[geez0pete]

Originally Posted by escapethevillage I wouldn't do it right now. I've heard the flu is so bad that the hospitals don't even have room...so, if your kids have chicken pox and it's worse than what you expected, I think you could be in for a long difficult winter. It will lower their immunity for the whole winter. I'd consider it in spring, but not the beginning of cold and flu season.

I agree about the "right now" part. I did expose my kids to cp one year but it was late spring and not much else was going around. All 4 got it and came through fine. FWIW, of the 18 or so kids who got cp in my dd's preschool class (not from us!), all but about two were vaccinated.