Quick Q about chicken pox.

[RedDragon]

Minded a child yesterday - he wasn't well - I passed on relevant info etc.

This morning child comes out in chicken pox spots before he arrived to me - so mum phoned before arrival.

Mum was still going to bring him as she said once spots have appeared child is no longer contagious.

I disagreed and said no.

What I want to know is how long roughly should child stay away (as parent was going to send him on morning of spot appearance).

Am working so having to type quick and will be back soon.xx.

[Mouse]

Aren't they contagious from before the spots appear until they have all scabbed over?

When my last 2 mindees got chicken pox (brothers) I had them all the time. They weren't ill with it, everyone else had had it & we stayed away from toddler groups etc.

I only have one now who hasn't had it. When/if he does get it I'll do the same - check the other parents don't mind him coming, stay away from groups & tell mum he can keep on coming as long as he's well in himself.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Aren't they contagious from before the spots appear until they have all scabbed over?

When my last 2 mindees got chicken pox (brothers) I had them all the time. They weren't ill with it, everyone else had had it & we stayed away from toddler groups etc.

I only have one now who hasn't had it. When/if he does get it I'll do the same - check the other parents don't mind him coming, stay away from groups & tell mum he can keep on coming as long as he's well in himself.

This information is correct - heard it from a doctor with my own ears - about 7 days he will be off

[Blaze]

Child can't attent untill the spots have scabbed over (normally 7-14 dayss)...they will have been contagious for the last week or so, so watch out for it in your other mindees & family.
HTH:)

[miffy]

I agree - shouldn't attend until all the spots have scabbed over.

Don't forget the spots tend to come out in batches over a few days so it may take longer than 7 days for them all to scab over

Miffy xx

[RedDragon]

Fab, thanks for all of the info. Mum thought it was ok to bring him the morning of the spot appearance - would it be rude to text her the news that she will have to take a week off? She is not going to like it.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Fab, thanks for all of the info. Mum thought it was ok to bring him the morning of the spot appearance - would it be rude to text her the news that she will have to take a week off? She is not going to like it.

I think texts are like email abit impersonal. I would ring her and explain

[nannysue]

Just had a call from one of my mums, little one came out in chicken pox this morning !! So i now have to contact 7 lots of parents :eek:

[Mouse]

Child can't attent untill the spots have scabbed over (normally 7-14 dayss)...they will have been contagious for the last week or so, so watch out for it in your other mindees & family.
HTH:)


Does it say anywhere that children can't attend?

Like I said before, I am happy to have the children while they are contagious, as long as everyone else agrees, children are well in themselves etc? My way of looking at it is that they were contagious before the spots appear, so the others will already have been exposed to it anyway.

If it does say somewhere that they have to stay away I will need to change my policy.

[Princess Sara]

Does it say anywhere that children can't attend?

Like I said before, I am happy to have the children while they are contagious, as long as everyone else agrees, children are well in themselves etc? My way of looking at it is that they were contagious before the spots appear, so the others will already have been exposed to it anyway.

If it does say somewhere that they have to stay away I will need to change my policy.

I agree unless you have really small children or a parent that's pregnant etc. Most children I know that have had it are fine in themselves, just covered in spots! Written permission from all parents and lots of cream.

[Jacqui116]

Hi Im new at this so hope Im doing this right.

Both of my children had chickenpox over the easter period.

It took my daughter about 1 1/2 wks from starting with the spots to be fully scabbed over, where my son was nearly 3 wks.

Each case is different but I still carried on careing for my 2 1/2 mindee as his mum wanted him to catch them (which he didnt). While another was kept away as his mum was expecting baby which was born last wk & the other 2 which are term time only came out with them after easter hols had finished.

In my policies it states that I will take guidance from the Infection Control & Communicable Diseases Guidelines For Early Years & Childcare.

Just checked it and it states child to be kept away for 5 days from onset of rash and not necessary to wait until spots have healed or crusted but my doctor told me to kept away from people until the last spot is crusted over.

Hope this helps.

[squiggle]

my daughter came out in chicken pox this morning. i rang all parents and they still brought their children. they all said its too late now anyway as they have been here all week with her.

my dd is fine though and been her usual self today x

[The Juggler]

Does it say anywhere that children can't attend?

Like I said before, I am happy to have the children while they are contagious, as long as everyone else agrees, children are well in themselves etc? My way of looking at it is that they were contagious before the spots appear, so the others will already have been exposed to it anyway.

If it does say somewhere that they have to stay away I will need to change my policy.



Problem is school runs/playgroups you might run risk of infecting pregnant mums, sick children etc. so you would be housebound almost. As well as scabbed over they need to be dry scabs. I had one come back but all the scabs were still really wet and oozy (sorry for the info overload!)

[marzi]

Was reading a dept of health leaflet ( Guidance on Infection Control In Schools And Other Childcare Settings) and it said 5 days after rash has appeared. Hope this helps.

Although mine have just had it this month and the school insisted they were off for ten days!

[manjay]

My mindees have returned today after chicken pox. One of them had spots appear last Thursday and the other on Saturday and it was so mild I stuggled to see any spots on them today. My poor ds is fed up of me asking him to lift his t shirt so I can if he has any yet:rolleyes:

[Bex1]

Hello
I had parent phone me 2 weeks ago to say child broke out in chicken pots and asked about attendance. I have a "infectious illness and infections" book (something like that, my mind has gone blank) and it details when a child should stay away and for how long. In the case of chicken pox the child can contagious 1-2 days before rash appears and then min of 5 days once spots appear.
hope that helps and sorry late in posting!

Becky

[Mollymop]

I have heard it is about 7 to 10 days depending on the child. So to be safe I would say 7 days off from spots appearing xx

[claireLouise]

Please remember even if your other mindees have had chickenpox they could still get Shingles and this is just as nasty!:(

Claire

[Mouse]

Please remember even if your other mindees have had chickenpox they could still get Shingles and this is just as nasty!:(

Claire

You cannot catch shingles. You can get chicken pox from the shingles virus, but you can't get shingles from chicken pox.

http://www.herpes.org.uk/shingles/

[devoncm]

I had mindee start last week, only have him one day and he came out with chicken pox late afternoon after he'd gone home.
Hopefully he will be ok to come back this week