Sending a 3yo to nursery with chicken pox

barbiedoll

Anyone on long-term steroid therapy or anyone who is pregnant can be seriously harmed by the chickenpox virus. Luckily, OP is clearly more sensible than the HV. She should be reported. (HV, not OP!)

pesky85

I agree, report the HV! That was terrible advice, I would be livid if a parent knowingly sent a pox-ridden child to my son's playgroup.

But I also agree with Limey...are you sure it's chicken pox? I've heard of the rare cases of someone getting it twice (me!) but never three times...

tooldle

The Health Visitor could well be right. My daughter had chickenpox at 15months. The first spot came up at nursery, they called us straight away and we went over to collect her. I made an appointment with the GP for the following morning. All a bit of panic, as we were flying to spain the following day. I thought we would have to cancel thr trip. The GP was very firm, in that there was no need to cancel flights. He provided a letter to say she was no longer infectious, just in case the airline had a concern.
Scabs being present are a good visual indicator that the child is no longer infectious, for the non medical professional. Our nursery had a policy that child should be absent for five working days from the date of the first spot.

barbiedoll

My sis had it twice, the first time as a 3 month old baby which she caught from me (and two weeks after that she caught measles from my brother) and again when she was around 6-7 yrs old. She then got shingles when she was 14, the GP said she was the youngest patient she had seen with it. My DS had caught it twice before the age of 5.

Three times is very unlucky!

susancs

OP, I posted a reply to this on your other thread in the Mums MSE sectionand totally agree with you that it would wrong to knowingly send your child into Nursery with a contageous illness that may if contracted be serious in those with low immune systems and early stage pregnancies. I am also shocked that the HV went against NHS guidelines which state that any child who has chicken pox should be kept off Nursery or school and the school informed to give you this bad advice. As others have said the Nursery would not have admitted a child who had spots which had not scabbed over if told and if the spots had been noticed during the session the Parent would have been asked to collect their child and the child kept away from others as much as possible until collection.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chickenpox/Pages/Prevention.aspx

kingfisherblue

The HV was incorrect to tell you to take your child to nursery whilst they have chickenpox, and you might want to obtain a copy of the nursery's policy on sickness - it is likely to state that your child should not attned until after the spots have scabbed over (ours does, taken from, I think, World Health Organisation guidelines). Report her to your GP as the advice she is giving is potentially dangerous to some members of the community, including pregnant women (and a nursery is a place where you often see pregnant mums!)

Marshflower

HV is a fool! Chicken pox is not fine for everyone. My MIL is immuno-compromised due to the high strength arthritis drugs she takes and chicken pox poses a great danger to her. Infuriates me when I see parents with kids out who clearly have unscabbed chicken pox blisters. Ditto the attitude "well they all have to get it". Yes, they likely do. But that still doesn't make it ok to intentionally send out an infectious child.

suki1001

It doesn't matter what the hv thought, it's down to the policy of the nursery. My dd got sent home from school with suspected cp, even though I knew she didn't have it. I had to go to the doctors to get a note to confirm this - they didn't even look like chicken pox, but still you've got to follow the policy.

Having said that, my oh got cp as an adult and he was very, very ill and it could have rendered him infertile- so I can see why the hv might take that view - still not right though.

Tinks32

Just to add a funny side to this! I broke up from my kids father (very acrimonious I might add), they got chicken pox and he thought he had it, but couldn't check with his mum because she had died the year before. Anyway he had them as usual at the weekend, then I didn't hear from him for the next 3 weeks, because he had been hospitalised for the whole 3 weeks and had nearly died of complications! Turns out his body had reacted very badly with the virus. They do say what comes around goes around!

kat360

Thank you for all your replies!

Limey, I'm actually wondering if it could be genetic as I've had chicken pox 4 times and my brother has had it 3 times. I actually phoned our doctors for the receptionist to tell me if I think it's chicken pox to not bring her into surgery!

Does anyone know how I would go about complaining? My doctors a military doctor so I don't know if I can complain through them or if I've got to do it through children's services.

kingfisherblue, I have the policy and it says they can't attend until 5 days after the onset of the rash, one of the nursery workers in my daughters room is pregnant as well.
I just hope its only me she given this advice to.