chickenpox at 5 months -any advice, am worried sick!

Okay so we've spent the day with my sister and neices today and as we were leaving this afternoon we noticed my eldest neice was itching, lifted up her t-shirt and she has several spots. These have spread in the last couple of hours including onto her scalp. My sister took her to the pharmacy (couldn't get in at the doctors and it was getting late) who said it looked very much like chickenpox (he also said there were several confirmed cases at the village playgroup my niece goes too) and has given her anti inflamatory solution and chamomile. Ewan's been cuddled, kissed and hugged by my neice all day and am now panicking that he's going to come down with it.

I've spent ages looking on the internet about it and have now worked myself up into a frenzy...some sites say he should be fine as I had it as a child and I'm so he'll have got immunity from me, others say the pox under 6 months can be really dangerous and affect his hearing if he gets them in his ears.

What can I do other than wait and see if he gets them? Could I get anything from the doctors which may reduce the severity of it if I get it into him soon enough? Has anyone got any experience of this in children as little as Ewan (he's 5 months next week).

Sorry about the rant, just panicking and feeling awful that I may have exposed him to this when he is so little.

My 2nd son had it at 2mths and was fine, to the point we didn't know he'd had it until a couple of years later and a couple of factors made us realise it. Just keep breastfeeding. Personally I'd use homeopathy if spots appear (Rhus tox) and keep an eye out as you would any child. He might not get it at all, but try not to panic yourself for the next fortnight while waiting

DS2 had it at a few days old. If DS1 and DD4 hadn't been covered in spots I probably wouldn't even have noticed it. It was really mild. I'm sure your DS will be just fine.

Babies often get it more mildly than older kids.there's nothing you can do but wait and see if spots appear in about 2 weeks time.don't feel bad,it's just one of those things.

i am afraid there is nothing you can do but wait and see charlie (my middle one) got chicken pox at 5 months from henry and despite me fully and having had cp myself had more spots than i have ever seen on any other child despite that apart from the first day he was ok in himself and despite spots in his mouth continued to feed and he has loads in his ears and his hearing is fine he has a few scars on his body but none of the ones on his head (there were at least 300 ) scarred. it looked much much worse than it was. all children are different and henry who was 3 had it quite mildly. also charlie has always been a child to get things badly he was illest when we all got swine flu, and also managed to get mennigococcal septicaemia at 2 aswell as UTI's, so i don't think his immune system is great

i had it at a few weeks old, as others have said i was breastfed and it was really mild. I caught it from my brother.
Fc he hasn't got it or if he has it is mild amd not too uncomfortable for him.

When Martha had it I checked on NHS direct and I'm sure that it's only an issue in babies under 1 months old. I used Shadow's tip of the Rhus Tox and Martha's spots went very very quickly (altho we had a terrible night with her the second night she had the spots, even with Piriton, but we didn't get the Rhus Tox until the Monday)

If you are worried then call NHS direct and get some advice, there is a drug you can give them that they give to pregnant women which reduces the symptoms but of course it won't be available unless he is at risk

I'm sure he will be fine, I know of a few babies who have had it at a similar age, it is rife round here at the moment.

If you are worried then call NHS direct and get some advice, there is a drug you can give them that they give to pregnant women which reduces the symptoms but of course it won't be available unless he is at risk

It's called Acyclovir. It's not given routinely as all it does is reduce the number of spots and scabbing time. It doesn't reduce the likelihood of complications in otherwise healthy children. It's more commonly used in the US.

Gracie had it a 10 months (all of ours have had it) and boy did she get spots, hundreds, even our GP was shocked Just wait and see what happens is all ylu can do. I called our GP just to get it put on her records, no point on going in, we did take her in when her temp hit 41 though. She was miserable for 2 days with itching but baking soda in the bath helped along with piriton and aqueous calamine cream not lotion (causes more itching) xx