Chickenpox Tips and Tricks from Mums Who’ve Been Through It

Chickenpox Tips and Tricks from Mums Who’ve Been Through It

Last month, my husband got chickenpox and naturally, a few weeks later, our toddler daughter got it too. It was probably good that my husband finally got it and that my daughter got it over with too before we have another baby in the house. It was a tough month though, being in my first trimester of pregnancy and nobody knowing, feeling very nauseous and tired and trying to care for my husband and then our daughter. I picked up some tricks along the way and also asked other mums for advice and tips. Hope they can help you too!

• Be prepared to stay at home for at least two weeks with your child. Your child will most likely have symptoms of being a bit poorly before you see any spots and then they’ll start to pop up on their body. Since my husband had just had chickenpox and we were expecting our daughter to get it, we didn’t need to go to a doctor for a diagnosis. If you do want to see a doctor, make sure you mention chickenpox when you book the appointment as you might have to sit in a different waiting area to not spread it to any other patients.
• The first week will be tough as your child will feel unwell and uncomfortable. We had a couple of really bad nights where we were up most of the time. My husband and I took turns staying up with our girl since we both needed a little bit of sleep to cope. A smartphone, tablet or TV with your child’s favourite films or TV-shows will help distract them and might help them go to sleep. We watched so much Peppa Pig during our experience with chickenpox! It’s only for a limited time, so the extra screen time will not do any harm.
• Dress your little one in soft and comfortable clothes that feel nice on sensitive and inflamed skin. Both my husband and our daughter felt better not wearing a top as the spots can make the skin feel hot. We just turned up the heating a bit and let our girl decide when she wanted to wear clothes or not.
• A cold, damp flannel or towel can help cool inflamed skin and calm itchiness.
• Keep nails neatly trimmed and clean so that if your child does scratch, it will not cause too much damage or infection.

• Baths can be very soothing and you can give you child several baths a day to help with the itchiness. Don’t make the water too warm though as this can make the itchiness worse. Chelle from The Mumington Post suggested oat baths. Oat baths or oatmeal baths are known to be soothing and calming for itchy and inflamed skin. You can use regular oats or products like Aveeno Body Wash with Naturally Active Oat Essence, Aveeno Fragrance Free Soothing Bath Treatment or Aveeno Oil Bath & Shower Oil. The body wash is available from Boots and some supermarkets, too.
• Calmine lotion is a classic treatment that pharmacists suggest and it can help but it’s also quite messy and not to everyone’s taste. It’s very difficult to apply to wriggly babies and toddlers! If you want to try it, it’s available from pharmacies and supermarkets for about £1.

• There are other lotions and potions on the market that might work better for you and your little one. Eurax Cream was suggested to me by Sarah from Polka Dot Family. It’s a fast acting relief cream for itchy and irritated skin conditions — chickenpox being one of them. It can be used 2-3 times a day and will provide relief for 6-10 hours. It’s suitable for adults and children over 3 but is sometimes recommended by doctors and pharmacists for younger children too. If your child is under 3, ask for advice before you buy. Available from pharmacies and Amazon.

• Another product is PoxClin CoolMousse which is especially designed to relieve the symptoms of chickenpox. It is a mousse that is absorbed rapidly and provides an instant cooling and soothing effect and fast relief from irritation, itching and sensitivity associated with chickenpox in children. You can use it 3 times a day or whenever relief is needed. Available from pharmacies and Amazon.
• Lauren from Mummy Is A Gadget Geek suggested another chickenpox specific product called ViraSoothe which is a chickenpox relief cooling gel. We bought this product for our daughter and it worked really well for us. My husband wished he’d had it when he had chickenpox a couple of weeks earlier! ViraSoothe provides soothing relief to the affected areas and reduces the itchiness and the urge to scratch. It contains a unique patented technology that has been clinically proven to relieve the irritating symptoms of chickenpox by cooling the skin and thereby relieving itching. By protecting the skin like this, it also allows it to heal naturally which reduces the risk of scarring. You can use it on children over 6 months old, 2-3 times per day or whenever needed. Available from pharmacies and Amazon.
  

• Antihistamines can also be very helpful to help reduce itchiness. Lisa from Leelee Loves suggested Piriton Syrup which is an antihistamine in liquid form for adults and children over 12 months. Available from pharmacies.
• Use Paracetamol to help relieve fever and pain from sore skin. It will help your child to get some much needed sleep too. Follow the bottle’s dosage instructions for your child’s age group. You’ll probably be really tired and it’s important to keep track of your child’s medications so write down the times on a piece of paper or on your phone to avoid overdosing. According to the NHS website, you should not give Ibuprofen to children with chickenpox so it’s best to stick with Parcetamol. Read more about the risks associated with chickenpox and Ibuprofen here.
• Staying hydrated is very important and your child might not have much of an appetite when ill. Offer plenty of water throughout the day and when awake at night. I also gave my daughter smoothies to help up her fluid and nutrient intake when she wasn’t eating as much as normal.
• The second week will be much easier, as itchiness and soreness should have calmed down by then. Your child will still be contagious until all spots have crusted over so you still need to stay at home until then. You might need to ask for help to get your food shopping or have it delivered depending on your situation as chickenpox is very contagious and can be dangerous to small babies, the elderly and pregnant ladies who you might expose if you do go out. Of course you can still play in the garden or go for walks but it’s best to avoid any crowded places and definitely shops and other indoor areas where there’s not much air circulation.

Thank you to my #BlogBumpClub friends for their advice. We got through our first illness and our daughter’s skin is healing quite well. It looks like she’ll only get a couple of tiny scars on her cute little face where she had some really big spots that she must have scratched in her sleep. They were right next to her eyes so we didn’t apply any creams or gels there.

All products mentioned in this post are available to buy from Boots or Amazon so they’re all easy to get your hands on quickly.