Perfect chance for 3 year old to get chicken pox, but I'm pregnant

[Carlyle]

Hey all,

One of our neighbors has chicken pox and is still contagious. I want my dd to get natural immunity to chicken pox, and she's now 3, which seems like a great time to do it. But I'm pregnant. I had a big case of chicken pox when I was about 4 or 5, so I should be immune. My midwife says she's advising all of her patients to NOT have their older children contract cp while they're pregnant (it's going around town right now--we've got a high non-vaxxing population especially among the home birthers).

What are your thoughts? Is this over reacting? Good advice?

I'm thinking it's probably good advice, but am worried that my dd will be 5 before we're ready for her to get it again and what if it's not "going around" then? I guess that's just the way it goes right now...

[amnesiac]

Since this is about illness exposure rather than vaccines I'm moving to H&H.

[Carlyle]

Whoops! Thanks for moving it to the right place

[broodymama]

It's definitely a personal choice (and taking into account if you've previously had the CP before), but I recently had to make the same choice. When I was 22/23 weeks I had the chance to expose 5 year old DS, 3.5 year old DD1 and 1.5 year old DD2. I exposed them amd 2 weeks later they all came down with the pox. It was a rough week or so, but I'm glad I did it and got it over with. Especially since I don't know when I would have the chance again, and I would rather do it now than when I have an infant.

[Tear78]

Originally Posted by Red Sonja

I would rather do it now than when I have an infant.

This is a good point. It's a tough decision, sweetie. Good luck, I wish I knew something to help! Love you!

[mbravebird]

I had the same decision to make when I was pregnant, and for my comfort level I decided that if I was in the second trimester or the first half of my third, I'd be comfortable doing it. I had my titers checked and knew I was immune.

I wanted to be sure that the new baby didn't get it right away, so I didn't want anyone to be contagious when he was born. It just requires some math -- the duration of the illness itself can be two weeks, and there can be a two week incubation period. So if you have at least a month before the baby is born, then you know you won't be exposing the baby.

We exposed my son and he didn't get it, and then at the beginning of the third trimester he got it naturally. It was a pretty mild illness, and went well for us. He was long healed before baby came.

[WuWei]

There is plenty of time for the 3 year old to get exposed to the chicken pox naturally, in the future. Until age 14, there are years of potential exposures. And you could check cp titers at that time, if you are concerned.

We've had an opportunity to expose at least annually, just in our circle of friends, not even with any effort to find an exposure possibility.

Plus, all the kids getting live virus cp vaccine are shedding. I'd be much more concerned about that exposure risk. And the 3 year old is likely to get an exposure along that line organically.

Pat

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by mbravebird

I wanted to be sure that the new baby didn't get it right away, so I didn't want anyone to be contagious when he was born.

Yeah, I'm only 13 weeks now, so I'm not worried about the baby getting it at all. It's just that if for whatever reason my immunity isn't as foolproof as I thought, it could cause big problems for the fetus. Getting a CP when you're pregnant can be really bad, especially close to the first and last trimesters (I guess???)

Originally Posted by WuWei

Plus, all the kids getting live virus cp vaccine are shedding. I'd be much more concerned about that exposure risk. And the 3 year old is likely to get an exposure along that line organically.

I actually don't think that any of the kids we're hanging with have had the cp vaccine...even at preschool. It's supposed to happen at 1-2 years, and the kids that age that I know aren't getting vaxed for it.