Do you / would you do this?

[mmhinton]

"Pox Parties" - Ds1 had vaxes for the first 9 months (regretfully ) and DS2 has not had a single shot. I would like for both to have "real" immunity from things (like chicken pox) by having the disease naturally. I know of people who purposefully take their kids to "playdates" with a kids with known chicken pox.. a "pox party".
For all of you non vaxing mommies - do you do this? Would you do this if you could?

Just wondering - it's not something that's come up for me yet

[PinkinPA]

Oh yeah! I've had a few opportunities this summer but couldn't attend.

[momsmyjob]

Absolutely! I would do it in a second.

[Arduinna]

I never did it, but I'm not against it. It just never came up and part of the time dd was little I was immune compromised so it wouldn't have been safe for me.

[SilverMoon010]

This is a great question and I have thought of this myself. Those who say you would do this, what age would you start?

[Nicole730]

I would not go right now, I have a 2 year old and a baby. I wouldn't want the baby to get it. Plus, I have a hard time wrapping my head around purposely getting my kid sick, kwim? I plan on having them tested around age 10 or so to see if they have the immunity to it. I think it was in Dr. Sears that said they can get the immunity without actually getting the disease.

[dziejen]

My two oldest children are fully vaxed and my 2 1/2 yr old has not had any shots yet. I would not have taken my children to a pox party because I also have a hard time with getting my child intentionally sick. In most cases, chicken pox is harmless or just uncomfortable but if my child was one of the few with a very bad reaction I would never be able to live with that. That said, ds came down with the chicken pox this spring and dd2 who is 9yrs caught them and had the pox 2 weeks later. Both had pretty mild cases but we never did figure out who gave them to us and none of the unvaccinated children that were with us during that month and before and after caught them either so I think it is not always easy to catch.

[fruitfulmomma]

No, I wouldn't. I don't believe in purposely exposing my children to diseases and/or exposing other children to anything we may have.

[BedHead]

There was no vax for cp when mine were little, but I think I would have still done this if there had been. I put my 3yo daughter into the tub with her 4yo cousin who had cp. She got them The boys got them at a dayhome they were attending. One was 3 and the other only 8 mos old. 8 mos was too young - he really suffered. 3 is about the right age to have cp imo.

[SuburbanHippie]

I've done it twice. Both this summer, same strain. The kids didn't catch it either time and we did every trick in the book. They have pretty strong immune systems though (never thought I would see a downside to that ).

[zinemama]

No, I wouldn't. Another mother asked if she could bring her kid over when mine had chicken pox and I agreed. But it's not something I would have pursued for my children.

[just_lily]

This would not be my choice. We aren't afraid of germs or illness, but we don't go seeking them out either.

Also because I have never had chicken pox myself, have no imunity as per titres, and choose not to vaccinate myself. I realize I am running the risk of being exposed at some point, but I am definitely not going to seek it out.

I understand why some parents choose to do this though, and certainly don't judge them for their choices.

[MountainMamaGC]

I am now immunocompromised, I need to go get my titers checked. When my child is about 4 or 5 I will go seek out a pox party somehow, so long as my titers are good. I cant even get the vax because its live.

[november]

I don't think this is something I would ever do myself. I understand, in theory, why others do it ... I just don't think I'm comfortable with it.

[WTHamI?]

I probably wouldn't intentionally seek it out. DH and I both never had it (although I've been exposed several times and strongly suspect I'm immune anyway) and I really would not want my DH to have to miss work from getting the pox in his 40s because we intentionally exposed our kids. If that was not the case and my kids were getting to upper elementary and hadn't caught it in the wild yet I would consider it to avoid them getting it as teens or adults.

[MyBoysBlue]

I had planned to eventually seek it out but DS 2 just came down with it outta the blue. No one we knew had it. The only way we can figure he got it was on a shopping trip to the mall. He was 2 at the time.

[Xerxella]

Wow. I just don't know. I think I'd like them to just suddenly get it and not know where it came from. I want them to have immunity, but I couldn't see intentionally exposing them. Hhhmmm I'll have to think about it...

[MountainMamaGC]

I remember being a kid and parents letting other kids play with infected kids to get it out of the way. It wasnt called a pox party, it was just something people did.

[caned & able]

Yes, I have done it. Success.

[MyBoysBlue]

Yup Lydiah, for us it was called Christmas family get together. One cousin and I had CP during Christmas. We were both passed around the family and all our other cousins were told to play with us.