Non vaxed 4 YO will be seeing grandpa with shingles- What to do or not to do?

[DKL]

Hello - My son was on a delay vax schedule but stopped vaxing at 5 months altogether, he is now 4.5 years old and I am concerned as we will be spending time with my family and my father has shingles right now. What is everyone's rule of thumb now about chicken pox and shingles and do "we" still expose our kids to CP to get the virus out of the way while young or do we avoid it all together? I am nervous and then it gets me thinking about his other lack of vaxes...oy. One thing at a time though so I would appreciate any feedback....Thank you in advance. :)

[Mirzam]

I think everyone has their own "rule of thumb", but it wouldn't concern me in the least. I have been through three kids and chickenpox - no biggie, and 4.5 is not a bad age to get it. There have been other posts on contracting chickenpox from shingles, but I really didn't pay much attention to the likelyhood, as we have been, there, done that and got the t-shirts as far as the CP goes!

[DKL]

That is my thinking but interested to hear what other folks have to say. Thank you!
 

[emmy526]

my dh had shingles tiwice,  around all our unvaxed kids and nothing happened

[Chloebelle]

I has shingles on my stomach and was breastfeeding my baby, and she didn't get it. My DH got it a few years later, and my older child got CP, and then gave CP to my younger child. I was quite happy! His sores were oozing a lot, and mine were quit dry in comparison.

[Marnica]

Your child would need to have direct contact with a sore.....Personally I would like my 5 yr old to get it over with.

2 years ago my mom had shingles and was visiting. DS didn't get it but I didn't think he would as moms sores were covered up with clothing. 

[ma2two]

If I had a 4.5 year old who had never had chickenpox, with a grandparent with shingles, I would rush over there to visit before the blisters crusted over. He won't be able to get chickenpox from the shingles unless he touches the blister fluid. I don't think it's reasonable to hope or expect that he will never get chickenpox in his lifetime, so now is better than age 35, for example.

I took my kids to a chickenpox party years after they got chickenpox, in order to keep their immunity strong, which protects against shingles. I don't know if the info is out there on how often re-exposure should re-occur, but I tend to think about once every 5-10 years. I make sure I expose myself at chickenpox parties as well, to protect myself against shingles.

[landofjuncovill]

I had the CP as a child and got shingles in my early twenties. They were recurring through the years and finally stopped a couple of years ago (I'm 40 now) I have 7 unvaxed kids and they were exposed to my shingles (well at least the first 6 were). None of them have ever gotten the CP. I have breastfed all of them and some even touched my sores which would break out on my left shoulder. So I don't think it's a big deal.

[DKL]

Thanks folks! Just what I had researched and felt myself but to ask all of you as well... I breastfed my little guy until he was 21 months so hopefully that helps too. I wish I could expose him to his grandpa but I am in MA and my family lives in NC...but we see them all in Florida at the end of the month! I guess it will be long past by then. Thank you again.
 

[eminurse]

To ma2two- by exposing yourself at chickenpox parties to prevent shingles...well...do some real research. If you get the chickenpox, you will have the SAME virus in your body that CAUSES shingles. The virus just manifests itself in different ways. If you never get the CP virus, you won't get shingles. Personally, after seeing my now 84 year old mother be the sickest I've ever seen her with shingles, not something I'd like to get. It's very nasty. That's why they have a vaccine for it now.

[Lazurii]

Originally Posted by eminurse 

To ma2two- by exposing yourself at chickenpox parties to prevent shingles...well...do some real research. If you get the chickenpox, you will have the SAME virus in your body that CAUSES shingles. The virus just manifests itself in different ways. If you never get the CP virus, you won't get shingles. Personally, after seeing my now 84 year old mother be the sickest I've ever seen her with shingles, not something I'd like to get. It's very nasty. That's why they have a vaccine for it now.

If people that have had CP constantly come in contact with children that have cases of CP that can often cause the immune system of the adult to repress the shingles.  By vaccinating children against CP that causes generations of children not getting CP, therefore the parents and grandparents of those children aren't re-exposed to CP, thus the virus has a better chance of coming back as shingles.

So let's go back to the natural order of things and just let kids get chicken pox.  Millions of children used to get chicken pox and the death rate was 40-100 per year.  Not that scary.