[fancyoats]

as the title says, we've got the chance to expose our 13 month old dd to cp. should we? i had cp as a kid, and dd's still nursing for about 75% of her calories and another mdc mama thought that she might not get "enough" pox to result in lasting immunity. should we do it now or wait till maybe next year?

wdyt?

 

[Marnica]

I don't think the number of pox one gets correlates with lasting immunity. People can have severe cases of CP and loose immunity over time and people can have cases so mild they don't even know they were exposed and have lifelong immunity. I'd expose her and get it over with.

 

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

I agree with marnica. My siblings and I all had it at the same time, and my twin brothers (between 9 and 12 mos at the time) certainly fared the best. It was not a big deal.
Good luck!

 

[fancyoats]

i guess the "enough" wasn't terribly clear.....

what i meant was that if she is still nursing, does she still have immunity from me? and if she does still have immunity from my milk, would that mean she wouldn't get cp at all if exposed? or if exposed, she could get cp but not get it bad enough to have real lifelong immunity for some reason because she is still nursing.....

does that make any sense at all?

 

[Juliaw]

I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that you are nursing. My younger sister was 4 months old when she got a very mild case of chicken pox. She was still nursing then, and has tried many times over the years(she is now 29) to get the cp, and never once caught it. I think that everyone's immune systems are different, and your dd may catch it or may not. I would definitely expose her. 13 months old is an old enough age, and I wouldn't pass up the chance. My dd is 2 1/2, and I would love to get a hold of the cp for her. Good luck and if she does catch it, let us all know!

 

[Gitti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juliaw I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that you are nursing. .... I think that everyone's immune systems are different, and your dd may catch it or may not. I would definitely expose her.

Exactly!

 

[elmh23]

Ds got CP at 11 months old even though he was nursing for 95% of his calories. I didn't set out to infect him (was mostly trying to get dd, then 3, it and it worked

) and I'll probably try to reinfect him when my friends kids get it. If he doesn't get it a second time, I'll do a titre test when he's about 10.

 

[amnesiac]

Moving to H&H.

 

[hapersmion]

I wanted to wait until DS was two to expose him. But now that I've been looking for a year with no luck (we did expose him a couple of times, but he didn't get it, he's still nursing)... I'd go ahead and expose at 13 months if I had it to do over again.

And if you happen to get it... maybe you'd share with the rest of us?

:

 

[fancyoats]

thanks for the perspective, everyone.

i think we are going to go ahead and do it, when our chance comes....we are waiting on an update from the generous mama who is planning to share.

and of courseif we get it, i will share with anyone who wants it....are you in new england, hapersmion?

 

[WuWei]

I believe that intentional exposure to diseases needs the consent of the person exposed. Our son has had three opportunities for chicken pox exposure, he has declined each time, at age 3.5, 5ish, and recently at age 7. I believe there will be plenty of opportunities for him to acquire them naturally, or agree to exposure as an older child.

We discussed this with him when opportunities arose to acquire wild chicken pox. And he declined intentional exposure to the chicken pox at that time. There are risks to vaccinating (we are completely non-vaccinating) and there are risks to the diseases. To intentionally expose anyone (child or adult) to diseases (through vaccines or organically) against their will, or without their informed consent, is very uncomfortable to me.

I would also assess your husband's chicken pox history, before actively choosing to expose any children. If he has not had the pox, he might consider vaccination, relocation for the duration of the outbreak (2 weeks+), or intentional exposure at the *same* time as the children, in order not to be a full secondary household exposure. We had chicken pox titers drawn on my husband to ascertain his immunity status, as he only recalled "maybe one or two pox". For any adult to acquire secondary exposure could be highly serious.

Also, consider the potential for exposure to other members of your family (especially at holiday time), or others in your playgroups who are pregnant (especially first trimester, without prior cp) over the 2nd-4th weeks post exposure. And avoid airplane recycled air during the 2nd and 3rd week post exposure. Airplanes could disseminate chicken pox in a lethal manner to those who are immunocompromised.

I also think her chance of acquiring chicken pox is unlikely due to the extent of nursing still (assuming you have had chicken pox). However, you'd need to take all precautions to protect others from exposure, during any potential duration of contagion.

Pat

 

[fancyoats]

my husband has had cp, we will not be flying anywhere for christmas. if the pox party we are considering does happen, we would lay pretty low until we were sure dd had stopped being contagious. thanks for sharing your information/thoughts.

 

[Peony]

DD2 got CP at 18m, and she was still nursing heavily. She got a normal case, a few hundred pox, but handled it FAR better then her 5y sister did. I was unsure about exposing her, she gets ill often, and because of her age, but the case of CP rarely comes through my town. I had never had a chance before this one and I had been looking since DD1 was 2 so I ended up going for it. She did great, honestly she has colds that were more of a PIA then the CP.