# Help! Baby exposed to Shingles.



## ActivistMommy (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi Mamas. I desperately need advice. I am so worried.

We just found out today that my mother has shingles. She woke up yesterday (Wed.) morning with bumps on her back and watched our 8 m/o dd the whole day. We found out an hour ago that it's shingles. The Dr. has said that this means she may get chicken pox. Does anyone have any experience with this. Exposure? Chicken pox at such a young age? Any advice would be greatly appreciated; we are very worried.


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## Eliseatthebeach (Sep 20, 2007)

I honestly think that chicken pox at this age would be the best thing for your dd.


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## ActivistMommy (Feb 11, 2008)

Really? I had thought it was very dangerous until at least age 1. Not true? Has anyone had a little one with chickenpox this young?


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## mommyto3girls (May 3, 2005)

My ped said under one is actually good because they usually don't scratch them so badly. The only "problem" is that sometimes babies that get CP under the age o one don't acquire full immunity. (that is why the CP vax isn't onthe vax schedule until age one - and now repeated every 10 years)


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## holothuroidea (Mar 30, 2008)

yay! Your mom should throw a pox party.







:

Don't worry, she'll be alright. I'd be more concerned about your mom!


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## KermitMissesJim (Feb 12, 2004)

My little sister had chicken pox at 8 months. No scratching, she spent her days in nothing but a diaper. She was fine.


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## accountclosed2 (May 28, 2007)

My friend's 4yo DS caught CP at Kindy (it isn't usually vaccinated against here, so it usually makes it's rounds) and generously passed it on to his 4 month old sister. They were both fine (although mum was shattered!). Another friend's both DDs caught it when the youngest was 10 months old. They were fine as well (although we chose to stop the donor milk from this friend in the meantime, to protect our DD, who was then 4 months old and very underweight).

Also, if shingles is as contagious as CP itself your mother has been contagious for several days before actually showing signs.


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## Lemon Juice (Jun 6, 2005)

When my son was 5 he got CP from preschool friends. My dd was 8 months old at the time and I thought she would get it for sure, but she didn't. She was breastfed and not on solids so that may have helped. Are you nursing? It may prevent them anyway. I will say that my son was vaxed w/out us researching and w/ much family pressure but got it anyway but only a mild case. Not sure if that had an reason why she didn't get it or not.

She is 2.5 and has yet to get it...but we are having a baby any day so we'll wait till next year to attend pox parties


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## chase_mommy (Nov 11, 2007)

My mother has had shingles several times. Once recently when dd was 1 month old and DS was 4. I looked into exposing my children, mainly DS, so he could get chicken pox. The only way to get chicken pox from shingles is to come in contact with a weeping lesion and then touch a mucous membrane. For example, my mother had shingles on her butt. I would have had to have DS touch a weeping shingle on her butt and then pick his nose or lick his finger. Sounds gross, huh? So, needless to say, DS or DD didn't get chicken pox. Shingles aren't air born like the chicken pox virus is. I believe your DD will be fine. If by some chance she does get the virus I am SO jealous of you.







<-- this is my green with envy face.


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## shanniesue2 (Jul 4, 2007)

I got shingles when DS was about 3 months old. I caught it and started treatment early so it wasn't a bad out break. But the spot that I had was actually on my breast. Well since DS is BF-ed, I was really worried that he was going to get sick. Our doctor said that it isn't necessarily any more severe in infancy than it is at any other point in childhood.
Although I read in several places that getting CP during infancy (as opposed to toddlerhood or later) has higher risk of childhood shingles.

P.S. I was so worried about having it on my breast with a BF-ed baby... and I asked my doc (who is also DS's doc) about it and he said that continuing to BF is the best thing I could do to keep DS from getting CP and not to stop... Our family doc is THE best!


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## Shanana (May 11, 2005)

My understanding is that EBF babies are actually more protected from CP, although it's not a guarantee. My mil had shingles over the summer and I thought about exposing both kids. A visiting nurse told her that kids under 1 yr don't always get immunity, though. So I decided against it. I wasn't going to go through all of that for nothing!!

Your dd will probably be fine, and if not, you might want to get her blood checked at some point to see if she has immunity (I'm assuming this can be determined from a blood test). That way you at least know.

I hope your mother is okay. My mil was in a lot of pain for a while







.


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## Blue Lotus (Jun 16, 2006)

I was 6 months old (and EBF) when I got CP. From what my sister says (my mom doesn't remember it), I didn't have any issues with it, and had one small scar from a lesion. DD was exposed at 12 months and didn't get CP, probably because she was exclusively nursing at the time. She was also exposed at around 18 months, and got about 6 lesions (mainly in her diaper area)., and not even a fever or sniffle at the time. It was really easy to treat them and she has no scars. Your dd will probably be just fine, and may not have even received enough of an exposure to give her any immunity.

FWIW, I have had several exposures to CP (including the two with my DD in the last two years), and have had no outbreaks or issues. So my exposure at such a young age DID give me immunity.


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