i know its a terrible thing to happen. the same thing happened to us 3 years ago when we were holidaying in majorca. we had been on holiday for 4 days when my 2 year old son came out in spots everywhere - and i mean everywhere even in his eyes! we ended up flying home over 4 days late at the cost of the holiday insurance and oh my god the looks we got from people getting on the same plane.

that was the second time this had happened to my son because the doctor told me that if they only get it mild the first time they can actually get it again.

we are flying out to cyprus in 4 weeks time and i am crossing my fingers that nothing goes wrong this time! both the kids have had it now so lets keep our fingers crossed.

fingers crossed for you to - have a fab holiday!

This is my biggest dread before we go away as Tom hasn't had it yet.

Check with your travel agent to see what they say and failing that you could get a confirmation letter from your doctor to say they are no longer contagious.

Good luck.

You shoud be entitled to a full refund.
I was told this when my middle son caught them 2 weeks before we due to go away, my other 2 sons had not had them either and the travel agent said not to worry if they got them as we would be refunded or could change the booking for later.

Loulou

PS
piriton syrup for children works brilliantly against chickenpox.

the sun works brilliantly on the spots as well lou lou cos it dries them up so quickly!

Yeah but you would have to be extra careful in the sun, so not to burn.
My other 2 sons actually got chickenpox on day1 and day3 of our holiday the elder was fine in the sun as he did`nt have too many spots but the youngest could`nt stand the heat and scratched constantly, even the sun cream irritated him.

loulou

Thanks all.
She's now mega scabby but over the grumps (BAD weekend ) so hopefully OK. Went to see the doc yesterday and he gave me a letter worded 'unfit to fly due to airline policy, but fine to travel by ferry and car' which will hopefully do the trick with the insurance company and the ferry company if challenged!

She doesn't seem too itchy at the moment, more a problem of her picking at the scabs so we'll be taking the calamine, piriton, calpol and plasters to cover to stop scarring if she gets really bad. She has a UV suntop anyway so hoping that that will do the protecting whilst keeping her cool. By the weekend she'll be in the pool!

Thanks for the support everyone,

happy hols

tm

Glad she is over the worst of it now
Enjoy your holiday, im sure her mind will be taken off picking, with all the fun things she will be doing on hol.

Loulou

We are due to travel to Greece with our three year old daughter in three weeks time. As luck would have it, she came into close contact with a friend that developed chickenpox that same evening. If she does get it she probably will get over it before we fly over but ,possibly she will still be scabby. We have a couple of questions as we are new to this illness.
We are concerned of scars forming as a result of being in a hot sunny climate.

Must we avoid the sun totally while she still has the scabs?

If so, what measures should we take?

Would a 40 factor sunblock be adequate?

After, the scabs have dropped off, is the skin still vulnerable to scarring in respect to sun exposure?

If so for how long?

Is it the burning of the new skin that we have to worry about or can scarring result from the new skin being exposed to the sun without burning?

If the skin around the scabs does tan, will the skin underneath the scab tan eventually at the same level or will there be a difference in colour between the two areas permanently (hope it makes sense)?

Hope someone out there has some experiences of chickenpox in the sun as we are getting conflicting information from medical sources.

The truth is out there...

Rakki

Hi Rakki,
What a nightmare for you!
Chickenpox can take between 10 and 20 days for symptoms to appear so you need your daughter to get them within the next week to be totally over them for your holiday.

My sons were 5 and 18 months old when they got them while on holiday in Spain, the oldest was fine but the youngest was not, you just can not predict how they are going to be affected.
Go well prepared, plenty of calpol, get some piriton syrup for children and take some calamine lotion to put in the fridge for relief if itchy.
You dont NEED to avoid the sun but it would depend on how bad the pox were, my son had absolutey loads, there was`nt a part of his body/head that they did`nt cover and he was drove nuts with them, but then he was only a baby. The sun cream used to irritate his spots but i had no choice i had to put it on him even just to take him for walks in his buggy,
i used factor 40 and 50 and none of the boys burnt with it on, i also kept them off the beach as i thought that the sand would really irritate while the spots were still weeping. when they had dried up i kept a T Shirt on them to cover the scabs on their tummies and backs (a sensitive area anyway for children)
One thing that did happen though was that on the exposed areas of skin there was lighter patches of skin where the scabs had been, not a great deal in difference but you could see but it soon faded once the tan had gone.
Your daughter should not scar any worse than if she was here and caught them, the only scars my boys have are in places that they could reach to scratch
Just use common sense really if it happens, take her for naps during the day when its red hot (pox makes you feel very lethargic my son was very whingy, bless him) plenty of fluids etc...

Good luck, i hope that she does`nt get them

Loulou

Please remember too that it would be advisable to obtain a 'fitness to fly' certificate from your doctor. If she's still scabby when you're due to fly you might be refused boarding without one and you'll have no redress. Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease and the captain and cabin crew have absolute discretion over whether you'll be allowed to board if you don't have proof in the form of a letter or certificate from your doctor confirming that she is no longer infectious. If the doctor says that she isn't fit to fly, a letter to this effect will at least enable you to claim on your holiday insurance.

SM

That would be a good idea because the airline staff have no way of knowing if your daughter is still contagious or not and are not likely to take your word for it.

loulou

Thanks for the advice. Fingers crossed and she won't get them. I'm like a paranoid mum at the moment - checking her stomach and back every few hours!

Will probably get shot down for this but I have to say that a child with chickenpox is going to be itchy and irritable and sticking them in the sun is hardly going to improve matters.

If a child is scabby unless you have a fit to fly certificate then the chances are you'll be taken off the flight anyway (as recently happened to someone else on the forum and the scabs were long gone by that point).

I would urge anyone NOT to put a child thru' that - yes you may lose your holiday but you can claim back via insurance.

I speak as a parent of of 3 kids including twins - one twin had about 6 spots, the other was covered from head to foot - literally you couldn't see normal skin and he ended up in hospital as he couldn't wee.

There is NO way on this Earth I would knowingly subject a child to intense heat whilst suffering with Chickenpox.

Tis

PS - Eurax cream was fab - stopped itching and kept skin moisturised and Piriton syrup helped too as well as bicarb of soda in the bath.

Hi, As the the last poster stated, you must get a letter from the doctor to say your child is no longer infectious if they have any visible remains of spots. It was my daughter's family who First Choice made get off the plane as her 1 year old son had remains of spots on his face and they would not take her word for it he was no longer infectious. They have got a full refund from their insurance company but it was really embarassing and upsetting for them at the time. They went straight to a doctor from the airport who said he was not infectious and gave them a letter but it was to late then so make sure this does not happen to you.

Hi Lady

Glad your daughter managed to get a full refund - doesn't make up for the embarassment but hopefully she'll be able to book something else soon.

Sorry to hear about the familes with chicken pox and I hope it all works out OK for you.

Some people (not in this thread!) reckon that chicken pox is a standard childhood disease and it's best for them to have it...therefore it doesn't matter about being contagious when travelling, because it will do other familes a favour

I can tell you that 4 years ago, my son (then 20) felt ill on day 13 of our holiday, and it wasn't until we were home that we realised he had developed....you've guessed it......chicken pox

My guess is that he caught it on the plane on the way out......

And sure enough my other son (then 16) and I (then 45) caught it a couple of weeks later.

We have no idea how we had all avoided it until then, my kids had often been in contact with it at school, but there you are.

But to all those people who say it's a minor illness, I have to say I felt TERRIBLE and was off work for 3 weeks. And my sons had no end of trouble rubbing calamine onto their hairy legs etc.......

It can also be dangerous for pregnant women to come into contact with chicken pox.

So although it's awful having to alter your holiday plans if your child has chicken pox, there are many families who will be grateful that you did!

The problem is I don't know if my daughter has caught it. She came into contact with it almost one week ago and should show signs of getting it before we are due to fly (flying 3 weeks yesterday). However the virus seems to be going around at the moment and I am concerned she may pick it up in the next few weeks - she attends nursery and she does a number of pre school clubs - my big fear is she will incubate it and get it whilst on holiday. Does anyone know if she can have some kind of test to indicate whether she is all clear a few days before we fly? Or am i just being completley paranoid!!!!!!!!

Acorncup the reason people say to subject their kids to chicken pox is because it is a minor illness for a child so best to get it out of the way. It is far more serious in adults and for those who are pregnant or who are vulnerable (for instance getting over cancer treatment etc.) it can be dangerous.

If something infectious is going around then being on an aeroplane with them you are more likely to catch it than through normal day to day comings and goings, the air is recycled like in any place with aircon, so spreads it around.

As others have said there's no way of knowing how badly your child will get infected and it's a case of hope for the best if it's going around, but there would never be a problem with having a full refund on your travel insurance, though a huge disappointment to miss the planned holiday obviously.

my 4 year old daughter has taken them today and we fly in 1 week got letter from doc to say she will be fine by then to fly but hope she doesnt get issolated from kids clubs etc cos of spots . at the moment she only has about 6 on her back but bathed her in bicarbonateed soda so morning might tell a different story.