Can a newborn baby catch Chicken Pox? YES!

When Holly was just one week old, her older sister developed Chicken Pox. It wasn't great timing but Lara coped well and suffered from very little other than a large number of not-particularly-itchy spots. At the time, our practice nurse, midwife and then health visitor all assured me that Holly, as a neonatal (newborn) baby, was highly unlikely to catch the Chicken Pox virus from her sister due to residual immunity she had obtained from me in the womb. Unlikely, but as it turns out, not impossible. 14 days later, Holly's spots appeared. Yes, a newborn can catch Chicken Pox.

Theoretically, a newborn baby should retain all, or some of their mother's immunity to viruses and diseases for around 4 weeks after birth. A breastfed child will also receive top-ups of this immunity. This is why it took my G.P. by surprise when I rang him to ask for advice. It is so unusual to catch Chicken Pox at Holly's age that the Doctor had to consult some books and ring the pediatricians at the local hospital for guidance. He rang me back and sounded a lot less mellow than he had done the first time.

Until a baby reaches about one month old, their immune system is not developed enough to combat the Chicken Pox virus alone and this can lead to complications beyond the normal Chicken Pox symptoms of fever and spots. He called me in to the surgery to verify the spots were indeed the pox. Holly and I were quarantined in the surgery so that she couldn't infect others in the waiting room. As the Doctor walked into the room, he nodded and could tell straight away that it was indeed what I had suspected. He seemed quite excited and even congratulated me on managing to achieve something so rare that he hadn't seen it before - hmm, what an achievement to be proud of!!!

Holly was prescribed a course of anti-viral drugs in an infant suspension. Unfortunately, because the herpes virus (which is what chicken pox is, after all) is so rare in infants, most pharmacies don't stock the suspension - I tried my two local pharmacies with no luck. This was 4pm and I really wanted to get Holly's drugs that afternoon rather than order them for the next day so we drove into town to try the bigger Boots pharmacy. It was hot so I hurried in from the car park and didn't even bother putting Holly's car seat onto its travel system wheels. Sadly, even Boots didn't have it so I hobbled up the road in the blazing sun with the heavy infant carrier - but still no luck. By the time I got back to the car I was sweaty, stressed and emotional. I decided I needed Mr B's help as it was now 4.30 and having to take Holly out of the car at each pharmacy was eating up time.

I dropped into the office and dragged Mr B out of a meeting (he was very grumpy about this) and while I waited I burst into tears in front of the receptionist. She came to my rescue and quickly googled lots of phone numbers of pharmacies throughout Berkshire and started to ring them for me. Mr B arrived so we got on the road and started calling the pharmacies as we headed out of town towards bigger, better pharmacies that might still be open after 5pm. Luckily we found one who had the drug and agreed to put it aside for us. Panic over.

Administering sticky medicine to a newborn is messy but we managed and now the course of drugs is complete. The drugs seemed to kick in within about 48 hours - Holly's spots never got as big or as blistered as Laras and no new ones appeared after the course of treatment started. Holly may have had some of my immunity so perhaps only had a mild case of Chicken Pox - I don't suppose that she even noticed.

Lots of people have said to me, "well at least she has got it over and done with early", but unfortunately things don't work like that. Because a newborn's immune system is still developing, they are unlikely to develop a full immunity to the virus. Also, because the case was mild and treated with drugs, it is likely that Holly could still catch Chicken Pox later in her life. Ho hum.

Ah well, that's one more motherhood myth dispelled. A newborn baby can catch Chicken Pox, even when breastfed.

tommee tippee® Closer to Nature Digital Thermometer Review

This post was first published on Family Tech in March 20120.

I strongly believe that every parent of an infant should own a digital ear thermometer of some sort. I can tell you from experience with both digital, semi-digital and totally un-digital thermometers that a fancy piece of kit such as the tommee tippee® closer to nature Digital Ear Thermometer is worth every single penny of investment.

The tommee tippee® digital thermometer can give you an accurate reading in just 1 second. I'll say that again - just 1 second! Even if you have a frantic baby or a disruptive toddler you only need to keep them still for 1 second in order to take their temperature. Genius.

Actually, Lara loves having her temperature taken. It is one of her favourite pasttimes and trying to get the closer to nature thermometer off her after use is pretty hard! When she was really feverish during February, Lara's eyes would light up when I brought out the thermometer!

The tommee tippee® thermometer is nicely shaped so that it sits easily in your hand while you take the reading. I found it tricky that there were buttons on both the front and the back that did different things (taking readings vs changing settings) but I got used to it in the end.

The thermometer can hold up to 9 readings so that you can track your baby's temperature - this is particularly useful if you are worried and need to track it before contacting your health professional.

The temperature sensor is protected by a thin hygeine sleeve - you get a small number of these included with the thermometer but will need to buy replacements as they are only for single use.

The only thing I didn't really like about the product was the LCD display which I found to be quite dark and difficult to read at times. I seem to remember making similar comments about the tommee tippee® baby monitor.

Despite this, at a recommended price of £34.99 I really think the tommee tippee® closer to nature digital ear thermometer it is worth the investment and will return dividends for most parents.

tommee tippee® products are available at, Amazon, Asda, Argos, Boots, Mothercare, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco, Toys R Us, or online at www.tommeetippee.co.uk.

Kiddy Balm Review

Kiddy Balm came in to our lives this month. Oh how I wish we'd had it since Lara was a baby. Kiddy Balm is a multi-purpose balm that can be used for blocked noses, itches, heat rash, insect bites and stings (and a whole host of other uses if you can think of them!). The great thing about it is that Kiddy Balm is the only product of its kind that can be used on babies as young as 3 months old.

When Lara was about 4 or 5 months old she suffered from a string of colds which were really hard to deal with. Then again at about 7-9 months and her blocked nose caused her a whole lot of grief. We tried every remedy I could think of but what I really wanted to use on her was my own secret ingredient, Tiger Balm. I spent a number of years in Hong Kong as a child and we learned to use Tiger Balm for all sorts of uses such as clearing a blocked nose or relieving an itch. In the UK it is quite easy to find these days but it phenomenally expensive and I certainly wouldn't recommend it for a baby - way too powerful stuff. Kiddy Balm is a very similar thing, but made with babies and children in mind.

Kiddy Balm comes in a small 8g metal pot that is easy to open from a small rim around it. It is a semi-solid balm made from all-natural ingredients and the stuff that really does the hard work is Eucalyptus oil, camphor and menthol which give it a really zingy instantly-nose-clearing scent!

I found Kiddy balm to rub on really easily and it came out of the pot simply too so that I didn't end up applying bucket loads! We've so far used it to relieve an itchy spot for Lara and then the very next evening she demanded that we rub some more on even though the spot had gone!

I'm looking forward to trying it out next time Lara has a cold (weird, she hasn't had a cold for almost 12 months!) but I also think that Kiddy Balm will be great for me and Mr. B. Kiddy Balm costs £3.95 and from experience, will last you a long time... a little goes a long way.

The Sunday Review – Clearing A baby's Blocked Nose with Sterimar Baby Nasal Spray

It wasn't until Lara got her first cold that I even stopped to think about how you blow a baby's nose! When you see the misery of a baby with a blocked nose you'll try every contraption available in order to ease the suffering. We tried two different snot-sucking contraptions and also Karvol and a home-made aromatherapy oil blend in order to help Lara breathe more easily. We've recently been using Sterimar Baby nasal spray about which I had my doubts at first...

When Lara was about 9 months old she had a really bad cold which caused her to lose her appetite (a common indicator of a blocked nose) and her nose gunk got rubbed into her eyes which gave her conjunctivitis. It was miserable. I wouldn't usually take Lara (or myself) to the Doctor for a common cold but I didn't know what else I could do for her. The Doctor prescribed a very simple saline (salt water) solution which we had to drip into her nose to help clear her passageways before a meal. It sounded like a great idea and really did work very effectively but it caused so many tears trying to get those drops into her nose from a tiny bottle that I felt guilty asking the childminders to go through that stress during the day.

Sterimar Baby is a salt water solution too and, when I first heard about it, I was unsure why I would pay for a branded product that is essentially the same as the product the Doctor prescribed Lara for free.

Sterimar Baby is an isotonic sea water solution that contains sea minerals. It's a 100% natural medical device and comes in an aerosol canister with a simple pump that you press down to release the spray. The pump is really cleverly designed so that it can work whatever angle you hold the can at. The genius of this needs re-emphasising. If you've ever tried applying nasal spray to a baby or toddler (or if you've ever tried giving eye drops to a cat) then you'll know why the multi-angle aerosol should feature top of the world's greatest inventions. Babies move, especially when they've worked out that there is a mad woman with a salt-water spray coming in their direction. Sterimar Baby certainly makes the process of application a lot easier.

The salt water comes out as a very fine spray. I'll admit that I tried it on myself out of curiosity and the sensation is very weird (but actually it did help unblock my nose!). Sterimar Baby is recommended for babies up to 2 years old and can be used upto 6 times a day to clear a blocked nose. They also recommend it for daily cleansing of the nose (something Sterimar seem quite big on for allergy prevention and general nasal hygiene). There are some tips on their website of how to apply it to a baby or child.

Sterimar Baby is effective. There is no doubt about that. But, would I pay for a product that is (a) just sea water and (b) available free on the NHS? Yes, I would. That applicator pump is worth every penny for a clear nose and a de-stressed baby. I wish I had known about Sterimar Baby this time last year.

Sterimar Baby can be bought from Boots, Superdrug and other phramacies.