It’s never fun when your children get sick, and it can be especially miserable when they experience chickenpox for the first time. It’s a common childhood disease, but no parent likes to see their children in pain. Whether it’s watching them go through fevers or deal with the well-known sores that come from chickenpox, you likely can’t help but wonder what the best way to make them feel better is.
And this article is here to help you out! Chickenpox is highly contagious and uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be for long. Instead, you can help your children quickly say goodbye to chickenpox with the help of these suggestions.
Don’t Delay Your Doctor’s Visit
It seems more helpful to just let your children rest off their illness, but while rest is important, you should really call your doctor as soon as you suspect that they have chickenpox. Without a proper diagnosis, those red spots on your children could very well be a symptom of another condition. Calling your doctor will help you determine if your children do have the condition and what precautions you should take to avoid infecting others before visiting the doctor in person.
If your initial concern turns out to be true, your doctor will be able to advise you on what treatments would work best for your children. If your children are dealing with a severe enough form of chickenpox, your doctor may even recommend that your children take antiviral medication like acyclovir to decrease any pain and increase how fast the sores heal.
Not sure you can afford it? No worries! Just order your medication from an online international or Canadian pharmacy referral service, such as Canada Med Pharmacy. By doing this, you’ll be able to connect to licensed pharmacies outside of the United States, which will ease the burden on your wallet, as most countries provide medication at affordable prices.
Help Soothe Your Children from Any Discomfort
Once you’re back from the doctor’s, do your best to make your children comfortable. They’re likely going through a rough time as they endure the fatigue, itchiness, and soreness that chickenpox brings. Giving them some relief from all this agitation is sure to help them rest up more and feel better sooner.
Reduce Any Itchiness They Might Have
A great way to provide your children immediate relief is by reducing the itchiness that chickenpox causes. You can do this in a number of ways:
- Give them warm to cool baths. Let your children soak in these baths for 20 to 30 minutes for as many times necessary to help keep them clean and itch-free. The water should already help soothe their itchy skin, but you can enhance this soothing effect by adding oatmeal or an oatmeal bath product like AVEENO® to the water.
- Apply compresses. Your children can’t bathe forever, so once they’re done bathing for the day, try applying compresses to the itchy areas of their skin. A compress should help keep your children cool and relieve some of their itchiness. Some particularly effective compresses can include a simple wet washcloth and oatmeal paste. If you choose to use the latter, make sure the paste only stays on your children’s skin for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, gently wash the paste away, and pat the skin dry.
- Use lotions. If compresses aren’t doing the trick, you can also give lotions a shot. There are some lotions that are particularly good for itchiness relief like calamine lotion.
Make Sure They Don’t Scratch Their Skin
Even if you’re doing your best to soothe away the itchiness your children have, there are likely going to be times when they’d rather just scratch their itchy skin. But scratching should definitely be avoided as it can cause skin infections.
If your children are particularly young, you can have them wear mittens or clean socks over their hands to prevent scratching during times when you might be busy.
For older children, try to make sure their fingernails are clean and have been recently trimmed. That will reduce the likelihood of any skin infection if they do happen to scratch occasionally. To minimize how often your children want to scratch, try to distract them as much as possible and don’t forget to frequently apply the itchiness solutions that were previously mentioned.
Keep Them Indoors as Much as Possible
While it’s unlikely you’ll be taking your sick children outside often, it’s still worth mentioning that you should minimize the time they spend outside. Chickenpox is quite contagious, and it can be extremely serious, leading to health complications and even death if you’re not careful. So keep your children indoors away from others who could catch the disease, and give them the care they need to recover from their chickenpox.
