I hope you all aren't getting sick of chicken pox letters.  I suppose we all
have a chicken pox story to tell!
My middle child came down with chicken pox when he was just about to turn 4.
 He had weaned about 6 mos before.  He had a relatively mild case: fair
number of spots, feverish for one evening, but that was it.  My oldest had
just turned seven.  She had bf for over four years.  She came down with them
next and was sick as a dog for days: high fever and absolutely covered with
spots including inside her mouth, her vagina and her eyeballs.  My youngest
was only only 6 mos old and was bf with no solids.  I was quite
self-righteous that she would be protected, but I was wrong - she got chicken
pox, too.  She had the mildest case: spots but no fever.  She wanted to nurse
more frequently of course, but that was the only real sign she was sick.
I discussed the chicken pox vaccine with my pediatrician when it was used in
other countries (Japan, I remember), but before it was approved for general
use in this country.  He said in the US it had only been approved for
children who had other illnesses and who could not afford to get chicken pox.
 It was taking longer to approve in this country because there was some
concern about the long-term immunity that the vaccine would provide and how
it would affect the possibility of shingles in vaccinated people.
Cynthia