In a message dated 97-09-05 07:23:54 EDT, Lisa Jones writes (in part):

<< I am currently helping a mother and baby who were exposed recently (within
 the past week) to chicken pox.  Neither mother nor baby (10months old) has
 had chicken pox previously.  They do not currently show signs of the
disease,
 but mom would like to prepare herself with information.
   Mom is worried about any potential problems if either she or her baby come
 down with chicken pox.  For example, if baby has pox in her mouth, can she
 pass the disease to mother (if mother hasn't already shown symptoms?)>>

Lisa, I can help you with at least some of your questions as I have had first
hand experience with chicken pox these past few weeks---both of my children
had it!

The incubation period for chickenpox is ten to twenty-one days.  Direct
contact is the most common method of exposure, but contact with airborne
droplets is also possible.

It sounds like mother is considering examining the baby's mouth for lesions
before letting the infant come into contact with her breast.  Let's say that
baby's skin erupts fourteen days after the initial exposure, but mother's
does not.  An infected person may transmit the disease twenty-four hours
BEFORE his lesions erupt, so if mother was not infected by the initial
exposure, she has already been exposed again by the poxless baby on day
thirteen.  In other words, pox in the baby's mouth (or on any part of baby's
anatomy) are irrelevant---if baby has chickenpox, mother will be re-exposed
before baby gets ANY pox.

The pox continue to transmit infection until they are completely scabbed
over.  So, if mother didn't catch the chickenpox from her initial contact,
and is asymptomatic when (if) baby gets it, she can still get it up to
twenty-one days after the last of baby's lesions scab over.

Best wishes,
Rita