Just to remind all that life is complicated, chicken pox in young
children is almost always very mild (with the exception of the
perinatally infected baby). So the contribution of breastfeeding to
protection is difficult to measure. This is in large part due to the
antibody received by the child in utero, but there may be something
more.
Our kids all had chicken pox at the same time. The eight year old was
the sickest (but not very), followed by the 4 year old, followed by
the one year old. The one year old had the most skin lesions, but
they did not seem to bother him at all.
Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC