To be worried about my mums cold sores

[Summerblaze100]

My baby is 3 weeks old and I had her via C section.

My mum is helping me out at the moment with housework etc.

Yesterday morning she looked after her while I was at a half an hour meeting with DS2's teacher. She was holding her and feeding her when I got back.

Today she had been at my house for about 4 hours before I noticed that her mouth was sore. I asked and she said that she had about 4 cold sores and had had to put some stuff on them.

My DM is lovely but very much a 'it'll be alright, people have been doing xyz for years' type of person.

I said that she'll have to be careful around DD2 and she said that she wouldn't kiss her but should she even be around her and touching things in the house. She's been doing washing and ironing so she will have touched her newly washed clothes.

Feeling very panicky as I've read the scary stories.

[Trifleorbust]

You will probably get a majority of responses saying she shouldn't be around her. I would be a bit more moderate myself and say no kissing, wash hands before picking up and obviously same for any toys, bottles or other items handled. Not sure about clothes. Maybe do it yourself to be on the safe side?

[ILostItInTheEarlyNineties]

You are right to feel worried. It can be dangerous for a baby to be exposed to the virus.
However, cold sores can only be passed on by direct skin contact with the sore, not from clothing, although there is a risk if your mum is touching an open sore and then touching your baby's mouth or bottle.

Your mum needs to take precautionary measures to ensure she doesn't infect your baby. When she has a cold sore, no kissing or touching baby with her mouth, washing hands frequently particularly before feeding and changing nappies.

Perhaps show her some information online to back yourself up. There is a lot of rubbish and scaremongering online so stick with a reputable website like the NHS one.

Apart from it being dangerous to a baby, once the herpes virus is passed on, there is no cure so it's something that needs to be avoided.

[KayTee87]

They can be very dangerous for a small baby, personally I wouldn't want someone with a cold sore to touch my baby but I'm sure the washing etc. Will be fine, usually viruses don't live long on things like that (check that though)

[mammybops]

Just show your mum the NHS site and ask her to be hyper vigilant about skin contact and making sure she washes her hands regularly (on top of after applying treatment). Tell her you know she's not going to do anything to harm baby but her being extra careful would mean a lot to you as a new mum.

There are also cold sore patches you can get that act like a plaster over the cold sore. Maybe buy some for your mum to help her reduce contamination risk. My daughter uses these and finds them really good.

Cold sores are scary for newborns, but so are a lot things. This is why sterilising and excellent hand hygiene are so emphasised by health professionals so you can live a normal live but offer the best protection for your little ones.

[QueenArseClangers]

A lady I know lost her beautiful baby to herpes spread by a cold sore in 2005.
m.facebook.com/Warning-pregnant-mothers-about-the-fatal-dangers-of-cold-sores-to-newborns-177674425637853/

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I'm fairly sure that her touching laundry is not a way to transmit herpes. Ask your doctor as well. Kissing is definitely out and I would ask everyone, not just her, to wash hands before feeding etc.

[limitedperiodonly]

She seems to be doing the right things but check with your GP for advice. If it's any help, my mum suffered from terrible cold sores and took precautions against kissing etc when she had them. None of us have them.

I guess you didn't get them from her. So though I know it's serious, they can be avoided.

[Booboostwo]

I have cold sores and have had one or two a year since having DCs. I never touch my mouth (which includes no eating finger foods), I don't share cutlery, glasses, towels or bedding, I use patches and make sure if anyone accidentally touches my mouth they are immediately whisked off for a wash. The baby stage was easier than the toddler stage with all the little arms flailing around.

If your DM is sensible then it should be Ok.

It might be worth talking to her GP about her multiple attacks, four at a time is a lot and she might benefit from retroviral drugs to reduce the frequency and strength of attacks.

[RebelRogue]

What would everyone do if you were the ones with cold sores?
No kissing,washing hands etc is all fine,but you're close to quarantining the poor woman,who btw is helping op out and doing laundry and stuff!!!

[flippyflapper]

When my baby was born my dh and mum.both had one. At the time I didn't no anything about it at all until someone told me. Thankfully little one didn't get one.

My mum and dh and sister get them all the time and obviously dh is around them all the time when they were babies and never kissed them with it but held them fed them and they were fine.

I would really drum it in to your mum.not to kiss the baby at all as she from what you have said doesn't seam worried about it

[Summerblaze100]

I rang 111 and they just read through the NHS website about symptoms which I had already read.

I've read that the incubation period can be a few weeks. Im terrified of losing her and feel sick that I didn't notice and I'm irrationally pissed off with my DM even though she didn't know about it.