Cold sore & newborn

[Dusty12345]

Hi all, I am after some advice please. I have an 8 week old baby and have come out in a cold sore outbreak.

Google says that cold sores can be fatal for newborns if they catch it, and not to let anyone with a cold sore hold your baby. So what am I supposed to do being her mum and primary caregiver?

I’m washing my hands and not kissing her. But I’m terrified of her catching it. I’m worried I’ve accidentally touched my face and not realised, even doing the dishes I am touching things that have been on my lips. My hands are raw from washing them and I don’t know what to do! I’m using the compeed plasters to cover it but it’s not helping with my stress.

Has anyone else had a cold sore with a newborn? Thanks in advance!

Are you Breastfeeding? If so, she'll have your antibodies to protect her.

Aww I feel for you, OP. My friend went through the same thing with her newborn and was so worried about passing it on. Just lots of hand-washing, obviously no kissing. I think she wore a face mask when she was in close contact so it was covered and it stopped her absent-mindedly touching it so much, and her DH did a bit more of the hands-on stuff until it had passed.

Thanks both, no I’m not breastfeeding I’m bottle feeding, so not sure I’ve given her any antibodies?

Maybe you could use some single-use gloves when handling your baby. If you don't like the waste you can use latex which are (eventually) biodegradable. Also, you might want to dry you hands on kitchen paper as I think it can transfer quite easily through towels.

Baby will have antibodies from you via your breast milk which should help I believe!

Yes I did, I was fastidious about cleanliness and hand washing and stopped kidding. Really hard as it's automatic!

Children are now teens and so far they haven't ever had one!

@Lagirl20

Baby will have antibodies from you via your breast milk which should help I believe!

The OP has said she bottle-feeds!

OP - hasn't your HV got any advice for you?

No advice to add, but just to say the mask wearing sounds like a good idea. And also my mum has suffered with cold sores frequently her whole life. Neither my sibling or I have ever had one. Only one of us was breastfed. Just be careful and try to reassure yourself that it isn't a given you will pass it on. Be kind to yourself!

Myself and my sister have suffered with cold sores all our lives. We have both had children, 3 between us, and they were ok. Only one of them has ever got cold sores and he gets them around his eyes not mouth. He started to get them aged about 3. But he is ok.
Don't worry.

Have you had cold sores before? If so you will have passed antibodies on when you were pregnant

Compeed coldsore patches, available on amazon or at pharmacies. I tried these with my newborn (because remembering to wash every time you're woken before touching a crying baby is hard). I found them amazing in actually speeding up healing time somehow, whereas creams and vitamins did absolutely nothing for me. They provide a barrier so if you brush past or accidentally touch it, you should be safe :) I'd not be kissing baby still, but they should help minimise accidental contact x

I had a few coldsores in that first year, run down and recovering from the c section. Ds is almost 3 and hasn't shown any signs of having one yet :) I keep at least 1 box of compeed patches in at all times and apply as soon as there's a tingle or itch.

face mask is good idea.

Sorry, I missed you said you used the patches already. They really do work though :) Just be as careful as possible with all other hand washing, clothes/towels changing etc, you can get antiviral wipes and gel. I used disposable gloves too due to the bloody hands from constant washing :(

I could be mistaken, but I think your baby would still have antibodies gained from being in the womb at 8 weeks old.
I had my first ever cold sore when I was about 20 weeks pregnant with my first dd. I believe that can be quite a dangerous scenario and I went to the GP who prescribed me antivirals.
Maybe you could ask your GP about antiviral medication in your situation? I think it just means that your cold sore would clear up quicker than it would do naturally, so less exposure/potentially passing on risk to the baby.

@Dusty12345

Thanks both, no I’m not breastfeeding I’m bottle feeding, so not sure I’ve given her any antibodies?

Are you bottle feeding formula or expressed breast milk?

If it’s expressed breast milk, yes you’ll have given her antibodies. If it’s formula, you won’t have.

I had a coldsore when I gave birth! I was told not to kiss my baby.

I developed a cold sore when my baby was 5 days old. Was terrified as I hadn't had a warning tingle. Midwife at the time told me not to worry just not to kiss my baby or let her have any contact with my face. I also washed my hands and covered the sore with a compeed patch.

Get thr patches , Mike used to be a two week job .. now they are done and dusted in 3 days ! Literally gone ! Those things are magic !

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Your baby will have protective antibodies from you from during pregnancy. Most cases of newborns becoming really poorly from cold sores are because they’ve been carried in pregnancy by a mum who does not have the virus so have zero antibody protection, and are then kissed by a different relative with a sore.
Just carry on with good hygiene and your normal measures and don’t stress too much.

@Teacupsandtoast

Have you had cold sores before? If so you will have passed antibodies on when you were pregnant

This.

I had the same with my first and was in an enormous panic. But I’ve been a life long sufferer of cold sores and was reassured not to worry but of course be careful.

Get the plaster things to cover it and good hand hygiene. Try not to worry.

I had a cold sore when DD was about 2 weeks old - I was horrendously stressed about it.

I used the compeed patches, and absolutely loads of hand washing, and being v careful when eating that I didn’t touch or handle baby until I had replaced the patch and washed hands very very thoroughly.

DD didn’t get it and to my knowledge hasn’t ever had a coldsore (I have a very stringent policy on not sharing cups or utensils and not kissing her near her mouth, and early on trained her up not to drink from any cup that isn’t hers. Later on, also make sure that you don’t share any spoons or food with her - you can transmit it even when you don’t have an active one if you share saliva / cutlery or cups, or kiss on the mouth, but are very unlikely to if you don’t, even with an active one.)

You could also wear a face mask while the cold sore is active and you’re wearing a patch? But as long as you don’t let the patch get wet/loose or flappy, and you wash hands scrupulously and don’t touch your face, you should be okay.

The patches work really well and I find they reduce an outbreak to around 5 days and keep the sore small as long as you have the patch on continuously.

As pp say, I think you also should have passed antibodies in the blood to your baby when pregnant, but I’m not sure exactly when this wanes.

Should also say, I have an infrared light device that’s also meant to help; but I have recently heard good things about another device called Herpotherm which is a heat activated device that you apply a few times a day to kill the virus before putting the patch back on. I think you can get them from Amazon. No idea how good it is as I haven’t tried it yet! (I normally get a coldsore every year when I’m run down, but during lockdown I’ve had fewer random viruses so haven’t had a coldsore for a while.)

I had a major outbreak of coldsores a few days after I had D's, literally my entire mouth was covered, there was at least 10 of them. I called my midwife in a huge panic as I just woke up with them and had kissed him a few hours before, I was convinced I had doomed him to death. I just watched him closely for any sign of coldsores, used coldsire creams, washed my hands loads and made sure I did not touch my face unless applying coldsore cream, I made sure he had zero contact with my face. DS is now 4 and so far has never had a coldsore. I have suffered from them since I was a baby/toddler myself. I have a D's due in January and have stocked up on coldsore creams in anticipation of having a bad outbreak shortly after birth.