Someone kissed my 3 week old with a cold sore, what can I do?!?!

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So we had a relative (my aunt) visit my baby and we are super close so I happily welcomed her. My baby is 3 weeks old and I'm super tired and had my entire family around when my aunt walked in so I didn't see anything on her lips/face and she held baby and kissed his head twice. It was a few minutes later he needed a nappy change and I saw a cold sore!!! I feel severe panic right now and anxiety. I cleaned babys face and head but is there anything else I can do plz help

I hope everything is OK with your little one OP. Like pps, I'm surprised someone could forget they had a cold sore. I last had one when I was about ten (many, many years ago) and I'll never forget how sore and nasty it was. What's more, I still get the occasional tingle when I'm a bit run-down. Once you've had one they lie dormant, but they don't really go away.

Sorry this has happened. I don't think there's anything you need to do tonight. You could contact the gp in the morning and they'll likely be reassuring. I'm sure you've already read up on it and will look out for the symptoms.

The reassuring thing is, coldsores are really common but neonatal herpes is rare -that's why it makes the news when babies are affected.

Hi Op as baby is so tiny I would call 111

Hi OP, I totally understand your panic. As you already know from other posts, this can be serious.
Chances are, everything will be fine, but I'd just give 111 a quick call and see what they suggest - it will give you peace of mind then.

Thanks everyone, called 111 last night and they mentioned what to look out for and checked on baby this morning via phone call. It's been more than 12 hours since the incident and baby shown no symptoms so fingers crossed he's okay x

Hello OP, hope your baby is OK, I have some similar experience, please let me know how your baby was and what did you do?

Nope, not all good. You can get herpes anywhere. Mouth is the most common, but I knew someone who's cheek was infected.

Baby is absolutely fine! I called 111 and they said baby has no symptoms so they can't do anything but what to look out for... and luckily... nothing happened at all baby was fine x

Hi,

Not sure if there can be anomalies but might be worth looking into as Herpes is generally only passed through skin to skin contact and very unlikely to be passed through towel sharing just in case your in laws are lying to you about how it was passed on.

You can get cold sores on other parts of the body too, not just the lips. I’ve had one in my eyebrow and get them in my armpit sometimes.

This. I would be absolutely livid.

Monitor him closely. Any signs of being unwell, any scabs or blisters appear anywhere & I would be at A&E explaining. It’s such a nasty virus it isn’t worth being relaxed about it.

Since this happened in 2024, I doubt OP needs to monitor her baby.

Might be applicable to others who Google this issue and come across this thread (that's what I did,)