cold sore and 7wk DD

[kittycat37]

Hi everyone,
I have the most disgusting coldsore that appeared yesterday. I didn't think much about it but then read tonight that they can be very dangerous to young babies

My DD is 7 weeks old. I have been kissing her lots before reading about the dangers.

She is mainly BF (apart from 1, very rarely 2, formula feeds every 24 hrs). I have had the coldsore virus since I was a child - does this mean she will have immunity through the breast milk?

I've been reading old threads about this and looking on the internet but can't find a definite answer.

She seems fine at the moment but I'm panicking and have had sleepless nights for less. I have been loading on the zovirex and washing my hands a lot. Should I ring my HV tomorrow? I read that they will give anti viral drugs to newborns if necessary.

TIA

I remember seeing about a lady and her baby with this before so I had a research and found this
Advice from Mervi Jokinen, a midwife from the Royal College of Midwives:

If you have a cold sore or symptoms of an impending outbreak you should avoid kissing your baby. HSV is most virulent when the skin is broken

You can breastfeed your baby when you have cold sores but make sure the lesions are covered up and you wash your hands before feeding. Touching your hand to your mouth then to your breast is enough to transfer the virus
Newborn babies have under-developed immune systems and so can become ill very quickly. Early signs of HSV can include your baby not feeding, drowsiness, fever, floppiness and unusual crying
If your baby shows these symptoms contact your midwife or doctor. They may advise you to take your baby to A&E. Possible treatment can include anti-viral drugs

BUT I'm sure I saw something about it being if you havent had colsores before and pass it on that its dangerous.
I'd phone NHS direct just to check it out.

Thanks so much amummyinwaiting. Oh no - I'm sure I've done enough to transfer virus without realising. I will ring NHS Direct.

If it's any consolation I had cold sore when ds was a few weeks old and he didn't catch it despite me probably touching him , it's very very difficult to be ultra careful .
I am sure he had natural immunity from me.

Try not to fret Kittycat37, I'm sure its somthing to do with when you give birth. Phone Nhs and see what they say.

Thanks ggirl and amummyinwaiting. Have just phoned NHS and they are phoning me back soon. I'll post up what they say in case others need the info in the future. DD really seems fine so I am fretting a pbit prematurely at the moment.

dh gets cold sores but neither me, dd (6) or ds (3) has ever caught them from him and we have been together for 17 years so far.

I am sure that if you have had them before you pass on the immunity to the baby in the womb. Please do not worry, I went through this one too, I am sure the baby is protected.

Hi all,
Well NHS Direct were not totally reassuring - I'm sure they have to cover themselves so are cautious but in any case they said:

1. There is no guarantee that any baby has immunity and not enough is known about how the virus works to be sure that immunity has definitely been passed on even if mother has had virus in past.

2. Therefore it is really important to avoid kissing baby or doing anything else that might spread virus (makes me feel terrible as certainly was not doing that before tonight).

3. Be vigilant about any signs of illness in baby e.g. lethargy, not feeding, temperature, vomiting etc and act quickly if any of these occur by going to A and E as might be virus.

Oh dear. I thought I was fretting before but now I know I'll be hyper-fretting until this damn thing disappears. Thanks for all the replies and advice.

Try the compede patches, they cover it completely making it far less likely to pass it on. They help it heal too.

Thanks Lynli - will get some tomorrow.

@kittycat37: Sorry that NHS direct weren't too helpful. Sometimes there are so many caveats with telephone advice, that the reassurance gets lost.

Anyway, there are more positives to this that you might think:

1. You have recognised the risk very early and taken steps to avoid further infection.
2. If you have always had repeated cold sores in the past then your immune system will have been restimulated each time and, unless the baby was premature, those antibodies have likely been passed on to her during the later stages of pregnancy.
3. Your daughter is nearly two months old now, and her immune system much more developed than a neonate's.

Herpes simplex is a common infection of babies and children, and is usually asymptomatic because of the same reasons described above (the maternal antibody helps stop disease until their own immunity is more developed). The two widely-reported cases in the last couple of years were primary (i.e. first-time) oral HSV infections in the mum, where the babies did not have any maternal antibody to help protect. Also, the babies were much younger; only a few days old when infected.

Just be alert for those sorts of changes, but I'm sure all will be well.

Thanks so much Musukebba - that is really reassuring and makes complete sense.