Coronavirus and newborns

[SqidgeBum]

I am due my second baby in November. I am not someone who is shielding or taking extra precautions other than avoiding pubs and restaurants. Coronavirus doesnt make me particularly anxious. However, i am starting to think of what, if any, precautions I should take when my baby is born. Should we minimise visits? Is there a point in my parents wearing masks when holding the baby if it could be on their clothes anyway? Basically, do newborns have an elevated risk from coronavirus? I havent been able to find much online, so I am looking for research or studies on how susceptible newborns are to coronavirus. Does anyone have any links to reputable and factual information on newborns and their risk from coronavirus?

Hi I've had a baby during this so I understand your concerns. This came out today www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3249
There are greater risks to babies under 1 month but this is linked in most part to being premature
Other than that, babies thankfully do not seem to be at any greater risk!

Not sure about the statistics of risk but my friend's baby had confirmed Covid back in April when she was only a month old. She had a 40 degree fever and was off her food but quickly recovered. My friend (baby's mum) was quite ill for a few weeks but not bad enough for hospital.

I'm in the US (also due in Nov!), here they are saying that there is a risk to newborns, especially under 6weeks (pre vaccines) and that unless someone is in your household, they shouldn't hold the baby until after 6 week vaccines and should be around the newborn with masks.

After that it's about being careful, lots of hand washing etc. And no one who in a high risk (eg in contact with the general public) should be near a newborn at all until who knows when.

@icantevenexplain

I'm in the US (also due in Nov!), here they are saying that there is a risk to newborns, especially under 6weeks (pre vaccines) and that unless someone is in your household, they shouldn't hold the baby until after 6 week vaccines and should be around the newborn with masks.

After that it's about being careful, lots of hand washing etc. And no one who in a high risk (eg in contact with the general public) should be near a newborn at all until who knows when.

Nobody who is in contact with the general public? That's going to be difficult to maintain as DH will be going back to work when she is 2 weeks old. He goes into peoples houses every day, about 4 different houses daily 😕 not sure we can maintain that.

Thirty five per cent of children in our study were under 1 year old, which may reflect a low threshold for admissions of infants by clinicians rather than severe concerns about their clinical condition. This may explain the predominance of younger children in our study. In addition, the association between age under 1 month and admission to critical care might be explained if these babies were already admitted to neonatal intensive care and undergoing regular SARS-CoV-2 screening.

Comorbidities most commonly associated with critical care admission on univariable analysis were prematurity (50% (15/30)

Six (1%) children and young people died in hospital. Three were neonates (age

"Nobody who is in contact with the general public? That's going to be difficult to maintain as DH will be going back to work when she is 2 weeks old. He goes into peoples houses every day, about 4 different houses daily 😕 not sure we can maintain that."

My partner went back to work when my daughter was 2 weeks old too.

@Jrobhatch29 thank you for the link to the study. This sort of research based information is exactly what I am looking for! I am trying to read and inform myself rather than panic or worry

I completely understand. I had my baby in May and wish there was research like that available then to help put my mind at rest a little. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy

@icantevenexplain do you have any links to the information in the US about there being a risk to newborns under 6 weeks?

@SqidgeBum I'll try and find it. It was shared with me through a Facebook group.

I guess it's more about taking precautions as fevers in newborns can be very dangerous.

I’ll absolutely be minimising visits and people holding the baby. Better to be safe than sorry.

@peachypetite can I ask, have you read something to make you decide that? It's just that we have a toddler and we dont take extra precautions with her, so I am trying to figure out if the risk to the newborn is more than to her.

When you say minimising visits, do you mean not seeing your parents or DPs parents? Or just friends etc? How long would you be cautious for?

given the current circumstances, i absolutely agree with no-one holding the baby who isnt shielding or being sensible as such

but i wouldnt let anyone other than you and your DH hold the baby until first jabs.

@SqidgeBum one of my best friends texted me to say she’s had a positive corona test and it just brought it home to me that Covid is very much still a thing and people are going out and about not aware they have it. Our families will isolate a couple of weeks before my due date and if anyone isn’t able to they won’t be holding newborn. I’ll hold off on a deluge of visitors and even when people do they will be welcome to admire the baby but I won’t be doing pass the baby around for everyone to hold.

It depends a bit on your parents, friends etc - if they are like us and working from home and live in a low risk area then it's different to a person in a public facing job in a covid hotspot. You need to make a judgement

The only concern would be my mom who works in a care home, but it has never even had one coronavirus case throughout the entire pandemic. She is regularly tested too. She lives very rural; isolated house on 2 acres of land. Only goes to aldi once a week. My sister is an a&e nurse but she is getting a test before coming to visit so we will have confirmation she is negative. She lives far away so it will be a 4 day visit and then we wont see her for a while. My inlaws dont work in any high risk jobs. My MIL doesnt work at all in fact, and my FiL works alone outside. The only concern may actually be DH. He is the most at risk of everyone with his job. Also, DD1 will be in nursery up to when the baby is born. I dont think many others would even think of visiting at the minute.

I am also conscious of the implications of staying at home isolating on my toddlers happiness and my babys immune system. I know immune systems need to be exposed to some bacteria like colds to develop (I took DD1 to playgroup at 2 weeks old and didnt give much thought to germs 😕). But also, with my sister working in a busy A&E, I am not oblivious to the existence of coronavirus. She has told me a lot.

I am just trying to think logically about the risk of coronavirus verses say measles or flu in a normal year. I am just looking for medical facts to back up any precautions I should take.

It’s too early for proper medical studies. It’s a new virus which we are still battling.

@peachypetite

It’s too early for proper medical studies. It’s a new virus which we are still battling.

I disagree with you a little there. We have 6 months of data now to look at and have learnt alot. The link I have posted above is from the British medical journal and is very comprehensive looking at what the risk factors are by studying hospitalised children. Obviously parents will be naturally cautious with their newborns. My daughter is nearly 4 months and has only been held by grandparents. There is good evidence now though that babies aren't at particular risk. I found it a reassuring read.

I must say the BMJ study is very detailed. I didnt think something this detailed would be available. The study is a reassuring read. 250 children under the age of 1 were admitted over 260 hospitals between January and July. That was out of nearly 70,000 admissions, so less than 1% of admissions, and of those 250 under the age of 1, 3 resulted in death and all had severe underlying conditions. All others were discharged in good health.

Although they are of course severe cases. They do not include those kids who caught it and didnt need hospitalization

This is a useful graphic for all age groups

@Malteserdiet wow ..... I am suddenly not feeling so bad for going to home bargains yesterday 🤣 I get the figures are still people but that's an interesting graphic

The other thing to consider with letting other people hold the baby is we are still meant to be socially distancing (unless you are in Scotland this includes children and babies). Regardless of where you live you'd be well within 2m to pass the baby across and if someone did test positive who had held the baby recently that would mean you'd have to isolate for 2 weeks due to being a close contact. So even if your happy that the risk to your baby is low then you may want to consider other implications.

I wont lie, I have hugged my mom and dad, so I am not concerned with rules exactly. I am also not going to prevent my mother from holding my baby until boris Johnson tells me I can. I have no problem considering precautions like masks, hand washing, maybe asking others to restrict movements before the baby is born, restricting visitors etc. Of course it would be far from ideal if I was told to isolate for 2 weeks. However I will need support from my mom specifically after the birth, so maintaining social distancing from everyone isnt realistic.