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Covid

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Original poster

Covid and very young children

17 replies

0hMy · 03/10/2021 20:09

Potentially stupid question: If you and your DH/DP/DW (or just you if you’re a single parent) have had covid with very young children in the house, how have you navigated the situation?
DH tested positive yesterday and we have 16mo DS. DH is confined to one room (with —a poor excuse for— en suite). I’m currently testing negative on LFTs and am looking after DS (obviously) but am passing DH food etc so there is chance of contamination.
Im quite anxious about health and I’m really worried about passing on to DS as there is such close contact between us due to his age. He’s just so little and I hate the thought of him being so poorly. I know all parents feel the same, btw.
If both/the only adults in the house have had covid, have you just sort of ‘got in with it’, so to speak? Or if you’re lucky enough to have a support network nearby, have they helped?
For context, both DH and I have had both doses of the vaccinations and none of us (including DS) have any health conditions that would impact us.

OP posts:

Luzina · 03/10/2021 20:11

Are you washing your hands after passing food to him? Are you both wearing masks during the food handover ? If so then the risk of contamination will be fairly low I expect.

littlegiant · 03/10/2021 20:14

Myself and DP both had covid. We breastfeed and co-sleep and I had a lot of contact with my 1yo. I think I had covid a while before I got tested. My little one did have a rash for 2 days but nothing else at all. And it was during the heatwave so the rash may have been related to that rather than the virus.
I hope this goes some way to reassure you. I was so worried about this too before it happened. Your little one is likely to be just fine

User560 · 03/10/2021 20:19

Just make sure you sanitiser your hands before and after you have handled his food. There is not much more you can do other than perhaps wearing a mask around your little one to be extra cautious

user1483473283 · 03/10/2021 20:19

I tested positive on dec 27, having seen family on 25. T&T asked everyone to be tested. Only my DH was also positive (zero symptoms before and after). Our two DC (2 and 4) were negative as were my family we saw at Christmas. The children never showed a single symptom either before or after. We assume the eldest probably brought it home from school to start with!

ballsdeep · 03/10/2021 20:23

@littlegiant

Myself and DP both had covid. We breastfeed and co-sleep and I had a lot of contact with my 1yo. I think I had covid a while before I got tested. My little one did have a rash for 2 days but nothing else at all. And it was during the heatwave so the rash may have been related to that rather than the virus. I hope this goes some way to reassure you. I was so worried about this too before it happened. Your little one is likely to be just fine

I have a 20 month old and out whole house is currently positive. Touch wood my eldest two dont have symptoms . My baby had a rash and has been sick. She is sleeping a lot more but in general is happy , playing, running around. She has a runny nose and a cold. I'm hoping and praying it stays this way. Good luck

Lou573 · 03/10/2021 20:34

Dh and I were both positive, couldn’t possibly isolate from small children so carried on as normal and they didn’t catch it.

Needanewadventure2021 · 03/10/2021 20:38

Looks like we have covid in the house now. Its just me and my 7 year old so it's impossible to isolate and distance from him. His is absolutely fine though. I feel absolutely rough and he is the positive one

undercoverhero74 · 03/10/2021 20:41

Me and DP both tested positive a couple of weeks ago and we have a 2 year old. We just carried on as normal. Little one had cold like symptoms but came back inconclusive on the PCR. Apart from the expected struggles of both being unwell with a toddler around it wasn't too bad.

zaffa · 03/10/2021 20:46

I tested positive in Jan, and so DH and DD tested a couple days later. Dd was positive but DH was negative - we are certain he had already had it the previous week and brought it into the house from school just before Xmas. I was very poorly, DH just soldiered on and DD was absolutely fine. Her only complaint was not being able to leave the house (if she could talk, that is absolutely what she would have moaned about). She was 13 months at the time.
I felt dreadful for a week and then recovered as fast as I went downhill, but we are sure I had it a week or so before testing as I was sick but not with covid symptoms. Looking back, DH thinks his smell was altered too but neither of us lost it, things just smelt weird.
And it was impossible to isolate from DD - she is a co sleeping mummy's girl (or daddy's girl these days!)

Justanotherquestioner · 03/10/2021 20:48

We have covid here. Dh, ds1 and ds2. They are 3 and 4. We've done no isolating. It's been a lot of snot for one child and a cough for the other but they are both running around and happy

mswales · 03/10/2021 20:52

All the evidence shows it doesn't affect young children very badly so try to reassure yourself with that OP. My son had covid aged 3 over the summer and had a fever and bad cough for 10 days but was happy as larry with calpol. Hope your partner feels OK soon

Allthingspeaches · 03/10/2021 21:13

My DH and I caught it at the same time from our 3 year old. He had a fever for a couple of days and threw up a couple of times but was genuinely fine after that. I don't think they have it too badly at very young ages but make sure you're washing hands, disinfecting the door handles, stair rail and the bathroom, etc to do your best to not spread.

Bobholll · 03/10/2021 22:04

We carried on completely as normal. I had it & we continued to share beds, kiss, cuddle, eat together .. literally as you live normally. Nothing on earth would make me isolate from young kids, in particular my then 9 month old. Only if covid was showing to be making children extremely unwell. But it doesn’t. My two kids did catch it, the 9 month old had a ‘bad cold’ like thing & DD1 had no symptoms except grumpiness. My husband didn’t catch it, despite being in a house full of it & being sneezed and snorted on solidly for 10 days. This was last December.

purplejungle · 03/10/2021 22:08

This was our set up. We eventually all tested positive although I think we may have picked it up before we realised dh was positive (ie before he started isolating from us). All v mild symptoms. It was easier when we were all positive and I didn't have to solo parent anymore!

SMBH · 04/10/2021 01:41

There are always risks, but I think the risks associated with me separating myself from my toddler for ten days are greater than the risks of covid for them

2021mumma · 04/10/2021 02:19

We were in similar situation DH caught covid confined to room, I was looking after toddler DS and passing food and within days we both had it too.

DS had zero symptoms except maybe some nappy rash and was absolutely fine in himself. Luckily my husband started feeling better as I felt awful so we tag teamed DS care.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 04/10/2021 06:10

DS is 8 so not very small but I'm a single parent and he can't just be left to get on with things on his own so I didn't even attempt to distance. He did catch Covid from me but he barely had any symptoms.

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