Dad with a horrible cold and a week old son

[spankydad]

A (now not very popular friend) called round this week without telling us he wasn't feeling great, and has managed to pass his cold on to me.

I feel awful; not from the cold, but because I really don't want to pass it on to my son. My wife is desperate that he doesn't get unwell; I'm going to sleep in a separate room from both of them tonight, and she wants to do all the feeds/nappies/settling tonight, which makes me feel even worse as she's struggling after a horrible labour & forceps.

I'm washing my hands every 30 seconds & trying to stay away from him; has anyone else got any ideas how else we can try & stop him becoming unwell?

Sorry if I've not done this right; I've never posted on here before.

your son will probably be fine - he will havev your wifes immunity for now.

xx

not a whole lot you can do i'm afraid

if you wife is breastfeeding then that will help with immunity to things. not sure if that extends to colds, but it all helps

try not to sneeze on him

my DS got a cold when he was two weeks old, but he was just fine, although it is scary.

if he does catch a cold, check with the MW or HV if he can have saline nose drops which you give before a feed to unblock the nose, not a lot else a new born can have really.

sorry you are all having a hard time

I don't agree that breastfeeding or wives immunity helps with colds. My daughter had a cold 2 days after she was born when she was being breastfed.
Agree with the use of the saline drops.

I just didn't understand how protective i'd be; he seems so small & perfect. I think I'll just have to bath in bleach for now!

that is parenthood for you !!

don't panic - its only a cold!

Aw, spankydad, I remember that feeling...

No-one is immune to colds, that's why they do so well, biologically speaking. Your baby will have some protection from infection via your wife's immune system but that's no guarantee against a cold. Agree, buy the saline drops NOW just in case, you don't want to be rushing out for emergency chemists at 2am tomorrow.

poor you! just when you want to be doing lots of snuggling.
Think you are doing all you can, they are more resiliant than they look.
Make sure you do what you can with cooking/tidyingetc which will be just as much help to mum (not as much fun though)
Take some echinacea and lots vit c and get some rest yourself,sooner you recover the better.
Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Thank you for your advice and sympathy; we'll go out and get some saline drops tomorrow.

Spankymum says thank you too.

Hopefully I'll be back to cleaning up pooey nappies in no time!

i have a child who could get very ill if poorly, just washing ur hands stops so many germs, dont feel bad, get well soon

Oh yeah, wash your hands lots, use tissues once and throw them in the bin straight away, don't let them touch any other surfaces etc. etc. etc... not a lot more you can do. Hope you feel a lot better soon!