How to stop newborn catching all of toddler's illnesses

[TBC45678]

I've got a 12 week old and a 2 year old and am feeling guilty about the baby catching all of the 2yo's bugs. This winter my eldest has been CONSTANTLY a bit ill - snotty nose, cough etc. He's fine with it, but the poor newborn has had RSV/covid already (at 7 weeks) and is now all stuffy and snotty again.

The eldest loves his brother and always wants to be near him, cuddling etc. I try to stop him touching his face or kissing him but it's tricky and I don't want to tell him to keep away from the baby.

Is there any way to avoid this? Or just something we have to give in to?!

Same here, 3.5 year old is at nursery and my 4 week old had covid in the first few days of his life (was fine) and now has a horrible cold and is really snotty and coughing. At least at 12 weeks they can have calpol - all we can give is saline in the nose To be honest I’m just going with it, as so far it doesn’t seem to be bothering the newborn (I guess he doesn’t know any different) and I’m hopeful that with spring coming the bugs will lessen. Plus it’s not just the toddler - we all catch it so it would be tricky to prevent the baby being exposed. It’s tough as it’s horrible to see them suffering - if my firstborn had had a cold at this age I’d have been far less relaxed 😬

Tbh I think you just need to go with it, and look on the brightside that the babies immune system will be amazing by the time he gets to nursery!

2.5 year gap here. Nothing you can do really. Breastfeeding can help a bit in terms of protecting the baby from what I have heard.

And to be honest as everyone get older all the bugs tend to go through the house.

I'm a first time mum and spoken to the doctor as terrified my baby (born at 34 weeks) catching viruses Inc covid. He said that tbh there's nothing you can do. They're gonna get ill. Even more so for a second born. Unfortunately you just have to deal with it. You can try and keep things clean and wipe down surfaces but short of keeping one of them in isolation it's not gonna be possible.

But thanks both of you posting your baby had covid. I've been terrified of doing anything for fear of her catching it. Ita good to know they got through it like troopers.

BTW breastfeeding does very little for respitory illnesses I am afraid.

Yes thanks all - I'm coming to the same conclusion, that there's not much I can do about it! Like you said @BlairWaldorfLovesShopping I would have been horrified if my first got ill when he was little, but there's not too much I can do this time! Poor old second-born.

@Bells3032 sorry you're feeling so anxious. It is a nerve wracking time to have a newborn. But yes, he got it at 7 weeks and was fine. We took him into hospital to have his oxygen levels checked one evening and they were all normal. The doctors said there's not much you can do, and no treatment at all unless they need some supplementary oxygen. She did say that they are hardly seeing any seriously ill babies with it, so try not to worry too much.

It's just something you have to deal with.
We have 6 of them, the baby has coped really well with all the bugs the big ones have brought home so far (inc covid).