I have covid; should I isolate from my toddler?

[RFM10]

I've tested positive for covid and feel really ill. Thankfully my DH and DD don't have it yet and obviously I really don't want them to catch it. We decided that I'd isolate myself at home and my DH is doing all the nursery pick ups, dinner, bath and bed. This is the second night of doing it and obviously it's really hard as my DD wants to see me (and I want to see her). If she was older, I'd see her from the other side of the room with windows open and face masks on, but she's only 2 and a half and I know if she saw me she'd run up and want a cuddle and get really upset if I didn't cuddle her. So instead DH is telling her that mummy is a bit poorly so she can't see me right now but I'll be better soon. I'm talking to her on videocall over dinner and at bath time which is lovely but she's then getting upset when he puts her to bed saying she wants a kiss from mummy. It's breaking my heart. Am I doing the right thing? I really don't want her to feel as awful and ill as I do right now. But I also don't want to cause her loads of upset and worry by not seeing her.

It's an absolute personal choice. We decided that as we'd all been in contact prior to me testing positive the chances were high that everyone else was going to get it so we didn't bother isolating. My LO coped better than we did with it. Obviously if your child has underlying health conditions that's worth considering too.

None of us have isolated in the home when we’ve had it.
It’s your choice really but I wouldn’t.

Agree with pp that it's entirely up to you, there's no right and wrong answer here.

Personally I’d wear a mask in the house and sleep in another room if possible but otherwise carry on as normal. To be honest I’d do this with any potentially serious respiratory issue as DH is officially vulnerable but he’s just had a bad dose of Covid and the rest of us haven’t had a sniffle and he did the above.

Me and dh got covid at the same time so we couldn't isolate from our ds. He never caught it.

I feel like I've seen stepped into 2020. She goes to nursery. She's probably had covid 20 times already.

I had covid a few months ago during 3rd trimester of pregnancy. My DH too my toddler to stay with his grandparents for a few days only because of how ill i was in terms of beimg able to look after him, but we didnt isolate at all when he came back and wouldn’t do so again

Personally I wouldn’t do this unless my toddler was vulnerable. I think largely it’s unnecessary

There are 5 of us, we've never isolated anyone from the rest of the family within the house. We've probably had COVID in the house 4 or 5 times and never have all 5 of us caught it. Twice the original person that has it was the only one who caught it, so it wasn't spread between us.

In my experience kids generally suffer much less and for a much shorter period than adults. My youngest has had it a couple of times and while the rest (adults and teens) had flu like symptoms and cough, the 7-10 yr old each time has been sick once, then very tired for 24 hours then absolutely fine.

Admittedly as mine are a bit older they aren't quite a cuddly and hands on as a 2 yr old, but I wouldn't be isolating from them to prevent them from catching it.

Honestly they probably already have it

She’s at nursery? You’re bonkers.

Personally, I would just carry on as normal and not isolate.

Not something I'd ever consider tbh, you've all mixed prior to you testing positive and you are upsetting and confusing your toddler.

I think this is bonkers behaviour. Carry on as normal at home. Don't traumatise your toddler for the sake of protecting her from an illness she probably already has and won't do her any harm.

Thanks everyone for your replies, seems like we're worrying about this too much. Should maybe mention she was a preterm baby and has a respiratory vulnerability although tbh that wasn't consciously on my mind when thinking about this. Its just all the guidance says to isolate in the house but was written a while ago and can't find anything more recent. Don't appreciate being called bonkers however, I'm just a concerned parent not knowing what the right thing to do is and therfore seeking collective advice. Isn't that what this forum is for?

I think isolating yourself from your toddler is likely to upset them more than them catching covid. She’s probably had it before, possibly multiple times.

Your child will be being exposed to covid constantly at nursery without you realising it as guidance is that kids can still go in if they're well enough and very few people are testing these days. She has probably had no or very few symtoms as it inpacts kids a lot less.

Unless she still has significant respiratory vulnerability, I think you'll do her more psychological harm isolating from her when she can't understand it than you would in terms of physical risk.

A confused and upset 2 year old v risk of covid which she's probably already been exposed to?
I'd take the risk.

It’s your choice, but I’d crack on as normal.

I got covid in my third trimester a few months ago and started off keeping distance from my toddler but she was getting so upset and trying to get to me we abandoned that and as far as I know she never caught it or at least never had any symptoms. Obviously it could be different in your case but it was causing my little girl more distress not being around me than it would had she caught covid we decided so just let her be around me.

It's up to you but as they now know that Covid can damage every organ in your body and your immune system, I'd isolate myself. Even extremely mild cases of Covid can cause Long Covid.

I wouldn’t isolate as I know how difficult my toddler would have found that.

Yeah, I had to check the date on this thread.

I think because I felt so ill at first- I've had covid several times and this was by far the worst- I know I couldn't have taken care of her when I was like that. So I was worried that if we all got it, we wouldn't be able to send her to nursery but would be too ill to look after her properly and it would be bloody awful. We thought it might be better to try to nip it in the bud. And she has a great relationship with DH and is used to us taking it in turns to do bedtime. But it is hard and confusing for her still so I think I'll take the advice here and start spending time with her again, but with a mask on.

I didn't know that it's so much milder for little ones so that's really good to know.

I’ve had Covid twice and didn’t isolate from my toddler, older child or DH either time. Didn’t pass it on either time.

Our house is not big enough for me to have isolated properly and I knew I couldn’t spend a week without being able to touch or hug my children. They couldn’t have lasted that long either.