Cold Sores and New Borns

[Janice592]

Hello,

I have been made aware very recently that people who are prone to cold sores have to be very careful around new born babies. The advice was that those who do suffer from cold sores regardless of whether they have an active cold sore or not are still a risk to baby.
What scares me in addition to this is that most people don't know they have the cold sore virus living in them so I wondered how to deal with this when baby is born.

I don't want to come across as insensitive or single people out if they are known to get CS, especially family and friends.

How have others handled this issue?

Thanks!

The majority of the world population has the virus including yourself and your DP. However it is inactive so could be triggered at anytime.

Unfortunately the only thing you can do is stop people with the active virus kissing your baby. Even then if you have other children yourself or in the family, they won't know if they are going to come down with the virus unlike adults who frequently have them. Adults who frequently have them should be able to self-police unless they are complete idiots.

Also be aware some people have lesions around their mouths that aren't cold sores. I get contact dermatitis from some toothpastes which causes a blister/spot on my lip that could be mistaken for a cold sore.

I also get other lesions but these are contagious, but because I know what they are I don't go near the houses of newborns if I have them or think I'm getting them e.g. I self-police.