Will covid and other bugs change who visits your newborn?

[Bennetgirl]

Just wondering if anyone is doing anything different with regardsto visitors of a newborn this winter. I had dd3 in October 3 years ago and we only really avoided people if they were ill.

I'm not due until November but am guessing covid will still be quite high, flu and other bugs will be as well as last year no one really caught them. My friends daughter has just be hospitalised with norovirus and and she's 7.

I'm due January and will likely be asking that people don't hold my little one in the first few weeks at least, so many babies needing hospital treatment this summer due to the explosion of viruses that has happened after the easing of lockdowns and I don't think its much of a hardship to ask people to wait until your baby has started developing a little bit of an immune system!

Thank you. That's a good idea. It's hard isn't it x

I will do the same as what I did when DD was born 2 years ago. I asked people who were obviously unwell not to come (this only happened with one visitor who had to reschedule for the following week) and everyone to wash hands before holding her!

Any more than that I would feel was a bit extreme for me personally.

My 2 month old just out of hospital with norovirus. Hideous.

Oh god @RefuseTheLies I hope your lo is OK now x

We’ll only have our parents (who are vaccinated) hold baby and that will be after they have done a lateral flow test and washed their hands, no kissing. This will probably last the first 2 months but we’ll play it by ear.

There is group of us on here who have had babies during Covid. Most of us have asked for negative tests, masks etc and no cuddles except very limited close relatives, garden visits etc. The main thing is you decide what risks you are prepared to take, no one else.

Nurseries are rife with fevers, vomitting, coughs, colds, diahhorea etc at the moment. My 1 year old is one of many who's tested negative for Covid but been ill with other illnesses. A virus called RSV is at high levels and hospitals are busy with it- I know a couple of children admitted recently. They were locked in most of the year and unsurprisingly they are now all getting ill. I am usually quite relaxed but as the parent of young children I saw your post and felt you needed to be warned that it's not Covid that's the big worry. No number of lateral flow tests or Covid vaccinations will stop your newborn getting RSV or similar from a visitor who has contact with small children. I'd limit contact with people who have young ones themselves or ensure they don't get too close.

My dd is a lockdown baby. I let family hold her but she hardly went out until March so hasn’t seen many people. I haven’t been particularly concerned about covid with her. She’s my second and is one, my eldest is 4.
Dd was very close to being sent to hospital with croup and has been very ill with a chest infection, also had an ear infection and pretty much constant colds since March. It’s not done her any good. DS was exposed to what we used to consider as normal was cuddled by anyone and everyone from day one and was only seriously ill once ages two with croup (we were blue lighted to hospital). I’m currently awake with a coughing one year old who can’t sleep, I would worry about other illnesses than covid.