Can my children visit a lambing farm when I’m pregnant?

[E19897]

I am 36.5 weeks pregnant and my in laws have very kindly said they are going to take my other children to a farm this weekend (lambing, feeding goats etc). I’m really worried about it and scared I will catch listeriosis (or another bug) from when they get home.

Would it be completely unreasonable to ask them to do something else? Or suggest they go to the farm but don’t feet the sheep or goats?

Thank you in advance. I can see lots of advice about visiting the farm as a pregnant woman but not about their children going.

My understanding is that it's when the lambs are wet (ie first born) that the risk is greatest and once they're dried off, and any birth fluids etc cleaned up, the risk is lowered considerably. Personally I'd let them go but just make sure they clean up well when they're there and also do a thorough hand wash and clothes change when they get in for your own peace of mind. Looking from a distance, and bottle feeding lambs (which won't be newborns) would be much lower risk.

Context- I had to lamb a ewe in an emergency while about 7 months pregnant, wasn't ideal. When the vet got there she told me the above info as she'd had to look into it herself when she was pregnant and working as a farm vet.

@Stepuptowardsinfinity

@purplepencilcase post after yours shows you're wrong about this I'm afraid.

All should wash their hands and change their clothes afterwards.

You're not going yourself and get DC to wash their hands. I think you're being overly cautious

As long as the lambs are dry the risk is considerably reduced.
I’m not going to help my family lambing this year as I’m early stage pregnant but Dh will take the DC up to see them but not actually lambing (his hands are
massive anyways and he’s a hindrance!) and practice good hygiene on coming home.
I’m not worried about dry lamb contact!

Absolutely agree and in the same position here with being sheep farmers and third trimester whilst lambing !

(Slightly off topic, but you may be interested, I asked the midwife to do a blood test to determine whether I’d ever been subjected to toxo and it came back that I had had a precious infection 😳 not recently apparently but pretty eye opening as we vaccinate against it!!)

@Farmersweeklyreader

I really don't think that many many of them do avoid lambing to the extent that they don't allow their kids near the lambs with another adult!

@SEP880 How did you persuade them
to test you!?
I’ve asked repeatedly - first pregnancy and after a loss at the end of lambing when I had had minimal contact.

@SEP880 Asked my midwife about a blood test for toxo, she was pretty clueless to be honest. Said she hadn’t come across it so didn’t book me one or give any advice even. We don’t vaccinate against toxo so have just been extra cautious just incase. I have older relatives ringing me up to check im not in the lambing shed 😇 It’s very hard leaving the others to it this year but I’ll be back next year (babysitters permitting)
Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

@Spareincoming I didn’t have to try and
convince them atall, they were more than happy to and the midwife’s found it all really interesting. They were even able to use the bloods taken from my 8 week
booking in appointment as it’s retained at the lab.

@Farmersweeklyreader To be fair mine didn’t really know a lot but knew they could test for it. She was genuinely really interested and called the lab whilst I was sat with her. She wasn’t able to give me much more information after the result came in ie. When the likely infection was however I was just interested to know whether I may have any resistance - which she couldn’t answer but probably with some of my own reasarch I can find out ! We finished lambing a month ago now to less worry ! Hope lambing, and the rest of pregnancy to well too 😊

Wrong about what? Losing my pregnancy??!! Eh?

@YukoandHiro that was a bizarre thing to post in response to someone disclosing that they’d lost a late stage pregnancy. “You’re wrong about this I’m afraid”. What the hell?

If you meant they were wrong about the risk of losing a pregnancy…she lost it as a direct result of lambing so had personal experience? At best, what you’ve said is stupid and at worst, it’s cruel and totally uncaring.

@purplepencilcase I’m so sorry for your loss, I can’t imagine what that must have been like.

@YukoandHiro my potential apologies as I think you might have tagged purple pencil case to show that it was her post that proved that stepuptowardsinfinity’s post was incorrect? Is that right? Sorry if I was harsh, it really sounded like you were saying that purplepencilcase was wrong!

Oh great. I went on a trip to a farm yesterday with ds and his school.

I didn't touch the lambs but my children did.

Now I'm worrying. I'm around 7 weeks pregnant :(

Where I'm from all (!) pregnant women get tested for toxo in the first and then in the second trimester. If it turns out positive, there's another test that can determine whether it was recent or not. If recent, there's some medication that can help lower the risk of serious complications/miscarriage. My friend's son was born blind because his mother got infected with toxo while pregnant (from a cat, not a lamb though) so I made sure I got tested when pregnant (privately as in the UK it's not done on the NHS). Toxo is really not to be messed with when pregnant so I'd definitely keep my older DCs away from lambs while you're still pregnant OP...

You have no need to worry as you're not going. As long as your children wash their hands before they get home you'll be absolutely fine

Of course the OP does have something to worry about - it's not just the hands that her DCs should wash but she needs to be particularly careful about handling their clothes that might have been in contact with the animals:

" • Not handle (including washing) clothing, boots or any materials that may have come into contact with animals that have recently given birth, their young or afterbirths. Potentially contaminated clothing will be safe to handle after being washed on a hot cycle
• Ensure contacts or partners who have attended lambing ewes or other animals giving birth take appropriate health and hygiene precautions. This includes the wearing of personal protective equipment and clothing, and adequate washing to remove any potential contamination"

Source: firstaidtrainingcooperative.co.uk/risks-to-pregnant-women-during-lambing-season/

Children visiting a “farm” as part of an organised visit will not be doing anything of the sort. They won’t be handling lambs that have just been born. They aren’t going for hands on lambing experience.

Bottle feeding a few week old+ lambs in a managed visitor setting in a clean barn (likely completely separate from where lambs were actually born) is not the same as being up at 3am in a lambing shed getting covered in blood and fluids. Of course pregnant women should avoid that. I kept as far away from actual lambing as I could when pregnant (quite challenging when your stable is in the same barn). No-one is suggesting pregnant women take up farming.

Far more risk from a pet cat than children visiting somewhere without their pregnant mother. I risk assess for a living and jesus we get a bad press for “elf and safety” but mumsnet is a whole other level
of batshittery.

DD is going to a “farm” with nursery, it’s about as close to an actual farm as Centre Parcs is to living wild in a wood.

I'd let them go providing they washed hands well and changed clothes. As far as I remember toxo doesn't go human to human.

As a side note anyone with a genuine need for a toxo test needs to be firmer with the midwife/gp if they've been refused. I'm still negative despite doing every single thing that puts you at risk. To assume someone will be positive already because they live on a farm/ has grown up with an outdoor cat etc is a bit shortsighted of them.