One of the scariest things is a sick newborn. A newborn does not have the robust immune system we have as adults or even as children. Imagine how bad you feel when you get a bad cold, well that 'bad cold' if it is
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) could kill a newborn, especially if the newborn was also premature. Every year in the US up to 500 infants die and more than 125,000 are hospitalized. Every newborn is at risk but those born early have even less developed immune systems. Almost 100% of all children will contract RSV by their 2nd birthday but the older a child is the better their immune system can fight off the disease. As an adult when we get a cold most of us just keep going, we take some medicine, maybe a little extra rest but we still go out. Visiting an infant when we are sick is a very bad idea. My girls are out of the baby stages but it is still important for me to know about
RSV. Why? Because I need to help protect all babies. I never visit a new baby if am sick, my family is sick, or if I have been exposed. When I had my first baby my mom was getting a cold so she did not visit us for a whole week and old saw her nanababy (yes, that is what my mom calls my kids) through pictures. I did not even have to ask my mom not to come, she just knew it was a bad idea. Not everyone is so considerate. I don't remember knowing about RVS when my first was born but I still did not want to expose my new baby to viruses. I told everyone to not come if they were sick and I did not want anyone over for the first week. Lets just say my in laws went against both of those requests. I did not let the sick person hold the baby at all, which is still a point of contention with in laws, but my baby did not sick so that is all I care about.
If you visit a new baby (or any baby) please follow these suggestions:
Wash hands when you arrive and before holding the baby (yes, I made people do this!)
Leave toddlers at home (they are always getting sick.)
Don't even go if you are sick, or been around those who are sick!
Remember there is no cure for RSV, they can only support the body while the immune system does the work. The only thing to protect a newborn is prevention. Remember the longer you keep a newborn from catching RSV the better chance they have of it just being another 'cold'. For more information and tips to prevent RSV please visit
https://www.rsvprotection.com/
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of MedImmune and received promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
